Paraffin  Oil. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharra. 
t      April,  1914. 
shaking,  several  hours  or  over  night.  Small  quantities  of  the  oils 
were  then  added  until  the  Phenol  was  completely  dissolved.  In  dis- 
solving the  Phenol  in  the  petrolatum  the  mixture  was  thoroughly 
stirred  while  heating  to  the  melting  point;  on  cooling,  the  mixture 
was  examined  microscopically  for  Phenol  crystals  and,  when  found, 
the  process  was  repeated  with  the  addition  of  small  amounts  of 
petrolatum  until  no  crystals  were  visible. 
RENEWED  INTEREST  IN  PARAFFIN  OIL.1 
By  M.  I.  Wilbert,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Within  recent  years  renewed  interest  is  being  taken  in  paraffin 
oil  for  internal  administration  in  the  treatment  of  intestinal  stasis 
or  chronic  constipation.  This  renewed  interest  is  largely  due  to  the 
fact  that  a  notable  English  surgeon,  Sir  W.  Arbuthnot  Lane,  in  his 
experimental  work  to  prevent  the  formation  of  adhesions  after  sur- 
gical interference  in  the  intestinal  tract,  found  that  paraffin  oil 
served  as  an  intestinal  lubricant  and  was  of  material  assistance  in 
overcoming  persistent  constipation. 
This  use  of  paraffin  oil  is  by  no  means" new,  however,  and-dates 
back  many  years  to  the  introduction  of  refined  petroleum  products 
by  Cheseb rough  and  others  about  1872. 
Previous  to  this  date  the  residues  in  petroleum  stills  had  little 
or  no  commercial  value  and  were  used  almost  exclusively  as  lubri- 
cants, more  particularly  axle  grease.  The  possibility  of  producing 
an  odorless  and  practically  colorless  oil  and  heavier  fat  by  compara- 
tively simple  methods,  presented  the  peculiar  problem  of  establishing 
a  market  for  products  of  this  kind  and  for  some  years  at  least  the 
substances  were  used  largely,  if  not  exclusively,  for  the  adulteration 
of  other  fats  and  oils,  and  it  is  this  use  of  vaseline  and  of  vaseline 
oil  as  adulterants  that  later  led  to  experiments  to  demonstrate  their 
possible  food  value  and  the  presence  or  absence  of  harmful  or  toxic 
ingredients.  Experiments  carried  on  by  N.  A.  Randolph,  Philadel- 
phia, about  1884,  not  only  demonstrated  that  the  heavier  petroleum 
products  were  not  absorbed  from  the  intestinal  tract  but  also  showed 
that  they  served  to  act  somewhat  in  the  nature  of  foreign  material, 
1  Presented  at  the  meeting  of  the  City  of  Washington  Branch  of  the  A. 
Ph.  A.,  March  18,  1914. 
