Am.  Jon r.  Pharm,\ 
August,  1894.  J 
Pharmaceutical  Notes. 
391 
confirmed  slave  to  their  use.  Without  the  knowledge  and  sanction 
of  the  doctor,  it  is  wrong  to  refill  this  class  of  prescriptions. 
At  times  powerful  poisons  are  prescribed  to  meet  individual  and 
special  requirements  for  the  time  being,  which  the  physician  does 
not  desire  continued  and  which  might  produce  bad  effects  if  taken 
by  someone  else.  Such  prescriptions  ought  not  be  refilled  unless 
so  ordered  by  the  prescriber. 
In  a  great  number  of  instances  we  compound  prescriptions  of  a 
harmless  nature,  containing  remedies  which  the  patient,  especially 
the  chronic,  must  take  for  some  time.  What  ought  to  be  our 
course  in  such  case  ?  I  believe  it  right  and  have  always  respected 
the  physician's  request  not  to  refill  in  any  instance,  but  am  I  or  my 
good  colleague  to  stand  by  this  principle  alone  and  suffer  our  dis- 
gruntled patron  to  go  elsewhere  to  be  accommodated  ? 
I  think  it  is  time  that  the  two  professions  have  a  clear  agree- 
ment on  this  point,  and  I  should  like  to  see  this  vexatious  matter 
presented  to  the  American  Medical  Association  through  the  section 
on  pharmacy  for  settlement ;  I  believe  it  would  make  many  doctors 
and  pharmacists  better  friends. 
Linimentum  Saponis. 
The  new  directions  for  making  this  preparation  are  not  good,  as 
the  powdered  soap  does  not  readily  enter  into  solution  when  instruc- 
tions are  followed. 
It  is  best  to  digest  the  soap  with  the  water  as  formerly  ordered, 
until  a  translucent  jelly  results,  then  dissolve  it  in  the  alcoholic 
solution  of  camphor  and  oil  rosemary.  Taking  eight  grams  of 
dried  soap  in  fine  powder  in  place  of  ten  grams  of  fresh  or  moist 
soap  in  shavings  for  100  grams  of  product,  is  an  improvement, 
because  it  insures  a  uniform  quantity  of  soap  in  solution  and  the 
amount  usually  remaining  in  solution  at  our  average  store-room 
temperatures.  Soap  in  shavings  as  formerly  directed  varies  very 
much  in  the  amount  of  water  which  it  contains,  and  therefore  is  not 
uniform. 
Sapo  Mollis  {Sapo  Viridis,  1880). 
The  1890  (J.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  directs  soft  sOap  to  be  made  from 
linseed  oil.    The  product  is  a  so<t  yellowish-brown  mass. 
The  1880  Pharmacopoeia  did  not  specify  which  fixed  oil  was  used 
to  make  it,  but  merely  defined  its  properties  and  described  its  color 
as  a  greenish-yellow. 
