PHARMACEUTICAL NOTICES. 
101 
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ART. XXIII. — PHARMACEUTICAL NOTICES. No, XIX, 
By Augustine Duhamel. 
Remarks upon Citrine Ointment. 
The difficulty of preserving, when made, the proper con- 
sistence and fine yellow color of this ointment, led Mr. Wm. 
R. Fisher, some ten years ago, to abandon the formula recom- 
mended by the U. S., Lond., Dub., and Ed. Colleges, and sub- 
stitute another; the successful result of some experiments made 
by himself upon various fatty matters, united with nitrate of 
mercury in solution. This formula, to which he gave a pre- 
ference, consisted in employing neatsfoot oil mixed with a 
small quantity of lard, in lieu of variable proportions of lard 
and olive oil, prescribed by the different Colleges, and still 
retained by the three last mentioned. The neatsfoot oil Mr. 
F. found to realize his wishes, in regard to durability of color, 
consistence, &c. 
At that period, the hardness of the citrine ointment, as 
made in the common way, was attributed to the action of the 
nitrate upon the lard, but this has since proved erroneous, by 
the more extended experiments of chemists upon the compo- 
sition of fatty matters generally, from which we learn that 
this solidity is due to the reaction of the nitrate of mercury 
upon the peculiar oleine of the olive oil. In fact, this solidi- 
fication is so characteristic, as to establish the nitrate of mer- 
cury as a test for recognizing the degree of purity of olive 
oil. 
While this solidification takes place with olive and some 
other vegetable fixed oils, it does not occur with the greater 
part of the animal oils. The object of this notice is to sustain 
an already expressed opinion, that other animal oils may sup- 
ply the place of neatsfoot oil without any disadvantage, espe- 
cially as the last is not so readily obtained as hog's lard. In- 
asmuch as a portion of lard is directed to be mixed with the 
