Amjunej9(Bfrm'}     Pharmacy  of  Liquid  Petrolatum.  263 
when  ease  of  manipulation  and  the  quality  and  stability  of  the 
preparation  are  considered,  the  formulas  already  proposed,  with 
acacia  as  the  emulsifying  agent,  are  superior  to  any  others  which 
have  been  offered. 
Although  without  the  strict  province  of  this  paper,  some  state- 
ments which  relate  to  the  therapeutic  value  of  this  substance  should 
be  cited;  the  difference  of  opinion  among  physicians,  however,  does 
not  alter  the  fact  that  as  pharmacists  we  should  stand  ready  to  dis- 
pense what  the  physician  orders. 
In  the  Practical  Druggist  (1899,  P-  I7)»  Dr.  Limerick  says  that 
clinical  experiments  show  that  liquid  petrolatum,  used  internally, 
possesses  no  therapeutic  value  as  a  nutriment  in  wasting  diseases, 
such  as  in  tuberculosis,  when  it  is  recommended  as  a  substitute  for 
cod  liver  oil.  The  text-books  attach  no  importance  to  its  use 
excepting  for  its  bland,  lubricating  properties.  The  claim  that  it 
possesses  antiseptic  properties  is  also  disproven,  since  various  bac- 
teria may  be  cultivated  in  petroleum.  He  states,  however,  that, 
administered  internally,  it  does  produce  slight  diuretic  and  diapho- 
retic effects.  In  the  same  journal  (1899,  p.  84),  Dr.  Robert  Hutch- 
inson reports  upon  a  series  of  experiments  undertaken  to  determine 
the  nutritive  value  of  petroleum  emulsions.  He  says  :  "  The  ques- 
tion has  long  been  a  mooted  one,  and  the  class  of  chemical  sub- 
stances to  which  petroleum  belongs,  offering,  as  it  does,  persistent 
opposition  to  chemical  action  (wnich  his  experiments  have  con- 
firmed), has  been  the  basis  for  these  suspicions." 
He  was  convinced  that  "  petrolatum  is  of  absolutely  no  use  at  all 
as  a  substitute  for  cod  liver  oil,  but  that  the  crude  petrolatum 
might  possess  some  value,  due  to  the  volatile  substances  contained 
in  it,  entering  the  blood  and  being  excreted  by  the  mucous  mem- 
brane. The  purer  the  petrolatum,  however,  the  less  active  will  it  be 
therapeutically." 
However,  as  a  nasal  spray  or  the  carrier  of  medicinal  substances 
for  application  to  inflamed  mucous  membrane,  liquid  petrolatum  pos- 
sesses those  qualities  which  admirably  adapt  it  to  such  a  use.  Being 
of  itself  non-irritating,  and  on  the  contrary  soothing  and  acting  as  a 
protective,  besides  being  odorless,  it  possesses  all  of  those  qualities 
needed  for  such  medications. 
Several  years  ago  Dr.  Alpers  (Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1901,  p.  117) 
proposed  the  use  of  liquid  petrolatum  as  a  substitute  for  the  oil  of 
