]  02  Lacto-Phospliate  of  Lime,  etc.  wif"* 
which  jervia  exists  in  Veratrum  viride,  but  am  pursuing  a  series  of 
investigations  on  both  this  and  Veratrum  album,  the  results  of  which 
I  trust  shortly  to  be  able  to  make  public. 
February  11,  1874. 
LACTO-PHOSPHATE  OF  LIME  AND  COD  LIVER  OIL. 
By  C.  G.  Polk. 
The  cry  of  "Eureka,"  which  has  ascended  so  loudly  over  the  new 
hobby,  lacto-phosphate  of  lime  and  cod  liver  oil,  it  seems  has  almost 
led  the  enthusiastic  members  of  the  medical  profession  to  hope  that 
the  great  specific  for  all  the  ills  to  which  flesh  is  heir  had  at  last  been 
found.  The  long  high-sounding  name  seems  to  invest  it  writh  solemn 
import,  and  leads  us  to  regard  it  with  respect  and  confidence.  It 
seemed  to  be  the  very  thing  for  a  proprietary  medicine  and  conse- 
quently it  did  not  take  very  long  to  secure  it  a  copyright. 
The  errors  of  the  combination,  outside  of  the  quackery  into  which 
it  has  been  run,  however,  immediately  concerns  us,  and  to  point  them 
out  I  am  prompted  to  indite  this. 
In  the  first  place  the  syrup  of  lacto-phosphate  of  lime  will  not  com- 
bine without  the  addition  of  adjuvants  with  cod  liver  oil  and  form  a 
homogeneous  mixture.  To  secure  a  perfect  admixture,  other  sub- 
stances must  be  introduced,  and  these  usually  are  acacia,  tragacanth, 
and  alkalies.  Against  such  a  compound,  when  freshly  made,  there  is 
perhaps  no  pharmaceutical  objection.  The  relative  amounts  of  cod 
liver  oil  and  lacto-phosphate  of  lime  are,  however,  not  so  uniformly 
required  under  the  varying  phases  of  disease,  age,  sex,  and  tempera- 
ment, as  to  enable  the  pharmaceutical  chemist  to  prepare  a  prepara- 
tion uniformly  adapted  to  every  case  or  one  as  well  adapted  to  secure 
the  best  remedial  effect  of  the  agents  as  when  proportioned  by  an  in- 
telligent physician  to  meet  each  individual  case.  This  can  be  done 
by  using  an  emulsion  of  cod  liver ;  the  one  suggested  by  Mr.  Rice  is  a 
good  formula,  to  which  the  syrup  lacto-phosphate  of  lime  may  be 
added  in  whatever  amount  desired.  Thus  we  would  ever  get  the 
article  fresh,  free  from  rancidity  if  good  oil  is  used,  and  have  an 
article  preferable  to  much  of  that  now  dispensed.  The  more  I  have  ex- 
amined the  syrup  of  the  lacto-phosphate  of  lime  and  cod  liver  oil,  the 
more  I  have  become  convinced  that  the  preparation  is  an  unfortunate 
one.    Cod  liver  oil  rapidly  becomes  rancid  and  unfit  for  administra- 
