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Salve  Pencils  and  Paste  Pencils. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1886. 
SALVE  PENCILS  AND  PASTE  PENCILS. 
By  Dr.  H.  C.  Brooke. 
Dr.  P.  G.  Unna  describes  two  forms  of  application  to  the  skin  by 
means  of  salve  pencils  and  paste  pencils,  which  have  the  advantage 
of  being  more  convenient  and  more  economical  than  those  ordinarily 
in  use.  The  salve  pencils  (Salbenstifte)  are  based  on  the  model  of  the 
ordinary  lip-salve  pencils,  and  may,  when  suitably  medicated  (with 
zinc  oxide,  tar,  chrysarobin,  etc.),  be  rubbed  quickly  into  any  limited 
dry  eruption  of  the  skin,  which  thus  becomes  covered  with  a 
coating  of  hard  ointment.  The  paste  pencils  were  made  after  the 
idea  of  the  nitrate  of  silver  sticks,  and  are  intended  for  use  in 
those  cases  in  which  the  epidermis  is  broken  or  destroyed,  as  in 
eczema,  chancre,  or  the  various  forms  of  ulcer;  also  in  such  cases 
as  condylomata,  where  the  horny  layer  is  thin  and  fatless,  or  where 
the  surface  is  moist,  as  is  the  case  with  the  mouth,  anus,  conjunc- 
tiva and  urethra.  By  moistening  the  pencil  and  stroking  it  over  the 
surface  of  the  lesion,  a  thin  paste  layer  of  the  medicament  is  left 
behind. 
The  basis  of  the  salve  pencils  is  composed  of  olibanum,  resin,  olive 
oil,  wax,  in  varying  quantities  according  to  the  nature  of  the  medica- 
ment, with  the  addition  of  a  little  colophonium  to  give  greater  adhe- 
sive power.  The  medicaments  employed  may,  of  course,  be  any  of 
those  ordinarily  made  use  of  in  ointments.  The  basis  of  the  paste 
pencils  is  made  up  of  starch,  dextrin  and  white  sugar,  mixed  with  a 
small  quantity  of  tragacanth.  I  have  found  them  somewhat  hard 
and  scratchy,  and  think  that  they  might  be  made'  much  more 
useful  if  of  softer  consistence,  for  the  idea  is  undoubtedly  a  good 
one. 
I  have  used  "  salve  sticks  "  or  "  salve  pencils  "  regularly  for  some 
months  before  the  publication  of  Unna's  paper,  and  have  found  them 
a  very  valuable  aid  in  treating  limited  skin  eruptions,  whether  they 
are  simply  rubbed  into  the  skin  to  serve  as  an  ordinary  ointment  or 
rubbed  in  and  the  layer  thus  formed  then  covered  over  with  imper- 
meable plaster. — Med.  Chronicle,  August,  1886. 
In  addition  to  the  foregoing  abstract  of  Dr.  Unna's  paper,  which 
appeared  in  the  Monatshefte  f.  prakt.  Dermat.,  April,  1886,  we  select 
from  the  forty  formulas  published  in  the  latter  journal,  the  following 
as  examples : 
