Am.  Jour.  Pharm.l 
November,  1900.  / 
Ointments. 
517 
The  ointment  of  boric  acid  is  practically  identical  with  that  of 
the  German  Pharmacopoeia.  It  has  a  wide  field  of  usefulness  as  a 
mild  antiseptic  protective  dressing,  and  deserves  a  place  in  our 
Pharmacopoeia. 
The  other  formulas  are  all  more  or  less  familiar.  As  a  rule,  they 
are  modifications  of  official  formulas,  substituting  petrolatum  for  the 
usual  base.  The  ointments  of  belladonna,  nutgall  and  stramonium 
are  more  permanent  and  more  sightly  than  when  made  up  according 
to  the  official  formulas. 
It  will  be  noted  that  the  strength  of  the  ointment  of  yellow  mer- 
curic oxide  is  but  2  per  cent.  This  is  what  is  popularly  known  as 
Pagenstecher's  eye  salve,  and  is  what  the  majority  of  oculists  expect 
to  have  dispensed  when  they  write  for  "  Ung.  Hydrarg.  Ox.  Flav." 
The  10  per  cent,  official  ointment  is  considered  too  strong  to  be 
used  in  the  eye,  as  an  excess  of  mercuric  oxide  is  apt  to  be  irritat- 
ing instead  of  soothing.  Many  pharmacists  when  making  this 
ointment  do  not  devote  sufficient  care  to  reducing  the  masses  of 
mercuric  oxide  to  a  fine  powder,  and  as  a  result  dispense  a  more  or 
less  gritty  ointment.  These  gritty  particles  sometimes  act  as  foreign 
bodies  in  the  eye,  and  are  apt  to  be  quite  irritating.  We  have 
found  a  few  drops  of  oil  or  water  to  be  of  decided  advantage  in 
reducing  the  gritty  masses  of  mercuric  oxide.  In  making  up  quan- 
tities of  any  ointment,  it  sometimes  requires  considerable  ingenuity 
to  devise  ways  and  means  of  getting  a  satisfactory  product  without 
the  use  of  expensive  machines  or  the  undue  expenditure  of  time. 
Several  of  these  problems  we  have  solved,  at  least  to  our  own  satis- 
faction. For  instance,  in  making  ointments  of  boric  acid  or  sulphur, 
we  have  found  it  to  be  of  advantage  to  melt  the  petrolatum,  remove 
it  from  the  source  of  heat,  and  just  as  it  is  about  to  congeal,  sift  in 
the  required  powder  through  a  fine  sieve,  constantly  stirring  the 
mass.  By  this  means  a  homogeneous  mixture  may  be  readily  and 
easily  obtained. 
In  making  the  ointment  of  zinc  oxide,  we  first  thoroughly  dry 
the  powder,  then  incorporate  it  with  a  portion  of  the  melted 
petrolatum,  keeping  the  mixture  quite  hot ;  this  mixture  is  sub- 
sequently run  through  a  No.  40  sieve,  and  the  sieve  rinsed  out 
with  additional  portions  of  the  melted  petrolatum,  until  the  required 
quantity  has  been  added  ;  then  stir  until  cold.  This  process  assures 
a  smooth  ointment  in  which  the  oxide  of  zinc  is  finely  divided  and 
thoroughly  incorporated  with  the  ointment  base. 
