i  86  New  Method  of  Making  Suppositories.  { ^^S^ 
(the  writer  has  grated  one  pound  in  three  or  four  minutes).  When  that 
is  accomplished,  and  the  grated  cacao  is  safely  on  the  shelf,  the  phar- 
macist need  have  no  horror  of  making  suppositories.  If  twelve  15- 
grain  suppositories  were  ordered,  containing  1  grain  of  pulv.opii  each,, 
all  the  pharmacist  has  to  do  is  to  weigh  about  168  grains  of  grated  cacao 
butter  and  12  grains  of  powdered  opium.  Mix  with  a  spatula  on  a  piece 
of  paper  or  pill  tile,  so  that  the  whole  will  be  thoroughly  incorporated,, 
and  throw  the  mixture  in  the  hopper  (letter  A\  and  by  simply  operat- 
ing the  lever  to  compress  the  mixture,  a  perfect  moulded  suppository  is 
made,  which  is  cut  off  when  the  mould  is  swung  around,  so  that  no 
variation  in  the  size  of  the  suppository  can  result.  The  same  process 
can  be  observed  in  the  making  of  almost  all  suppositories,  such  as 
morphia,  tannin,  carb.  lead,  quinia,  ext.  krameria,  etc.  When  aqueous 
extract  of  opium  is  ordered,  it  will  be  necessaey  to  keep  on  hand  the 
extract  in  a  dry  state,  so  as  to  admit  of  its  ready  pulverization,  which 
can  readily  be  done  without  detriment  to  the  extract  ;  besides,  it  is 
not  hygroscopic.  The  same  will  apply,  also,  to  the  other  alcoholic 
extracts,  hyoscyamus,  belladonna,  stramonium,  aconite,  aloes  and  rhu- 
barb, all  of  which  can  be  dried  and  kept  in  stock  by  the  pharmacist. 
The  advantages  this  machine  has  over  the  common  way  of  pre- 
paring suppositories  by  fusion  of  the  cacao  butter  and  incorpora- 
tion of  the  medicinal  agents,  are  many  ;  but  when  calomel,  prepara- 
tions of  lead  and  articles  of  very  different  specific  gravities  are  ordered,, 
in  the  old  way  it  is  impracticable  to  keep  them  equally  diffused 
throughout,  and  defeating  the  object  in  view — slow  elimination  and1 
absorption  of  the  active  ingredients.  They  can  be  summed  up:  Firsts 
Accuracy,  the  most  important  ;  perfect  and  uniform  results  are  obtain- 
able. Second.  Attractive  appearance  of  the  suppository,  presenting  an. 
elegant  finish.  Third.  Facility  of  preparation  and  dispensing  ;  a  pre- 
scription of  a  dozen  can  be  ready  in  less  time  than  as  many  pills  or 
powders.     Fourth.  Cleanliness  ;  the  mould  requires  no  cleaning. 
It  is  believed  that  the  machine  can  be  furnished  as  low  as  six  dollars,, 
thus  placing  it  in  the  reach  of  all. 
