324 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
wood frame, so that the tops could be easily trimmed, and the point of each 
matrix was perforated. The perforation was closed before ming, with a drop 
Fig. 1. 
of heated wax; the operation being finished and the whole cool enough, the 
pessaries were pushed out from the perforated end. The resulting cones 
after a little finishing at the points were as perfect as anything could be desired. 
The moulds shown by Mr. Morrison, of Edinburgh, at the meeting of the 
North British Branch of the Society in April last, differed from Maw’s 
earlier pattern chiefly in the shape of the cone, and the mode of lock¬ 
ing. Since they have been made by Messrs. Kemp and Co., they have been 
altered in both these particulars, and as the specimens on the table, kindly for¬ 
warded to me for exhibition, will demonstrate, they present no material dif¬ 
ference in mechanism from the London pattern. It is due perhaps to Messrs. 
Kemp to note the excellent finish of their work.* 
In order to lessen the weight of metal, and to reduce the amount of labour in 
the manufacture, by substituting lathe-work for 
hand-filing, Messrs. Maw and Son have more 
recently proposed to make the moulds on a cir¬ 
cular model, the cones to be drilled between 
two concentric rings of metal. The pattern sug¬ 
gested (Fig. 2) required but a few minor altera¬ 
tions, and though I should be sorry to find fault 
with the older form, which leaves little to be de¬ 
sired, I may say as the result of many trials that 
the newer one works admirably. 
I may conclude by noticing a few points 
of manipulation adverted to by those who have 
discussed the subject on some previous occasions, 
especially the difficulty which is supposed to exist in liberating the cones from the 
moulds. Many lubricants have been recommended for facilitating the process,— 
soft-soap, soap liniment, almond oil, condensed steam, glycerine and soap, diluted 
glycerine and others. I would just observe the less of these the better; if 
anything be really required, a mixture of equal parts of glycerine and w r ater 
is the least objectionable. To have the moulds perfectly clean and carefully 
polished inside is the first thing to be attended to, and if this be done further 
precaution need seldom be adopted. Electro-plated moulds offer many advan¬ 
tages, and although they were employed at first chiefly to avoid the decompo- 
Fig. 2. 
* The moulds exhibited were in gun-metal and not plated, but Messrs. Kemp and Co. have 
since informed me that they supply the same patterns electrotyped. 
