AVp0rn"'x879arm'}   Sodium  Ethylate,  or  Caustic  Alcohol.  iv7 
If  sodium  ethylate  is  to  be  sent  out  for  use  by  pharmacists  in  the 
solid  form,  I  agree  with  Mr.  Williams  that  the  solution  for  medical 
use  had  better  be  dispensed  by  the  process  of  dissolving  the  solid 
ethylate  in  absolute  alcohol.  The  proportion,  however,  which  he  sug- 
gests, I  part  of  the  solid  ethylate  to  2  of  alcohol,  is  under  the  mark. 
One  part  to  ij  would  be  the  better  proportion.  By  the  formula  I  gave 
in  the  "Lancet,"  I  aimed  to  save  the  time  of  the  busy  dispenser  who 
-might  only  have  absolute  alcohol  and  metallic  sodium  in  his  laboratory. 
By  experiments  I  found  that  a  solution  made  in  the  way  I  described, 
without  actually  crystallizing  out  the  ethylate,  answered  so  perfectly 
that  I  proposed  the  plan  for  convenience  sake,  and  specimens  since 
made  in  that  way,  and  which. have  been  submitted  to  me,  have  proved 
perfectly  satisfactory.  At  the  same  time  I  have  no  prejudices,  and  I 
bow  willingly  to  Mr.  Williams'  far  greater  pharmaceutical  knowledge 
and  skill — a  knowledge  and  skill  which  is,  certainly,  second  to  none.1 
I  have  one  word  more  to  add,  and  that  relates  to  the  mode  of  send- 
ing out  the  ethylate  to  the  profession  of  medicine  ready  for  use.  It  is 
best  dispensed  in  a  bottle  furnished  with  a  glass  stopper  ending  in  a 
pointed  glass  rod,  which  descends  into  the  fluid.  The  fluid  is  best 
applied  from  the  glass  point.  It  may,  however,  be  applied  very  neatly 
by  means  of  a  clean  quill,  cut  like  a  pen,  and  prepared  fresh,  that  is  to 
say  newly  nibbed  each  time.  When  the  glass  rod  stopper  is  not  at 
hand  the  pen  is  a  simple,  effective  and  inexpensive  method.  I  am  try- 
ing to  have  a  platinum  pen  or  pencil  made,  by  which  the  fluid  may,  in 
some  cases,  be  inoculated  into  a  part.  On  one  or  two  occasions  I 
have  applied  the  solution  from  a  small  glass  syringe;  but,  on  the  whole, 
the  glass  rod  and  quill  pen  are,  I  think,  the  best.  The  glass  brush  is 
very  inadvisable;  the  small  fibres  break  off,  and,  in  one  instance,  a 
portion  of  fibre  left  on  a  surface  touched  with  the  ethylate  caused  great 
pain  and  trouble. — Condensed  from  Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Dec.  14, 
1878,  P.  485. 
1  The  formula  which  I  ordinarily  prescribe  is  as  follows :  Put  |  a  fluidounce  of 
absolute  alcohol  (sp.  gr.  0795)  into  a  2-ounce  test  tube.  Set  the  test  tube  up  in  a 
bath  of  water  at  5o°F.,  and  add,  in  small  pieces  at  a  time,  cuttings  of  pure  metallic 
sodium.  A  gas,  hydrogen,  will  at  once  escape.  Add  the  sodium  until  the  gas 
ceases  to  escape,  then  raise  the  temperature  of  the  water  in  the  bath  to  ioo°F.,  and 
add  a  little  more  sodium.  When  the  gas  again  ceases  to  escape  stop  adding  sodium, 
or,  if  the  fluid,  which  by  this  time  will  be  of  gelatinous  consistency,  should  crystal- 
lize, then  stop.  Afterwards  cool  down  to  50°F.,  and  add  \  a  fluidounce  more  of 
absolute  alcohol.  With  specimens  of  the  ethylates  made  in  this  manner  I  have  had 
the  most  excellent  results.  — B.W.  R. 
