OVIS ARIES, 



CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES. 



SEVUM, Mutton suet, which is the officinal part of the ani- 

 mal, is chiefly obtained from about the kidneys and loins. 

 It is the most consistent of the real animal fats. It is very 

 white, has some degree of brittleness, is inodorous, of a bland 

 taste, insoluble in water, and nearly so in alcohol. It re- 

 quires a temperature of 127 Fahrenheit to melt it. Boiling 

 alcohol dissolves it and deposits it again on cooling. It con- 

 sists, according to Chevreul, of stearine, olein, and a small 

 proportion of hirein. For an account of the two first-men- 

 tioned principles, see Sus SCROFA, No. 9. Hirein is a liquid 

 like olein, from which it differs, however, in being much more 

 soluble in alcohol, and in yielding hireic acid by sapon- 

 ification. 



Like the other fats, suet is demulcent and emollient. It is 

 sometimes boiled in milk in the proportion of three ounces of 

 the suet to one pint of milk, and a cupful of the mixture may 

 be administered in chronic diarrhoea, when there is much 

 acrimony of the contents of the bowels. Its principal use, 

 however, is to give a proper consistence to ointments, serates, 

 and plasters, and sometimes as a dressing to blisters. 



Suet acquires by time an unpleasant smell, and becomes 

 unfit for pharmaceutic purposes. 



SEVUM PRJEPARATUM, Lond. Prepared suet. Cut the suet 

 in pieces, then melt it by a gentle heat and press it through 

 linen. 



ADEPS OVILLUS PR.EPARATUS, Dub. Prepared suet. Cut 

 the suet into small pieces, then melt it by a moderate heat, 

 and strain it by pressing it through a linen cloth. 



The above processes are intended to purify them, but in 

 order to obtain them very pure, it is necessary that they be 

 washed in water until the water comes off colorless before 

 they be melted. Any water that may remain attached to the 

 fat is evaporated during the melting, and that it is all evapo- 

 rated is known by throwing a little of the melted fat into the 

 fire, when it will crackle if any water be present. The heat 

 must not be raised above 97 Fahrenheit, the melting-point 

 of fat, as otherwise the fat is decomposed, rendered acrid, and 

 assumes a yellow color. This purification is seldom attempt- 

 ed by the apothecary, as both kinds of fat can be procured 

 very well purified from the dealers. To keep fat clean and 



9 



