I  IO 
Soluble  Medicated  Bougies. 
(Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      Mar.,  1878, 
tie,  although  when  immersed  in  water  for  a  time  they  become  flexible. 
They  seem  to  be  composed  of  molasses  and  gum  arabic  or  gelatin,  and 
are  variously  medicated.  # 
The  bougies  of  Messrs.  Allan  &  Co.  are  claimed  by  their  patent  to 
be  made  of  cacao  butter  and  glycerate  of  starch,  worked  into  a  plastic 
mass  by  means  of  mucilage  of  gum  arabic  or  tragacanth,  this  rolled 
or  divided  into  bougies  and  coated  with  gelatin  or  isinglass  by  dipping 
them  in  a  hot  solution  of  the  same.  They  are  medicated  variously, 
but  generally  are  put  up  in  the  form  of  a  proprietary  medicine.  They 
are  quite  soft  and  soluble,  but  are  not  very  flexible,  very  quickly  break- 
ing and  mashing  up  when  manipulated  for  a  few  moments,  and 
thus  offer  a  considerable  objection  to  their  use,  as  the  handling  neces- 
sary for  their  introduction  is  sufficient  to  destroy  them,  particularly  in 
warm  weather. 
About  a  year  ago,  I  commenced  the  manufacture  of  these  bougies  by 
a  method  of  my  own,  using  for  their  composition  a  mixture  of  glycerin 
and  gelatin,  similar  to  that  mentioned  by  Prof.  Parrish  in  the  "Am. 
Jour.  Phar."  for  April,  1872,  p.  188.  The  mass  made  in  this  man- 
ner is  suitably  medicated,  and  then  while  quite  hot  and  liquid  poured 
into  moulds,  which  are  represented  in  the  subjoined  drawing. 
These  are  made  of  two  plates  of  brass,  hinged  together  at  one  end, 
and  with  corresponding  grooves  cut  in  them  so  as  to  make  a  long,  thin 
cylinder  of  about  the  caliber  of  a  No.  8  bougie.  When  the  composition 
has  cooled  the  bougies  are  removed  from  the  mould  and  laid  on  wooden 
