Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1914. 
Liquid  Petrolatum. 
325 
local  applications.  The  product  having"  a  specific  gravity  above 
0.875  evidently  contains  a  considerable  amount  of  dissolved  solid 
paraffin  which  separates  out  at  temperatures  at  or  below  o°  C,  but 
readily  dissolves  again  at  temperatures  above  io°  C. 
There  is  considerable  difference  in  the  chemical  composition  of 
the  paraffin  oils  obtained  from  various  sources.  The  American  oil 
consists  largely  of  hydrocarbons  of  the  methane  series,  while  the 
Russian  oil  contains  naphthenes  or  hydrocarbons  of  the  benzene 
series,  having  the  empirical  composition  of  ethylene  (CnH2n),  which 
may  be  considered  as  hydrogenated  aromatic  hydrocarbons,  though 
they  behave  with  reagents  very  much  in  the  same  way  as  do  the 
hydrocarbons  of  the  methane  series. 
Mineral  oils  with  a  naphthene  base  are  best  suited  for  making 
white  petrolatum,  and  at  the  present  time  the  production  of  the 
colorless  water-white  liquid  petrolatum  appears  to  be  confined  largely 
or  almost  exclusively  to  the  crude  product  of  the  Baku  district  of 
Russia,  though  it  is  asserted  that  it  is  now  also  made  from  the 
Hanover  (Germany)  crude  oil  and  that  some  is  being  produced  by 
"  cracking  "  the  white  solid  paraffin. 
It  is  also  said  that  the  American  oil  can  be  made  water  white,  but 
that  it  is  not  being  so  produced  at  present  for  economic  reasons ;  the 
yellowish  oil,  free  from  fluorescence,  having  a  very  wide  sale,  both 
as  a  lubricant  and  as  a  substitute  for  lard  oil  and  other  of  the  more 
costly  lubricating  oils. 
From  a  pharmaceutical  point  of  view  it  would  appear  important 
to  note  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  oil  and  to  insist  on  absence 
of  color,  absence  of  odor  and  taste,  absence  of  acid  and  of  alkali 
and  a  specific  gravity  in  harmony  with  the  purposes  for  which  the 
oil  is  to  be  used. 
During  the  past  year  or  two  liquid  petrolatum  has  attracted 
considerable  attention  as  a  remedy  in  the  treatment  of  intestinal 
stasis  or  chronic  constipation,  the  practice  of  using  it  having  been 
developed  largely  through  its  recommendation  by  Sir  W.  Arbuthnot 
Lane  and  his  associates.  This  use  of  liquid  petrolatum  and  of 
petrolatum  products  generally  is  by  no  means  novel.  N.  A. 
Randolph,1  of  Philadelphia,  was  among  the  first  to  suggest  its  use 
for  this  purpose  in  an  article  published  in  1885.   Randolph  also  ap- 
1  Randolph,  N.  A. :  Therap.  Gas.,  1885,  ix,  732. 
