METHODS  OP  MAKING  MEDICINES  AGREEABLE,  ETC.  528 
bacco,  etc.,  in  place  of  the  cerates  as  now  prepared  from  these 
plants.  It  is  superior  to  oil  in  imparting  flexibility  to  collodion. 
Its  preservative  power  is  available  for  the  preservation  of 
vaccine  lymph,  the  recent  dry  scales  of  which  can  be  dissolved 
in  it  and  kept  unchanged  for  a  length  of  time. 
It  is  proposed  that  it  be  substituted  for  sugar  in  some  of  those 
medicinal  syrups  which  are  so  liable  to  ferment.  The  properties 
attributed  to  it  as  a  fattener  would  give  additional  value  to  it  as 
a  vehicle  for  ague  remedies,  as  in  syr.  ipecac,  syr.  scillae  comp. 
Its  bland  and  soothing  properties  when  applied  to  the  skin  in 
an  irritated  or  inflamed  state,  have  caused  it  to  be  much  used 
therefor.  And  I  have  seen  numerous  creams,  balsams,  lotions, 
etc.,  prepared  from  it  by  various  pharmaceutists,  many  of  which 
exhibit  skill  and  taste. 
The  lozenge  or  pastill  has  become  so  common  a  form  in  which 
to  exhibit  medicinal  substances,  powders,  extracts,  juices,  essential 
oils,  etc.,  that  I  shall  notice  herein  only  the  following  :  the  effi- 
ciency of  santonin  as  an  anthelmintic  has  given  rise  to  its  ex- 
tensive employment  in  the  form  of  a  bonbon  or  lozenge,  deli- 
cately flavored,  and  rose  colored ;  it  forms  in  this  shape  by  far 
the  best  and  most  eligible  "  worm  lozenge"  extant. 
The  preparation  termed  "  Lactinates"  find  some  favor  among 
medical  men  ;  they  are  simply  saturated  tinctures  of  any  medical 
plant,  inspissated  upon  cane  sugar,  or  sugar  of  milk.  The  appli- 
cability of  this  process  depends  upon  the  active  principle  of  the 
plant  not  being  decomposed  by  the  necessary  heat  employed  in 
preparing  them.  I  have  prepared  lactinates  of  sanguinaria,  ipe- 
cacuanha, hyoscyamus,  digitalis,  which  possessed  perfectly  the 
characteristic  ordors  and  properties  of  those  medicines. 
Homoeopathic  globules  are  made  of  flour  and  cane  sugar,  not  of 
milk  sugar,  and  why  can  we  not  learn  from  the  infinitesimal  dose- 
givers  something  ?  These  pellets  (the  largest  of  those  they  use 
weighs  J  of  a  grain)  could  be  made  of  any  size,  and  when  medi- 
cated by  means  of  concentrated  alcoholic  solutions  of  the  more 
powerful  alkaloids,  would  prove  a  very  agreeable  method  of  ad- 
ministering them. 
The  usual  methods  of  rendering  pills  less  repulsive  by  means 
of  coating  them  with  gelatin,  gold  or  silver  foil,  dried  mucilage 
of  linseed,  seems  to  be  far  superseded  by  the  new  and  elegant 
