434 
Improved  Shape  for  Suppositories.  { 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Sept.,  1893. 
about  equal  division  of  the  retaining  and  expelling  force  of  the 
sphincter  ani. 
I  have  designed  a  suppository  which  1  believe  fully  overcomes  the 
difficulty.  It  is  practically  the  reverse  of  the  old  shape.  This 
improved  suppository  is  formed  with  a  thick  bulb  abruptly  pointed 
at  the  apex  like  a  fat  cigar  or  minnie  bullet,  and  gradually  tapered 
at  the  base. 
A  forty-five  grain  cacao  butter  rectal  suppository  of  this  shape 
is  one  and  a  half  inches  in  length  and  half  an  inch  in  diameter  at 
the  thickest  portion  of  the  bulb,  the  thickest  portion  being  half  an 
Fig.  i. — Rectal  Suppository. 
inch  from  the  apex  and  one  inch  from  base.  The  base  is  a  quar- 
ter of  an  inch  in  diameter  and  is  cut  off  transversely.  The  taper 
both  to  the  apex  and  to  the  base  has  a  somewhat  bulbous  curve, 
as  shown  in  the  accompanying  drawing. 
This  improved  suppository  is  inserted  with  the  thick  bulbous 
head  foremost,  and  by  the  reflex  contraction  of  the  sphincter  ani 
not  only  is  expulsion  prevented,  but  the  suppository  is  naturally 
held  in  position.  The  entire  muscular  force  acts  to  retain  and  press 
inward. 
These  suppositories  of  my  design  have  been  tested  in  one  of  the 
principal  London  hospitals  with  unqualified  success.    I  apply  this 
Fig.  2.— Urethral  Bougie. 
same  shape  suitably  modified  for  vaginal  suppositories,  also  with 
suitable  modifications  for  urethral  bougies. 
Any  pharmacist  who  desires  to  please  the  medical  profession,  and 
greatly  benefit  those  for  whom  he  dispenses — to  say  nothing  of  his 
own  profit  from  enterprise — may  by  a  small  outlay  procure  moulds 
for  preparing  suppositories  of  this  shape  from  any  mould  maker — 
they  are  neither  registered  nor  patented. 
