636. Notes on Glycerine. 
is undertaken, determines to end the day at a sensible 
hour, we may be pretty sure that she would not be long 
alone, and that the goodman of the house, putting aside 
his writing, or whatever work he was engaged on, would 
quickly fallow, and find a sweet oblivion from the cares of 
life; a practice which, if persisted in, would soon manifest 
its efficacy in producing a better state of health and spirits, 
and would make it a work of superfluity to address any 
future plea for the stomach to him. 
NOTES ON GLYCERINE. 
BY ABBOTS SMITH, M.D., F.L.S., M.R.C.P., LOND., 
Physician to the North London Consumption Hospital, &c. 
(Concluded from page 588.) 
HE uses of glycerine are so numerous, that it would 
be impossible to enter into full details concerning 
them, without too great encroachment upon the pages of 
this periodical. I shall, however, briefly touch upon the 
principal purposes for which glycerine is employed, and 
must refer the reader who is more deeply interested in 
the subject to my work upon it. 
In surgery, as might be expected from its bland, unirri- 
tating, and emollient nature, glycerine is especially useful. 
There is no remedial agent at all equal to glycerine in the 
treatment of burns, scalds, chaps, chilblains, and other 
local affections of the surface of the body. In these cases 
it may be applied, either in the simple form, or in a state 
of admixture with various other substances, capable of 
exerting a salutary action upon the diseased tissues. To 
the medical or chemical reader these substances will readily 
suggest themselves. Glycerine readily dissolves nearly 
every remedial agent of any value, and from the remark- 
able power of penetration which it possesses, it increases 
the efficacy of the substances with which it is combined. 
In the majority of cases of the class referred to, it will be 
found sufficient to apply only the pure glycerine, unless the 
irritation or pain renders desirable the addition of a seda- 
tive, or the slow process of healing necessitates the employ- 
ment of a more stimulating application than glycerine itself. 
