THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
DECEMBER,  1872. 
CASTOR-OIL  SOAP  IN  SOAP  LINIMENT. 
By  L.  E.  Sayre. 
I  think  none  of  my  pharmaceutical  brethren  will  deny  but  that  the 
process  for  the  preparation  of  our  linimentum  saponis  can  be  improved 
upon.  It  is  almost  useless  to  point  out  the  imperfection,  for  all  who 
are  familiar  with  it  have  experienced  the  common  difficulty  attending 
its  preservation  during  the  winter  season. 
Castile  soap  contains  too  large  a  percentage  of  insoluble  constitu- 
ents (chiefly  palmate  and  stearate — the  old  margarate  of  soda)  to  be 
a  good  article ;  and  yet  it  is  the  only  commercial  soap  at  all  adapted 
to  the  purpose,  the  others  being  mostly  made  from  solid  fats. 
I  therefore  suggest,  to  obviate  the  annoyance  we  are  called  upon  to 
endure  by  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  1860  (until  we  see  what  the  revision 
of  1870  may  bring  forth),  the  substitution  of  castor-oil  soap,  which  is 
easily  prepared  by  boiling  castor-oil  with  solution  of  caustic  soda  un- 
til a  thick  mass  is  formed  which  can  be  drawn  into  threads,  then  a 
strong  solution  of  salt  is  added,  when  the  soap  separates  as  a  cohe- 
rent cake,  which  may  be  laded  out  into  paper-box  lids,  &c,  to  dry. 
My  attention  was  directed  toward  this  soap,  some  time  ago,  by  an 
article  published  in  the  "American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,"  1871,  p. 
165,  copied  from  the  "London  Pharmaceutical  Journal,"  in  which 
Mr.  F.  M.  Rimington  very  highly  recommends  its  introduction  into 
the  list  of  pharmaceutical  preparations  as  a  pure  medicinal  soap,  and 
using  it  as  the  medium  or  adjunct  for  administering  other  active  rem- 
edies.   Its  physical  properties,  he  says,  are  in  its  favor.    It  has  a, 
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