Chemical Preparations and Drugs. 91 



The remedy has a pleasant odour of cinnamon, is cleanly and makes hospital- 

 treatment for scabies quite superfluous. Ambulant treatment, added to the patients' 

 coming up for examination every two or 3 days, is quite sufficient. 



Eucalyptole. In the present day, catgut is sterilized either by sublimate or by oil 

 of juniper wood and no longer with carbolic acid, as in to Lister's original prescription. 

 According to A. Goris 1 ), an even more suitable substance for this purpose is to be 

 found in eucalyptole. It is quite sufficient to leave the commercial preparation in contact 

 with eucalyptole for a few days; however, infected catgut must be treated for a much 

 longer time with eucalyptole. Goris found that juniper wood oil only acts very slowly. 



Menthylisovalerate. As to the saponification of this compound, vide p. 89. 



Methylbenzoate. Oil of cloves which was introduced into microscopical technique 

 in the year 1865 by Rindfleisch, has been generally appreciated hitherto, and in recent 

 times even more than formerly it proved to be a good solvent for celloidine, 

 wherefore it plays an important part in the double intermedium of celloidine and 

 paraffine which in the present day is much in use. It is not an ideal intermedium, as 

 it has a smell which is disagreeable to some people and also gets very dark in colour 

 in course of time. P. Mayer 2 ), therefore, already pointed out in 1891 that in the trans- 

 ference of thick preparations from alcohol into balsam it ought preferably to be removed 

 in advance by xylene, as otherwise it would rapidly become dark therein. Eugenol 

 has the same disadvantages. However, Mayer believes he has found in methylbenzoate 

 a complete substitute in every respect for oil of cloves, adding that one ought to 

 make the following demands on a good substitute:— 1. it ought to be and to remain 

 colourless; 2. it ought not to be dearer than oil of cloves, on the contrary preferably 

 much cheaper; 3. it ought to have a high refractive index, as to enable the objects for 

 observation to be very transparent in it; 4. it ought to mix equally well with 96 per cent. 

 alcohol or even with a weaker product as with xylene or balsam, giving a clear mixture ; 

 5. it ought to dissolve gun cotton easily. Finally, 6. it ought to be regarded as an 

 advantage if it can be produced synthetically, to enable one in buying it not to have 

 to depend on foreign countries. Most of the conditions, enumerated above, are supplied 

 by terpineol 3 ) and by benzylalcohol 4 ); both are and remain colourless, mix already 

 with 90 per cent, alcohol, euparal and turpentine, the former also with Canada balsam. 

 As they do not dissolve gun cotton at all, they need not be taken into consideration 

 here. Methylbenzoate, on the contrary, meets all requirements. It gives clear solutions 

 with benzylalcohol, xylene and balsam, and without difficulty with 96 or 90 per cent, 

 alcohol, but not with glycerol. It did not dissolve paraffine 5 ), but already in one night 

 air-dried celloidine in the ratio of about 14 per cent, to a colourless syrup, even quicker, 

 of course, dry gun cotton, in any case much quicker and more efficiently than is pos- 

 sible with oil of cloves 6 ). The thickish solution can be used an intermedium just as 

 well as oil of cloves. The low price is also in favour of methylbenzoate. In this last 

 respect, nitrobenzene would be far preferable, as it also dissolves gun cotton much 



*) Bull. Sciences Pharmacol. 23 (1916),' 67. — 2 ) Zeitschr. f. wissenschaftl. Mikrosk. u. f. mikrosk. Technik 

 33 (1916), 1. — 3 ) Comp. Report October 1910, 153. — *) Comp. Report April 1915, 55. — 5 ) A considerable 

 amount of paraffine is dissolved by methylbenzoate when left in contact with it for a long period. — 6 ) The 

 use of methyl benzoate in microscopical technique is not quite a novelty; it was already recommended, in 

 1898, by Jordan as Niobe oil. He mentions that it dissolves celloidine well off the sections. Niobe oil, as 

 Mayer himself mentions, to a trade term which was formerly particularly in use for methylbenzoate. 



