NOTES ON PLASMA. 
211 
“ In external applications, also, some improvement has been made. The old 
form of ointment has often been referred to as one calling for improvement; for 
what can be more offensive than a rancid unguent smeared over the skin ? The 
so-called Plasma, which was introduced by Mr. Schacht, of Clifton, in 1858, is 
certainly a great improvement in elegance and the absence of repulsiveness 
upon the forms previously used for similar purposes. This plasma, w^hich is 
a solution of starch in glycerine, has now been in use for several years, and 
there appears to be but one objection to it, which is that, if exposed to the 
air, it absorbs moisture, and is then liable to become mouldy. But it has 
several recommendations, and it will probably pome into more general use as 
it becomes more extensively known.” 
He then alludes to a class of preparations in which glycerine acts as a useful 
solvent, and in which the resulting compounds still retain the fluid form of 
the solvent. After commending these also as a useful series of applications, 
he proceeds to criticize the names by which they have hitherto been called. 
He savs:— 
4 / 
“If glycerine is to be thus used, it is desirable that we should have some 
name that could be conveniently applied in pharmacy as a generic name for 
solutions where it is employed as the solvent. Some names have been already 
proposed, but none of them appear to me to be unobjectionable. Solutions iu 
glycerine have sometimes been called glyceroles, but this name is suggestive 
of a property the reverse of that which glycerine imparts. Glyceroleum can¬ 
not therefore be considered a suitable generic name for a class of preparations 
distinguished from olea and unguenta by the possession of entirely different 
characters. Then we cannot call them glycerides or glycerates, because these 
names are already appropriated as chemical names, having different signifi¬ 
cations from those here intended. I would suggest that the name glycemate 
might be suitably used for these preparations. This name has not yet been 
appropriated that I am aware of, and it seems to fulfil what is required. The 
wmrd glycemate would be glycematum in Latin, and this would apply to solutions 
of substances such as I have named in glycerine. The solution of starch in 
glycerine, Mr. Schacht’s Plasma, would be Glycematum Amyli, glycemate of 
starch. Under this name it would be included among other solutions in 
glycerine; but as this glycemate of starch may itself become the basis of a 
class of external applications, while others of the glycemates are applicable 
for different purposes, it would be desirable to have a name that could be 
used as a generic name for preparations of glycemate of starch with more 
active ingredients. Thus the glycemate of starch forms a good vehicle for 
the application of aconitia, atropia, etc., and what name should be applied to 
such? I would suggest that the name Glycematum Amyli should be abbre¬ 
viated into Glycemylum, which would be a synonym for glycemate of starch, 
and a generic name for preparations consisting of what is now called Plasma, 
with the addition of other substances. 
We should thus have— 
Glycematum Amyli, Glycemate of Starch. Synonyms, — Glycemylum, 
glycemyle. Plasma. Solution of starch in glycerine. 
Glycematum Aloes, Glycemate of Aloes. Synonym, Glycerole of Aloes. 
Solution of aloes in glycerine. 
Glycematum Boeacis, Glycemate of Borax. Solution of borax in 
glycerine. 
Glycematum Caebolicum, Carbolic glycemate. Solution of carbolic 
acid iu glycerine. 
Glycematum Gallicum, Gallic glycemate. Solution of gallic acid in 
glycerine. 
p 2 
