454 
PHARMACEUTICAL MEETING. 
It is unfortunate, too, that the compilers of the Pharmacopoeia did not state 
that the product of the formula should have the consistency of a jelly, as this 
trifling omission, I am aware, has led to an epistolary warfare between two of 
our body, who each had received the same prescription to dispense containing 
the liniment in question. 
Both compounded it strictly in accordance with the Pharmacopoeia, and both 
differed in their product. The one, accidentally employing a suitable soap, hit 
upon the right consistency; the other, using a different soap, that of the Phar¬ 
macopoeia, dispensed it having no tendency to gelatinize, and consequently was 
called in question. Had the Pharmacopoeia been definite on the point of con¬ 
sistency, the liquid liniment would never have been dispensed at all. 
The admirable researches of Mr. Deane (‘ Pharmaceutical Journal,’ vol. xviii. 
o.s., page 461), on the making of soap liniment, have placed it in our power to 
prepare a liniment which will at all times gelatinize, and continue so for a very 
long time, and that, too, without having recourse to the employment of soft 
soap, or any other foreign to the Pharmacopoeia. According to Mr. Deane, 
hard soap contains a very considerable proportion of palmitate of soda, which is 
nearly insoluble in alcohol under a temperature of 60° or 70° F.; and this pal¬ 
mitate, when dissolved in alcohol at a temperature above that named, invariably 
yields a product having a jelly-like consistency. 
This fact enables me to propose to the Society a slight alteration in the for¬ 
mula which, so far as I have tried it, obviates every difficulty. 
Instead of using 1\ oz. of hard soap, I only use 1 oz., and for the other 
half-ounce I employ a corresponding weight of the impure palmitate of soda 
left from making linimentum saponis. By keeping this substance for some time 
the smell of camphor and rosemary departs, and when it is used in the propor¬ 
tion named, the directions of the Pharmacopoeia being in other respects closely 
followed, the liniment has an opaque gelatinous consistency, and remains so for 
several months. I have a sample past me which was made in June last, and it 
is still good, and only showing a tendency to liquefy at the sides of the vessel in 
which it is kept. 
Although the liniment in question is not much employed by medical men 
here, yet this suggestion may enable many to economize a substance for which 
no use was previously found, and give the opportunity for further researches 
on this residuary product, for which I am confident other pharmaceutical ap¬ 
pliances will ere long be found. 
Kilmarnock , January 4 th, 1870. 
Dr. Redwood said the communication of Mr. Borland seemed to contem¬ 
plate that the difficulty experienced had been in getting a firm, opaque, gelati¬ 
nous liniment; whereas he had always understood that the difficulty lay in the 
other direction,—that there was no difficulty in getting a liniment of that de¬ 
scription, although certainly there was sometimes a little tendency to separate. 
But the difficulty generally was to get that semi-transparent gelatinous liniment 
which more nearly resembled Steers’ Opodeldoc. 
The Chairman said there was, no doubt, a difficulty in producing the opaque 
kind of liniment at all times. He had seen experiments tried by several hands 
with the same materials, following the same directions, and yet the result pro¬ 
duced was not the same. The liniment would remain tolerably firm and opaque 
for some time, and then all at once it would separate. He had not yet tried the 
use of soft soap, but he expected that it would produce a clear liniment, and would 
be more permanent. 
The following communications were then made on subjects referred to in Dr. 
Redwood’s paper :— 
