ON SUPPOSITOHIES AND MEDICATED PESSARIES. 
321 
light coloured and very dark coloured oils indicated a difference in the degree of 
oxidation. If cod-liver oil were exposed to the air for a. great length of time, 
it increased considerably in weight, and that difference in weight was due to 
an absorption of oxygen. It was probable, too,—though, of course, that was 
mere theory,—that the oil underwent in the system a process of oxidation. 
Persons who had been in the habit of taking cod-liver oil to any great extent, 
acquired a strong odour, not an odour of the oil in its pale and most pure con¬ 
dition, but the odour which the oil acquired after long exposure to the air, in¬ 
dicating, apparently, that the oil in the system underwent oxidation. This 
oxidation had a commencement, and went through a regular progress ; and it 
would be in accordance with what was observed in other cases, to suppose that 
-where oxidation had already commenced, it continued its progress more rapidly 
than if it had not commenced. Therefore, if the stomach of an individual 
could bear the administration of oil in a partly oxidized condition, it might 
produce a more decided effect in the system than would be the case if it were 
administered in a less oxidized state. Nevertheless, it was not always the case 
that persons could take oil in that state; he knew many individuals who would 
be entirely unable to bear any quantity of the coloured oil to be introduced 
into the stomach, but who could, nevertheless, take the oil in its very pale and 
unoxidized condition. Thus, in cases where difficulty was experienced in taking 
the oil, it might be that the pale and less oxidized oil would be most easily 
assimilated by the system, but that where the stomach was capable of receiving 
and assimilating an oil that was in a partially oxidized condition, that descrip¬ 
tion of oil would be more efficacious. Therefore, without altogether condemning 
the opinion which had been formed in favour of the coloured oils, they must 
admit, that in many cases it was a great advantage to have it in as pure and 
unoxidized a condition as possible ; and certainly the oil prepared by Mr. 
Moller in the manner described by Mr. Howden, was in this respect as good as 
it could be. 
SUPPLEMENTAEY EEMAEKS ON THE PEEPAEATION OE 
MEDICATED PESSAEIES AND SUPPOS1TOEIES. 
BY HENRY B. BRADY, F.L.S. 
Some time ago with the view of inducing greater uniformity in the prac¬ 
tice of pharmaceutists in dispensing what were then regarded an anomalous 
class of remedies, I brought the subject of Medicated Pessaries and Suppositories 
before a meeting of this Society, and proposed certain modes of operating, which 
have for the most part, I believe, met with general acceptance. More still 
remains to be done in the same direction, and if it were only to read again 
previous conclusions in the light of widened experience, and review some of 
the many suggestions which have appeared in various pharmaceutical perio¬ 
dicals during the past year and a half, a few minutes might not be unprofitably 
spent. 
Such a retrospect naturally resolves itself into the same divisions as the original 
paper, and I propose to say a word on the questions of form, size , material , 
moulds , and method of operating as relating to suppositories and pessaries. 
Although opinions are pretty rapidly converging on most of these points, the first 
alone seems to be quite settled. A cone with convex sides—the form used ori¬ 
ginally I think in Edinburgh, seems now universally approved. The trifling 
modifications of this general shape adopted by the different makers of the moulds 
are of no practical consequence. 
-vol. IX. 
Y 
