ON MEDICATED PESSARIES AND SUPPOSITORIES. 
545 
do with the therapeutics of either pessaries or suppositories, and hence my com¬ 
munication will be very much confined to what we may term their “practical 
pharmacy,” and I shall, in the first place, speak of suppositories. 
Although suppositories have long been used by medical men, we had no 
recognized officinal formulae for their preparation until the publication of the 
British Pharmacopoeia in 1864; since that time their employment has become 
very general. The Pharmacopoeia formulae are limited to two, namely, one for 
the administration of morphia, the other for the use of tannic acid. Probably 
every dispenser, in his experience, has found reason to bewail the clumsiness and 
want of definition in the directions for the preparation of both of those. In 
addition to the fact, that a mixture of lard and wax is by no means the best 
basis that can be used, the processes are needlessly complicated. So long as it 
was the custom to make the substance of a suppository or pessary a compara¬ 
tively soft ointment, there was an obvious advantage in coating it by dipping 
into a melted material containing a larger proportion of wax , for the sake of 
giving it additional firmness ; but why a body formed of equal parts of lard and 
wax should be dipped into a melted mixture of three parts of wax with eight 
parts of lard has always puzzled me, and whilst there are many objections to it 
I can see no good result to be obtained from the process. The use of sugar for 
dividing the morphia is equally open to objection, especially if a mould be used 
for forming the cones; I have seen suppositories made in this way with the 
sugar collected at the apex in a little, hard, sharp point; by no means a desirable 
armature under the circumstances. Medical men, too, complain that the dose of 
morphia is too small; and if the generally received opinion be correct, that a 
much increased quantity of a medicine is required when administered per anum 
(except in case of topical irritants like podophyllin), there appears some ground 
for the conclusion. Moreover, it is a desirable if not almost an essential quality 
in a pharmacopoeia preparation, that it should possess certain keeping properties, 
but these undergo considerable change from any prolonged exposure to the air. 
Having thus found as much fault as I may, consistent with due respect, with 
the Pharmacopoeia formulae, I propose to give the results of a number of ex¬ 
periments on those portions of the subject which affect us most nearly, namely, 
on the best basis and on the most convenient modes of forming suppositories. 
We may admit, to begin with, without fear-of contradiction, that the wax 
and lard basis is objectionable; and further, that if anything like a successful 
substitute be obtained, the process of dipping is unnecessary. 
Amongst the materials which have been proposed for such purposes none has 
so great a claim to our attention as the theobroma oil, or butter of cacao. Its 
great firmness, combined with low melting-point, and its non-liability to turn 
rancid even when in contact with metallic salts, are precisely the qualities we 
should first look for in providing a satisfactory medium. Its aromatic odour is 
also in its favour ; by keeping it becomes harder rather than softer, whilst its 
melting-point remains the same; it is easily obtainable, and the price is not 
such as to be any drawback to its use. So far as my experience goes, there are, 
per contra, but two minor objections to be stated : firstly, that it is somewhat 
brittle ; and secondly, in moulding the cones it does not leave the mould well, 
but is liable to adhere to the sides. To remedy these trifling defects, the least 
objectionable admixture seems to be a small proportion (5 to 10 per cent., 
according to the weather) of lard. If, as I suspect, the theobroma oil owes its 
keeping properties to the presence of an aromatic principle rather than to the 
more stable constitution of the fat itself, we should probably find that it would 
retain its character when mixed with a larger proportion of other material, 
and we might probably obtain a still better basis. A mixture of four parts of 
the theobroma butter with two parts of lard and one part of wax has pretty 
much the same good qualities as the butter itself, with the advantage of more 
