ON  GLYCELiEUM  :  A  PROPOSED  BASIS  FOR  OINTMENTS.  59 
ointments  and  with  plasma,  I  imagine  to  be  these.  Ointments 
are  greasy,  prone  to  rancidity,  do  not  "touch,"  in  a  strict  sense, 
watery  surfaces,  and  are  not  easily  removed  from  the  surfaces 
to  which  they  become  attached.  On  the  other  hand,  they  are 
cheap,  they  are  fatty,  and  they  are  repellent  of  moisture. 
The  chief  objection  to  plasma,  of  which  I  know  little  and 
therefore  shall  say  little,  is  that  it  is  dear.  I  have  heard  that 
in  use  it  is  troublesome,  in  consequence  of  its  proneness  to  deli- 
quescence. My  other  objection  may  seem  fanciful,  but  it  is  a  fact 
that  I  cannot  look  with  favor  on  a  dressing  for  wounds  that  does 
not  contain  some  fatty  substance.  Fats  have  been  used  for  that 
purpose  from  the  very  earliest  ages.  The  use  of  oil  is  mentioned 
and  recommended  in  the  Bible,  and  fat  in  some  form  or  other  is 
still  universally  employed  by  men,  civilized  or  savage,  in  the 
dressing  of  external  wounds.  Its  great  and  overwhelming  ad- 
vantage is  its  cleanness  in  use.  It  is  readily  removed  by  spong- 
ing. It  "  touches  "  completely  the  parts  to  which  it  is  applied. 
Glycelgeum  is  cheap,  it  is  easily  sponged  off,  it  "touches  "  wet 
surfaces  and  combines  with  them  to  form  an  emulsion,  resembling 
somewhat  in  character  the  pus  wdiich  nature  pours  out  for  the 
defence  of  rawT  surfaces.  It  does  not  deliquesce  to  a  disagreea- 
ble extent,  nor  does  it  soften  by  the  heat  of  the  diseased  parts. 
It  is  capable,  as  I  have  indicated,  of  an  immense  amount  of  varia- 
tion. I  have  never  observed  it  to  become  mouldy  or  rancid  from 
keeping. 
Glycelseum  has  been  little  tried  as  a  remedy.  I  have  had 
difficulty  in  finding  persons  to  make  trial  of  it.  Dr.  Tilbury 
Fox  has,  however,  at  Mr.  D.  Hanbury's  suggestion,  made  some 
experiments  with  it,  and  reports  "  that  he  likes  it  very  much. 
That  it  is  a  capital  thing  where  it  is  a  desideratum  to  get  hard- 
ened parts  into  a  more  '  supple '  condition."  Although  I  can 
bring  but  one  testimony  in  its  favor,  it  must  be  allowed  to  be  a 
first-rate  one. 
Still  less  trial  has  been  made  of  Glycelaeum  as  a  vehicle  for 
the  administration  of  oils  and  balsams,  though  it  would  not  be 
difficult  to  find  stomachs  that  support  with  difficulty  castor  and 
cod-liver  oils,  and  balsam  of  copaiba.  As  "oiled"  melted  but- 
ter is  known  to  upset  a  weak  stomach,  whilst  well-made — i.  e., 
