Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1911. 
Petroxolin  Spissum. 
223 
This  yields  a  smooth  pale-yellow  ointment  and  if  the  above 
directions  are  carefully  followed  the  resulting  product  is  smooth 
and  creamy,  very  suitable  as  an  ointment  base.  It  is  essential  that 
the  mortar  be  warmed  so  as  to  insure  a  gradual  cooling  and  that 
the  stirring  be  continuous,  otherwise  the  mass  will  be  uneven  and 
granular. 
PETROXOLINUM  SPISSUM. 
THICK  OR  SOLID  PETROXOLIN  OR  PETROX. 
By  Otto  Raubenheimer. 
As  this  preparation  possesses  the  property  of  taking  up  at  least 
twice  its  weight  of  aqueous  liquids,  a  point  which  should  be  strongly 
emphasized  in  the  propaganda,  I  believe  it  should  therefore  be  of 
a  hard  consistency,  rather  than  creamy. 
One  of  the  ingredients  in  this  preparation  also  and  again  demon- 
strates the  necessity,  that,  in  order  to  avoid  confusion,  not  only 
the  potent  medicaments,  but  all  articles  of  the  same  official  title  in 
the  various  pharmacopoeias  of  the  world  should  be  identical  as  to 
quality,  purity  and  strength. 
I  refer  to  Paraffin,  which,  according  to  U.S.P.,  VIII,  has  a 
M.P.  51-57°  C.  and  as  low  as  46°  in  some  commercial  samples,  but 
which,  according  to  D.A.B.,  IV,  has  a  M.P.  74-80°,  and  which  was 
reduced  to  68°-72°  in  the  5th  edition  just  published. 
The  U.S. P.  product  is  a  petroleum  paraffin  while  the  German 
pharmacopoeial  product  is  a  refined  earth  wax  or  ceresin,  entirely 
different  in  physical  and  even  chemical  characteristics. 
As  the  origin  of  Vasogen,  etc.,  can  be  traced  to  the  "  Vaterland," 
therefore  the  German  paraffin  or  ceresin  should  undoubtedly  be 
used. 
Having  made  numerous  experiments  with  Solid  Petrox,  I  here- 
with present  three  samples  together  with  formulas : 
No.  I. 
No.  2. 
No.  3. 
30 
40 
(Ceresin       4  P.  =  24 
gm. 
Liquid  petrolat . . . 
22 
20 
Ung.  paraffin  60 
j  Wool-fat    I  P.  =  6 
gm. 
35 
27 
27 
(  Liq.  petrol.  5  P.  =30 
gm. 
Oil  la  vend,  flow  . . 
3 
3 
3 
5 
5 
5 
Strong  am.  wat. . . 
5 
5 
5 
100 
100 
100 
gm. 
