174 
Liquid  Soaps. 
Am.  Jour.  Ptaarm. 
April,  1902. 
alkaline  reaction.  A  few  drops  poured  in  the  palm  of  the  hand, 
after  previous  wetting,  will  give,  with  very  slight  rubbing,  a  copious 
lather  that  stands  up  well  for  a  considerable  length  of  time. 
Its  advantage,  in  surgical  practice  particularly,  depends  on  its 
detergent  action.  The  theory  of  this  detergent  action  was  men- 
tioned above,  and  we  need  not  repeat  it  here. 
For  washing  instruments  after  an  operation,  the  use  of  liquid 
soap  is  more  economical  and  requires  less  work  than  the  ordinary 
hard  or  sand-soap,  and  has  the  great  additional  advantage,  over  the 
latter  especially,  that  it  does  not  injure  the  soft  plating  on  the 
handles  of  the  instruments,  nor  would  it  effect  the  cutting  edges  of 
the  knives  and  scissors  as  would  the  gritty  particles  of  sand. 
Besides  the  advantages  that  such  a  preparation  has  for  the  needs 
of  the  surgeon  and  physician,  as  a  cleansing  agent  and  antiseptic, 
a  modification  of  the  same  formula  has  uses  that  are  entirely  for- 
eign to  those  at  the  bedside  or  the  operating  room. 
Using  the  same  formula,  but  omitting  the  ether  and  carbolic  acid, 
and  substituting  for  them  a  few  drops  of  an  essential  oil,  like  oil  of 
rose  geranium  or  oil  of  bergamot,  we  will  have  an  excellent  substi- 
tute for  cake  toilet  soaps  that  are  so  extensively  used  at  the  present 
time.  This  aromatic  soap  solution  has  advantages  in  various  direc- 
tions. To  facilitate  the  production  of  a  copious  lather  in  washing 
it  has  no  equal ;  as  a  substitute  for  shaving  soaps  or  shaving  creams, 
it  should  fill  a  proverbial  long-felt  want.  All  that  is  necessary  is  to 
place  a  few  drops  of  the  liquid  soap  in  a  shaving  mug,  wet  the 
brush  with  water  and  agitate,  or  stir  it  about  with  the  soap ;  in  the 
course  of  but  a  few  seconds  we  will  have  a  copious  and  permanent 
lather  that  answers  our  purpose  very  well. 
As  a  detergent  for  shampooing  it  is  excellent,  for  the  same 
reasons  that  it  answers  as  a  shaving  soap.  A  small  quantity  of  the 
soap  makes  a  copious  lather  that  removes  and  retains  dandruff  as 
well  as  the  grease  and  dirt  that  usually  accumulates  on  the  hair 
and  scalp. 
In  cases  where  more  than  one  person  uses,  or  is  expected  to  use 
the  same  soap,  as  in  public  lavatories,  there  is  always  more  or  less 
danger  of  transmitting  various  loathsome  and  more  or  less  disagree- 
able skin  diseases  from  one  to  the  other.  This  danger  could  be 
entirely  overcome  by  using  a  liquid  soap,  protected  as  this  would 
be  by  a  glass  vial.    In  addition  to  its  being  protected  from  contact 
