Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1879. 
Oleic  Acid  and  the  Oleates. 
9 
ten  per  cent,  of  mercuric  oxide,  renders  the  preparation  a  semi-solid, 
turbid  mass,  separating  finally  into  two  distinct  layers  of  mercuric 
stearate  and  oleate. 
I  have  found  the  following  requirements  necessary  for  oleic  acid 
intended  for  therapeutical  application.  It  should  be  of  a  light  yellow 
color,  readily  miscible  with  alcohol  of  92  per  cent.,  in  all  proportions, 
without  causing  turbidity  ;  should,  when  treated  with  a  solution  of 
ammonium  hydrosulphate,  give  no  dark  precipitate,  and  should  not,  on 
exposure  to  the  freezing  temperature  of  water,  congeal  or  grow  turbid. 
When  oleic  acid  and  the  oleates  were  first  introduced,  many  were 
the  expectations,  on  theoretical  grounds,  of  their  efficiency  in  the  treat- 
ment of  disease,  but  few  as  yet  have  been  realized,  no  doubt  owing  to 
the  inferior  articles  employed.  That  oleic  acid  and  the  oleates  are 
destined  to  take  a  most  important  part  in  pharmacy,  though  not  yet 
fulfilled,  is  rapidly  coming  true. 
The  oleates  of  mercury  are  already  in  daily  use,  and  will  make  con- 
stant progress  when  once  their  efficacy  is  well  known  to  the  medical 
profession  ;  that,  however,  to  this  end  we  must  furnish  true  oleates, 
and  not  oleo-stearates,  is  at  once  obvious. 
At  my  suggestion,  some  ophthalmic  physicians  of  this  city  have 
experimented  with  the  mercuric  oleate  as  a  substitute  for  the  unguen- 
tum  hydrargyri  oxidi  flavi  in  diseases  of  the  eye,  and  the  result  has  so 
far  surpassed  their  expectations  that  many  of  them,  both  in  their 
private  practice  as  well  as  hospital  clinics,  have  adopted  it  entirely, 
instead  of  the  old  ointment  of  yellow  mercuric  oxide,  as  it  furnishes  at 
once  an  article  that  will  not  decompose,  and  is  more  effective  and  less 
irritant.  As  the  oleate  is  more  active  than  the  ointment  holding  the 
mercuric  preparation  in  suspension,  but  small  quantities  of  it  need  be 
used,  and  the  following  formulae  are  employed  with  success  : 
R     Hydrargyri  oleatis,  10  per  cent.,  .  .    one  part. 
Unguenti  petrolei,  .  .  .  two  parts. 
M.  It  corresponds  to  an  ointment  containing  two  grains  of  the  oxide 
to  each  drachm. 
R     Hydrargyri  oleatis,  10  per  cent.,  .  .    one  part 
Unguenti  petrolei,  .  .  .  five  parts. 
Containing  one  grain  to  each  drachm. 
I  would  add  that  when  in  the  above  preparations  the  commercial  acid 
