SOLUBLE BOUGIES. 
619 
METHOD OE RECOVERING BISMUTH EROM SOLUTION. 
TO THE EDITOR OE THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
Sir,—The following simple process for removing bismuth from the very dilute 
solutions obtained during the preparation of the various salts of that metal may 
prove useful to some of your readers. 
If the liquid be not already acid, it is to be made so by the addition of a few 
drops of hydrochloric acid, and some pieces of pure zinc added; in a few hours 
the whole of the bismuth will be thrown down in the metallic form, and in a 
finely divided condition eminently fitted for re-solution in nitric acid. 
The precipitation is so complete that the addition of sulphuretted, hydrogen 
to the acidified supernatant fluid produces only a slight cloudiness; this test may 
serve as a register of the completion of the reaction. 
The above process, which is identical in principle with one which has been 
long used for recovering the silver from the waste solutions of photographers, 
was suggested to me by observing the effect of accidentally pouring the wash¬ 
ings from “ the manufacture ” of “ Liquor Bismuthi ” over an iron spatula. 
I may perhaps be allowed to take this opportunity of acknowledging, the 
courtesy of Mr. Albert E. Ebert, in forwarding to me a number of the American 
Journal of Pharmacy,’ containing a paper of his on the ‘ Preparation of Liquoi 
Bismuthi, 1 which subsequently appeared in your number for March, and also.o 
owning the justice of the corrections therein contained of certain inaccuracies 
in a former communication of mine to you, on the same subject. 
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
Thomas P. Blunt, B.A. Gxon., F.C.S. 
The Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury , April 17, 1866. 
SOLUBLE BOUGIES. 
In the ‘Lancet’ of May 12th will he found an account of a novel treatment of 
gonorrhoea and gleet, by Mr. Henry Thompson, from which we extract the following 
“We have been interested lately in observing a new process which is now being tried 
by Mr. Henry Thompson at University College Hospital, and which may possibly be 
found of much service. Believing that the imperfect action of injections depends upon 
the very short time that they are in contact with the mucous membrane, Mr Thompson 
conceived the idea of applying the astringent in such a form as would enable it to re¬ 
main for a much longer period in contact with the inflamed suiface. n er . s 
tion Messrs. Bell and Co. have constructed ‘soluble bougies,’ two or three mches ll J 
length, made of cacao butter, containing the drug it is wished to apply, ihey- ares cast 
in moulds, are perfectly firm and smooth, and may be used m any length, but that named 
has been deemed the best. A soluble bougie is equal in size to. about No. Sl or9'of.the 
catheter scale, and may be introduced (having been previously oded) by the patimit m 
self into the urethra, where the material gradually melts m the space oi about ten mi 
The patient is directed to slip one of these bougies into the passage on going to bed. 
“After trying many methods for retaining the bougie in situ , Mr. Thompson has 
adopted the following:—A piece of adhesive plaster is cut, nearly an mch. widrniI five 
inches long. A piece of Taylor’s stout lint, of the same size, is rolled up into a little 
pad and laid on the centre of the plaster, which is warmed, and applied along thelowei 
surface and dorsum of the penis, the prepuce meanwhile being fully re J ra ^e d . A second 
strip of plaster, half the width of the first, is then put closely around the glans penis 
transversely. The bougies are made to contain either a quarter of a gram of nitrate ot 
silver, a grain of tannin, two-thirds of a gram of acetate of lead or ten grams of mt 
of bismuth, as astringents; while others are sedative also, and contain t S 
opium, or two of belladonna. Other materials can,, of course, be employed By tbi* 
plan Mr. Thompson has satisfied himself that the active agent is kept for. several hours n 
contact with the urethral surface, and is, moreover, necessarily squeezed into the lacunae, 
which oftep, doubtless, escape being acted upon by injections. 
2 S £ 
