METHODS  OF  MAKING  MEDICINES  AGREEABLE,  ETC.  527 
true  or  Ceylon  cinnamon  should  always  be  used,  as  it  produces  a 
medicated  water  of  delightful  flavor  and  agreeable  odor. 
Of  late  years  the  ligneous  portion  of  slippery  elm  bark,  which 
is  separated  when  this  bark  is  ground  from  the  mucilaginous 
portion  by  bolting,  has  been  used  much  for  cataplasms  in  place 
of  linseed  meal,  bread,  etc. ;  it  is  cleanly  and  sweet.  There  is  an 
article  call  spongio  piline,  imported  from  England,  made  of  a 
mixture  of  wool  and  sponge  attached  to  a  thin,  but  strong  sheet 
of  rubber.  It  is  used  by  simply  wetting  a  piece,  cut  to  the  size 
wanted,  with  water  (warm  or  cold) ;  the  impervious  rubber  keeps 
the  moisture  from  evaporating.  Infusion  of  tobacco,  belladonna, 
or  any  anodyne  or  narcotic,  can  by  means  of  this  substance 
be  eligibly  applied  externally. 
Ointments  when  prepared  extemporaneously  upon  prescrip- 
tions, should  have  used  in  them  as  a  vehicle  for  the  action  of 
remedies,  only  the  sweetest  of  lard  or  suet,  or  else  use  perfumes 
to  cover  any  disagreeable  odor  it  may  possess.  A  cerate  of  wax 
and  oil,  the  unguentum  aqua  rosse  and  glycerin  cerate,  are  eligi- 
ble vehicles  for  powerful  substances  exhibited  in  ointment.  These 
should  be  prepared  of  various  degrees  of  hardness,  so  as  to  cor- 
respond with  the  prepared  lard,  spermaceti  and  simple  cerate 
of  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia. 
Cantharidin  tissue,  blistering  taffeta,  cantharidal  collodion, 
solution  of  canthardin  in  oil,  solution  of  cantharidin  and  pure 
gutta  percha  in  chloroform — all  these  form  new  and  popular  sub- 
stitutes for  the  ordinary  blistering  cerate. 
I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  preparing  for  some  medical  friends 
an  embrocation  which  is  used  for  piles  in  place  of  the  nutgall 
ointment  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  prepared  by  dissolving  one  half 
drachm  of  hyd.  ale.  extract  of  tobacco  and  one  half  drachm 
\i  tannin  in  two  fluid  ounces  of  glycerin. 
Hat  Case — a  sort  of  oil  cloth — forms  a  useful  article  in 
spreading  plasters  ;  it  is  very  flexible,  accommodating  itself  to  any 
inequalities  of  surface,  and  does  not  allow  the  material  spread 
upon  it  to  penetrate  its  substance  so  as  to  show  upon  the  reverse 
side. 
It  seems  singular  that  Vallet's  mass  of  proto-carb.  iron  should 
not  be  more  generally  employed  in  place  of  many  other  more 
expensive  and  less  eligible  forms  in  which  iron  is  exhibited  ;  its 
