^MS'fmT'}    Wiix,  Tallow,  etc.,  in  Suppositories,  129 
A  considerable  proportion  of  cetaceum  may  be  added  without  ma- 
terially aifecting  the  value  of  a  suppository  ;  at  least  ten  per  cent.,  if 
combined  with  the  butter,  will  produce  a  suppository  which  will  not 
be  likely  to  be  complained  of  by  the  medical  profession,  but  the  slow- 
ness with  which  this  alloy,  so  to  speak,  fuses,  makes  this  or  the  addition 
of  any  hardening  substance  a  serious  objection.  We  need  promptness 
of  action  in  the  application  of  medicines  by  suppository,  which  can  be 
best  secured  by  rapid  liquefaction  of  the  excipient,  and  no  mixture  or 
single  substance  combines  the  essential  requisites,  so  completely,  as  a 
good  sample  of  so-called  cacao-butter. 
The  addition  of  wax  to  cacao-butter  is  to  be  reprehended.  While, 
under  restriction,  a  mixture  may  be  formed  which  will  harden  more 
quickly  and  bear  more  handling  than  the  butter  alone,  the  reflecting 
pharmacist  will  bear  in  mind  the  slowness  of  its  fusion  at  animal 
heat,  and  the  consequent  suspension  of  the  medicine,  which  should  be 
diffused  and  deposited  over  as  large  a  surface  as  possible. 
Content  with  the  simple  fusion  of  such  mixtures,  the  ease  with 
which  they  may  be  manipulated,  and  the  temptation  to  dispense  quickly, 
the  more  important  fact  has  been  overlooked  by  many,  w4io  will  doubt- 
less correct  the  error  in  their  future  operations.  I  have  invariably 
found  that  when  the  additions  were  not  large  enough  to  render  the 
use  of  the  moulded  cones  inadmissible,  there  was  no  advantage 
gained  by  a  combination  of  base  or  excipient. 
With  regard  to  the  effect  upon  the  animal  tissues  of  such  applications 
of  hardened  suppositories,  I  can  only  say  that  where  they  are  of  such 
a  character  as  to  produce  local  irritation,  the  uneasiness  induced  re- 
quires their  removal ;  this  objection  is  now  but  seldom  met  with. 
Within  the  past  two  years  the  education  of  the  pharmacist  has  ma- 
terially advanced  in  this  direction,  so  that  no  store  of  repute  dispenses 
cones  that  will  not  at  least  fuse  at  animal  temperature,  however  slowly 
this  fusion  may  occur,  or  however  imperfectly  they  may  medicate 
from  the  suspension  of  the  medicine  until  its  ejection  by  the  action  of 
the  parts.  Those  having  but  occasional  prescriptions  for  them,  are 
now  in  the  habit  of  depending  on  the  larger  retail  establishments,  who 
furnish  the  trade  with  a  great  variety. 
There  need  be  no  apprehension  of  a  local  irritation  arising  from  the 
use  of  wax,  if  not  carried  beyond  the  proper  fusing-point.  As  much 
as  fourteen  per  cent,  is  used  by  pharmacists  of  good  repute,  without 
complaint  in  this  respect.    The  mixture  fuses  quite  slowly  at  animal 
9 
