LTN IMENTUM FOTASSII IODIDI CUM SAPONE. 
453 
its instructions. They must look to the spirit of the instructions given, and 
consider what was the object contemplated, and what was aimed at and desired 
to be obtained in the product, not what it was possible to introduce or leave 
there without its being detected by the means given. He believed he was not 
claiming too much for the present Pharmacopoeia when he said, that no work of 
a similar description had been produced that was more full and explicit in the 
descriptions of processes for the production, identification, and testing of medi¬ 
cines, yet there were some who failed to find all they wanted in these respects. 
He had been sometimes almost ready to conclude that the error lay in the other 
direction, and that those who had to carry out the Pharmacopoeia were led to 
rely too much upon the instructions they found there, and too little upon their 
own resources. The object they had on the present occasion, however, was to 
draw forth the expression of opinion on these various points, and to obtain as 
much practical information as possible with reference to any of the details of 
the Pharmacopoeia. 
The Chairman said he would defer any observations of his own until a 
subsequent occasion, and would be glad to hear any remarks on the important 
subject before them. 
Dr. Redwood said he had received a communication on one of the subjects 
referred to in his paper, which he thought it might be convenient to have read 
before proceeding with the discussion. It was as follows :— 
LINIMENTUM POTASSII IODIDI CUM SAPONE. 
BY MR. J. BORLAND. 
The formula for this liniment appears for the first time in the British Phar¬ 
macopoeia of 1867, and, judging from the definite but simple directions given 
for its preparation, it might be inferred that, if these were strictly followed, a 
uniform product would at all times be readily obtained. 
That such is not the case, however, may be gathered from several notices and 
remarks which have appeared in this Journal at different times,* the most recent 
of which is that by Professor Redwood in the number for December last, 
wherein he says that some alteration in the directions for preparing this lini¬ 
ment appears to be called for. 
The necessity of having some alteration made in the formula is also referred 
to by Mr. Squire, in the seventh edition of his ‘ Companion to the British 
Pharmacopoeia.’ After quoting the authorized formula, he remarks, u That the 
directions for making this preparation have been insufficient, and caused a good 
deal of perplexity and loss to pharmaceutists, is pretty well known, and has 
called forth an amended formula in the ‘ Pharmaceutical Journal,’ April, 1868. 
This amended formula, however, in the hands of many, has failed to give gene¬ 
rally satisfactory results and, in a note appended to it, he states that the 
Castile soap, branded “ Emile Vincent ’’ and “ Honore Arvenon ” are those 
which answer the purpose. But, from experience, it is found that even these 
brands of soap do not at all times yield a product having the gelatinous condi¬ 
tion which it seems the liniment ought to have. Nor is it to be expected that 
any manufacturer of soap should on all occasions be able to send out a soap 
having the same uniform relative proportion of its chemical constituents. The 
olive oil of one season will differ from that of another in the proportions of 
oleate and palmitate of glycerine which they respectively contain, and conse¬ 
quently the soaps made from them will also vary in the proportion of oleates 
and palmitates which they contain. It is this variation, I believe, which has 
led to the numerous difficulties experienced in compounding this liniment. 
* Vide Pharm. Journ., pp. 26 and 35, July, 1869. 
