Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1884. 
Acium  Oleicum. 
13 
obtained.  Both  the  pharmacy  and  the  therapeutics  of  the  acid  and 
the  resulting  oleates  have  been  based  on  a  substance  which,  though 
comparatively  easily  obtained,  would  not  be  admitted  to  use  under  the 
officinal  description  and  tests,  and  yet  upon  this  substance  almost,  if 
not  all  the  medicinal  results  have  been  obtained  thus  far. 
When  the  oleates  first  attracted  much  attention  here  the  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  of  Revision  of  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  1880,  pub- 
lished in  "  The  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy"  for  January,  1873,  vol. 
xlv.,  p.  2,  a  process  for  obtaining  oleic  acid  of  sufficient  purity  for 
these  externally  applied  oleates,  from  the  commercial  acid  or  "  red  oil " 
of  the  candle  makers.  And  this  process,  with  slight  modifications  by 
the  writer  and  others,  has  been  followed  ever  since,  and  has  supplied 
all,  or  nearly  all  the  acid  used  in  medicine  up  to  this  time.  The 
authority  for  this  statement  is,  that  the  writer  believes  himself  to  have 
been  much  the  largest  user  of  oleic  acid  in  this  country  up  to  a  late 
date.  Having  commenced  to  make  the  oleates  from  this  acid,  in  1871, 
when  a  single  barrel  of  the  acid  satisfied  the  demand  for  a  yeara  these 
oleates,  without  the  least  advertising  or  drumming  of  any  kind,  have 
steadily  increased  in  use  until  this  year,  when  fifteen  barrels  was 
insufficient,  and  many  orders  for  the  acid,  in  large  quantities,  to  sup- 
ply other  makers  of  oleates,  had  to  be  declined.  Only  within  the  past 
year  or  two  has  the  demand  for  oleates  been  sufficient  to  attract  the 
attention  of  "  the  trade,"  and  now  that  they  are  being  largely  adver- 
tised, the  writer  does  not  know  what  acid  is  being  used,  except  that  he 
has  freely  told  every  one  who  has  asked,  the  source  of  his  own  supply, 
and  his  method  of  purification,  and  except  that  he  has  supplied  several 
makers  of  oleates. 
The  candle  makers  use  all  sorts  of  fats,  good  and  bad,  that  will 
yield  them  a  firm,  solid,  stearic  acid,  and  many  of  these  fats  they  buy 
cheaply  in  the  form  of  various  kinds  of  refuse;  and  they  continue 
their  process  all  the  year  round.  Much  of  the  fat  is  rancid  when  they 
use  it,  and  all  through  the  summer  it  is  all  apt  to  be  more  or  less 
rancid.  But  they  do  not  get  enough  scrap  fat,  and  inferior  stock,  and 
often  have  to  use  good  fresh  and  sweet  fats.  By  only  going  to  them, 
in  cold  weather,  and  by  watching  for  opportunities  when  they  are 
working  on  good  materials,  and  by  paying  full  prices  for  a  little  extra 
pains,  cleanliness,  etc.,  a  crude  acid  can  be  had  in  any  quantity  that 
is  quite  proper  for  medicinal  uses.  This  is  the  best,  and  perhaps 
exceptional  quality,  of  the  "  red  oil "  of  the  market,  and  when  this  is 
