Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  18S9. 
Oleoresin  of  Male  Fern. 
169 
mercury,  in  fine  powder,  Siij-foij.  Mix  them  carefully  together 
in  a  mortar  and  add  distilled  water  sufficient  to  form  a  pasty 
mass ;  throw  this  immediately  into  boiling  water,  and  boil  carefully 
until  a  yellow  oily  liquid  is  formed  ;  allow  to  cool,  pour  off  the  water 
and  wash  the  resulting  oleate  with  distilled  water  until  tasteless ; 
place  it  in  an  evaporating  dish  and  ou  a  water  bath  heat  until  all  the 
water  is  driven  off.  By  following  this  process  an  oleate  of  mercury 
will  be  obtained  resembling  very  much  recently  prepared  citrine  oint- 
ment. This  can  be  diluted  with  lard  or  lanolin  to  any  desired 
strength.  In  a  paper  by  Dr.  Shoemaker  these  oleates  are  recom- 
mended to  be  used  in  skin  diseases ;  and  in  speaking  of  oleate  of 
mercury,  he  calls  it  a  pure  oleate  of  mercury,  and  recommended 
it  to  be  diluted  when  used ;  for  instance,  to  make  a  twenty-fi  ve 
per  cent,  ointment,  it  was  to  be  diluted  to  one-fourth  ;  or  for  a  twenty 
per  cent,  ointment,  to  be  diluted  to  one-fifth.  He  recommended  lard 
as  the  best  diluent;  vaselin  or  cosmolin  being  not  so  readily  absorbed 
as  lard.  In  my  experience  I  have  found  lanolin  to  be  the  best  dilu- 
ent, as  it  is  more  readily  absorbed  than  any  of  the  above.  On  the 
table  are  two  specimens  of  oleate  of  mercury — one  proposed  by  Dr. 
Wolff's  process,  and  the  other  by  the  modified  method.  They  are 
both  over  a  year  old,  and  perfectly  sweet,  as  on  the  day  they  were 
made. 
OLEORESIN  OF  MALE  FERN. 
By  Wm.  G.  Greenawalt,  Ph.  G. 
"Ethereal  oil  of  male  fern  deposits  a  sediment.  Is  this,  or  the 
overlying  oil,  the  active  portion  ?  "  About  six  years  ago  this  ques- 
tion appeared  in  the  list  of  queries  published  by  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  and  thereafter  appeared  in  each  succes- 
sive list  for  the  next  two  or  three  years,  when  it  was  finally  dropped 
without  any  investigation  having  been  made. 
In  the  fall  of  1885,  my  attention  was  called  to  the  query,  and  I 
determined  to  investigate  and  if  possible  find  which  is  the  active  por- 
tion. The  U.  S.  P.,  and  all  the  literature  I  could  find  on  the  subject, 
concedes  to  the  sediment  active  properties,  directing  it  to  be  shaken  up 
with  the  oil  before  administration. 
The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  separate  the  sediment  from  the 
oil,  and  for  this  purpose  various  liquids  were  tried,  in  order  to  select 
the  best.  Chloroform  dissolved  both  oil  and  sediment,  forming  a  clear 
