6338 | Notes on Glycerine. 
air. A small quantity applied to the skin will prevent it 
from becoming chapped or chilled in winter, or from being 
burnt and inflamed in summer. The Russians, taking 
advantage of the peculiar properties of glycerine, are in 
the habit of employing it to protect themselves against the 
severity of their climate. This they do by spreading 
a layer of glycerine upon their faces and other exposed 
parts before starting on their sledge-journeys ; the skin is 
thus effectually guarded against the excessive cold, as the 
glycerine neither evaporates nor congeals. 
Glycerine is used internally in some diseases; notably 
“in consumption, as a substitute for cod-liver oil. Notwith- 
standing its undoubted nutrient property it is not equal to 
the latter in the treatment of phthisis, owing to the absence 
of certain chemical elements upon which the efficacy 
of cod-liver oil in great measure depends. At the same 
time, the value of glycerine, administered to consumptive 
patients, should not be lost sight of ; occasionally, as it is 
much more easily tolerated by the stomach, it may be 
alternated with the oil, or the two may be given together. 
I have known several cases in which the patients were 
unable to take cod-liver oil when given alone, but readily 
retained it when given in conjunction with glycerine. 
As another instance of the value of glycerine given 
internally, I may here mention the employment of glycerine 
by diabetic patients, to render more palatable different 
articles of diet, ordinarily flavoured with sugar, which they, 
of course, are interdicted from taking. This may appear 
a matter of little moment, but it really is not so; the 
necessary omission of all saccharine substances from the 
diet of persons suffering from diabetes makes it important 
to endeavour to relieve them from the feeling of monotony 
and dislike for food, engendered by the rigid exclusion of 
all articles containing sugar. 
In the preparation of medicaments, the 7é/e played by 
glycerine is wide and very important. For many reasons 
it is superior to water, alcohol, lard, and the other fluids 
and solids commonly employed as excipients or vehicles 
‘ for different remedial agents. It possesses the power of 
dissolving a very large number of substances, and of thus 
placing them in a condition favourable to absorption. It 
does not decompose them, and from its penetrating quali- 
ties, it readily enters the structures to which it is applied. 
Besides possessing these advantages, it is free from various 
disadvantages to which other excipients are subject. The 
