530 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [December 30,1671. 
liquid is obtained, in from ten to twenty hours, which 
from Canadian castoreum is yellow or light brown, and 
from Siberian castoreum is dark brown. 
(4.) The Siberian castoreum powder when macerated 
for some hours in an ammoniacal solution gives a darker 
liquid than the Canadian. 
(5.) The alcoholic tincture forms with water a milky 
liquid, which, upon the addition of a little ammonia, be¬ 
comes clear if the tincture is made with Siberian cas¬ 
toreum, but remains cloudy if made with Canadian.— 
Journal ile Pharmacie et de Chimie. 
OBSERVATIONS IN PRACTICAL PHARMACY. * 
RY CHARLES SYMES, RU.D. 
(Concluded from page 505.) 
Suppositories. —These, as also pessaries and bougies, 
are now prepared more or less by most pharmaceutists. 
Those manufactured by wholesale houses are necessarily 
of some recognized composition and strength, and the 
pharmaceutist who purchases these only, finds himself 
awkwardly placed when they are required according to 
special formulae ; and in my experience this is most fre¬ 
quently the case. The demand, however, varies con¬ 
siderably in different establishments, and it becomes 
desirable that a simple and inexpensive means of pre¬ 
paring them should be in the hands of every one in the 
business. Some two or three years since, Mr. Redford 
exhibited at one of our evening meetings a small arrange¬ 
ment for forming tinfoil into moulds which were sup¬ 
ported ' in a dish of sand; and, after trying various 
methods, I have fallen back on tinfoil as the simplest 
form of mould. It is only necessary to cut it into small 
pieces, and roll it round the end of a piece of hard wood 
shaped into the form of a suppository, bougie or pessary, 
as the case might be, rolling it in the palm of the hand 
or on the counter to remove the creases, and the mould 
is ready; but the support ? I have found sand very 
inefficient unless a large surface is used; especially in the 
case of pessaries, they are liable to be pressed out of 
shape. A tin box, the lid of which drops inside to the 
depth of about half an inch, and which is perforated to 
receive metal shapes of the desired size, these being sunk 
below the level of the cover, forms an excellent support; 
it is clean to work with, the suppositories are easily re¬ 
moved, and in the summer, if rapid cooling is required, 
the box might be filled with cold water or ice and water. 
In the Pharmaceutical Journal for July a paper is 
published by Mr. Goodman, in which he says, referring 
to the materials of which suppositories are formed, 
“ The British Pharmacopoeia directs a mixture of lard 
and wax, which has a melting-point above the tempera¬ 
ture of the body, viz. 140°.” This gentleman had evi¬ 
dently got hold of the 18G4 Pharmacopoeia ; and it struck 
me as being rather remarkable that such a go-ahead 
people as the Americans should not be aware that this 
volume had become obsolete, and superseded by a con¬ 
siderably better one in 1867 ; and, further, that such a 
statement should have been published and passed in our 
Journal (as far as I am aware) without comment. As 
you are all doubtless aware, the British Pharmacopoeia 
directs the vehicle of suppositories to be formed chiefly 
of cocoa butter, with the addition of small quantities 
of lard and wax; but I have found cocoa butter alone 
to be much better than a mixture of the three at almost 
all temperatures, and, at the same time, their preparation 
is facilitated; in very warm weather the addition of 
a small quantity of pure white paraffin helps to give 
them consistency, and is far better than wax. In ope¬ 
rating with the unmixed material, the medicine should 
be rubbed with a little of the melted butter on a warm 
slab, and returned to the bulk of the vehicle when it is 
just beginning to thicken. 
* Read at a Meeting of the Liverpool Chemists’ Associa¬ 
tion, Nov. 23, 1871. 
Watery extracts (as of belladonna) are often pre¬ 
scribed in suppositories, and, in addition to being rather 
troublesome to prepare, they are not very efficient; in 
my opinion, the extract in getting divided into small 
particles surrounded by fatty matter is prevented, to a 
great extent, from acting on the mucous surface to which 
it is applied, and in melting the butter carries these par¬ 
ticles away, without much effect having been produced. 
A more elegant and efficient suppository is prepared by 
rubbing the extract with grated cocoa butter in a mortar 
thoroughly, then slightly melt and rub together again 
for some little time, lastly melt and strain; this has an 
uniform bright green appearance, is very efficient as a 
medicinal agent, and might be kept ready prepared in 
mass, merely diluting with cocoa butter to produce sup¬ 
positories of the desired strength when required. With 
regard to ext. opii being administered in this form, it is 
much less efficient than opium in powder, and is, I be¬ 
lieve, often prescribed by medical men without any idea 
of this, or of the difficulty in preparation ; and I think it. 
is a duty incumbent on us to call their attention to such 
facts, by this means we should do away with many dif¬ 
ficulties in dispensing, such as appear in the Pharma¬ 
ceutical Journal weekly, and render good service to 
the profession. 
We are all advocates of the separation of prescribing 
from dispensing ; but if we do not take our proper posi¬ 
tion, and communicate more freely the results of our 
experience to the medical profession, we shall frustrate 
the chief object for which this separation is desirable, 
viz. elegance and efficiency in medicine. As further- 
illustration of these latter remarks, let me call your at¬ 
tention to prescriptions containing tinctura guaiaci, such 
as the following:— 
P> Tinct. Guaiaci 5 ss 
Pot. Bicarb. 5 ij 
Spt. fEther. Nit. 5 iij 
Aquse ad 5 VJ. M. 
Now mix these ingredients in whatever order you please- 
and the resin will deposit in lumps, partly floating and. 
partly adhering to the sides of the bottle, and no amount 
of shaking will distribute it evenly through the mixture 
again. 
If, however, the proportionate quantity of powdered 
guaiacum (12 grains to 5 j) be first rubbed with a portion, 
of the water, and in finishing the mixture the proportion 
of spirit equivalent to the tincture be added, a homo¬ 
geneous and tolerably elegant mixture is formed, the 
powder being easily distributed through the fluid when 
required, even after it has been prepared some time. 
Any medical man, accustomed to prescribe a mixture 
similar to the above, will readily substitute the powder 
for the tincture, if his attention is called to these facts. 
Insecticides.—Many of the AnathemicTec , such as- 
chrysanthemums, chamomiles, etc., possess in the sexual 
parts of the flower a narcotic matter which has a great, 
effect upon insects, and will even kill small ones. In 
Pyretlirum roscum and P. cameum , just within the disk, 
this matter is found in considerable quantity. In order- 
to prepare the powder to advantage, only the centre of 
the flower must be used, which must be cut before the 
seed is fully formed. The Spaniards, to keep off gnats, 
bum the centres of the flowers of the horse daisy (Chry¬ 
santhemum leucanthemum ); and the powder of the may¬ 
weed (An them is Cotula ) has also been used for destroying 
insects. In some parts of Belgium this plant is fastened 
by the country people to branches where swarms of bees 
have settled (after they have been secured), to prevent, 
them from leaving the hive. The Mohammedans and 
Tartars have long employed the powder of the Pyrcthrum 
against all insects indiscriminately. To destroy flies, 
gnats and bugs, they burn it on an iron plate, which, 
they heat slowly, in order to produce more smoke.— 
Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
