SUPPOSITORIES. 
227 
Physicians  occasionally  prescribe  medicines  in  suppositories 
which  are  chemically,  if  not  medicinally,  incompatible,  especially 
when  mixed  together  in  the  presence  of  moisture.  In  all  such 
cases  the  ingredients  should  each  be  rubbed  separately  with  small 
portions  of  the  excipient,  and  then  all  thoroughly  incorporated 
together  with  the  remainder.  The  particles  •  of  each  ingredient 
thus  become  separately  enveloped  in  the  oily  vehicle,  and  are 
not  only  less  prone  to  react  upon  each  other,  but  do  not  evince 
the  same  tendency  to  separate  and  deposit  after  the  mixture  is 
liquified,  as  when  mixed  together  with  water  and  added  to  the  , 
excipient  in  the  state  of  fusion.  In  making  suppositories  of 
tannic  acid,  sugar  of  lead,  and  opium,  in  combination,  this  method 
has,  I  think,  peculiar  advantages.  This  plan  will  also  apply  to 
all  other  combinations  of  a  similar  character. 
Some  druggists,  I  understand,  are  in  the  habit  of  keeping  on 
hand  a  supply  of  plain  or  unmedicated  suppositories  of  cacao 
butter,  and  when  they  receive  a  prescription  for  suppositories 
they  make  an  opening  in  the  base  of  the  former,  in  which  they 
introduce  the  medicinal  ingredient  and  close  the  aperture.  This 
unpharmaceutical  and  reprehensible  practice  should  not  be 
countenanced  or  tolerated  by  the  medical  profession. 
The  bland  nature  of  the  butter  of  cacao,  together  with  its 
proper  consistence,  and  fusibility  at  the  temperature  of  the  body, 
seem  to  pre-eminently  fit  it  as  an  excipient  for  suppositories,  in 
preference  to  any  other  known  substance. 
From  about  the  first  of  October  until  about  the  first  of  June 
I  use  it  alone  ;  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  year  I  usually 
add  to  it  a  small  portion  of  wax.  The  exact  quantity  of  which 
necessary  to  use  in  all  cases  cannot  be  named,  as  that  will  depend 
altogether  upon  the  temperature  of  the  season,  and  the  nature 
and  quantity  of  the  added  ingredients.  Eor  instance,  if  the  lat- 
ter be  a  light  absorbent  powder,  such  as  galls,  tannic  acid,  &c, 
and  in  large  quantity,  little  or  no  wax  will  be  necessary  even  in 
hot  summer  weather;  whereas,  if  a  soft  extractor  other  soft  ma- 
terial be  added,  a  small  portion  of  wax  will  be  requisite,  in  the 
addition  of  which  the  operator  must  be  guided  entirely  by  his 
own  judgment;  and  care  must  be  taken  not  to  add  too  much,  or 
it  will  render  the  suppository  too  hard  and  infusible  in  the  rec- 
