542 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS IN CHEMISTRY AND PHARMACY. 
ministration in capsules possesses several advantages: it is acceptable to the 
patient, it prevents the oxidation of the phosphorus, and it admits of a ready 
and accurate apportionment of the doses. The solution of phosphorus in 
ether has not furnished good results. The solubility of phosphorus in ether is 
very slight, and is only effected after long maceration. A capsule to contain 
1 milligramme of phosphorus must hold 40 to 60 centigrammes of ether (7 or 8 
grains). When several of these capsules are taken for a dose, so large an 
amount of ether produces gastric disturbances. 
Chloroform has constituted a more advantageous solvent than ether. One 
hundred parts of chloroform readily dissolve, at the ordinary temperature, two 
parts of phosphorus. Small capsules containing 10 centigrammes (1| grain) 
of this solution have been administered with excellent results. After the treat¬ 
ment has been continued for some time, however, unpleasant symptoms are pro¬ 
duced ; heat in the stomach, loss of appetite, and vomiting are apt to occur : 
these effects were at first attributed to the phosphorus, but M. Dujardin-Beau- 
metz now considers them to be, in great part, due to the irritant action of the 
chloroform on the gastric mucus. 
It results that almond oil has proved itself to be the best and most unobjec¬ 
tionable menstruum for the administration of phosphorus. Patients have taken 
twelve or thirteen capsules of phosphorized oil a day without experiencing any 
inconvenience or digestive disturbance,—a result not to be obtained with the 
other preparations. A process for the preparation of phosphorized oil is given in 
the French Codex of 1866. It directs 2 grammes of phosphorus to be dissolved 
in 100 grammes of sweet almond oil by the heat of a water-bath, the solution 
to be cooled, and the clear oil subsequently decanted from the deposit of crys¬ 
tallized phosphorus. M. C. Mehu has carefully examined this method of ope¬ 
rating, and finds the product to be, in several respects, unsatisfactory. The 
quantity of phosphorus which separates out on cooling is a variable amount, 
depending on the time allowed, the temperature, and the age and quality of the 
oil employed. The exact amount of phosphorus retained in solution is never 
known, and thus the dose of the preparation becomes uncertain. In many 
pharmacies the solution would not be kept in stock, but prepared as wanted; 
consequently, it would often be used before sufficient time had been allowed for 
the full amount of deposit to take place. Moreover, when phosphorus is dis¬ 
solved in ordinary sweet oil of almonds, there is a manifest action of the phos¬ 
phorus on the organic principles (albumen, resins, etc.) which the natural oil 
holds in solution. A yellow deposit gradually forms, becoming red by exposure 
to light, augmenting by time, and carrying with it a part of the phosphorus. 
It is not easy to decant the limpid oil from this separated matter, and filtration 
is impossible because of the injury which such exposure to air causes to the 
preparation. 
Some observers have regarded this deposit as amorphous phosphorus, formed 
by the action of light on the solution ; but M. Mehu has demonstrated that 
this is not the case, and has designed a very ingenious process by which phos¬ 
phorized oil may be easily obtained limpid, colourless, perfectly definite in 
strength, and unchangeable either by time or by exposure to light, provided 
contact with air be avoided. M. Mehu’s experiments have materially con¬ 
tributed to facilitate the medicinal administration of phosphorus. 
Preparation of Phosphorized Oil .—Some sweet oil of almonds, of a good 
quality, is heated in a porcelain capsule for about a quarter of an hour to a 
temperature of 150° C. (302° F.), then the heat is raised to near 250° (482° F.), 
and maintained at that point for ten or fifteen minutes longer. At first the va¬ 
pour of water is disengaged, then certain alterable organic matters are destroyed 
or volatilized, and at the same time the oil becomes almost completely colourless. 
Filtration renders this superheated oil perfectly bright and limpid, but if 
