Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Nov.,  1883.  / 
British  Pharmaceutical  Conference. 
581 
"  Remarks  on  Experiments  with  the  Ointment  Bases,  which  in  consequence 
of  its  great  length  was .  summarized  by  the  author.  The  object  of  the 
experiments  was  to  contribute  towards  clearing  up  the  pharmaceutical  side 
of  the  question  as  to  what  is  the  best  substance  to  be  used  as  a  basis  for 
ointments  in  respect  to  securing  efficiency  and  stability,  the  substances  ex- 
perimented upon  being  lard,  oil  and  wax,  and  mineral  hydrocarbons,  and 
the  experiments  having  been  continued  over  a  considerable  period.  It  will 
be  impossible  to  convey  any  adequate  idea  as  to  the  nature  of  this  paper 
without  the  publication  of  the  instructive  tables  by  which  it  is  accompanied 
and  the  conclusions  arrived  at  can  only  be  mentioned  here  in  the  briefest 
manner.  The  author  infers  from  the  results  of  his  experiments  that  the 
washing  and  straining,  or  washing  and  filtering,  of  lard  are  without  ad- 
vantage in  its  preparation  for  use  as  an  ointment  basis,  the  best  results 
having  followed  the  simple  process  of  melting  and  straining.  In  any  case 
the  condition  of  rancidity  in  lard  is  quickly  developed,  though  it  may  be 
obviated  to  a  very  large  extent  by  the  use  of  benzoin.  Mixtures  of  oil  and 
wax  are  stable  when  the  yellow  unbleached  wax  is  used,  but  not  when  the 
official  "  white  wax  "  is  used.  Of  the  various  hydrocarbons  hitherto  in 
use  as  ointment  bases,  the  author  is  inclined  to  award  the  palm  to  vaseline, 
but  he  says  that  he  has  found  it  to  develop  a  disagreeable  odor,  especially 
when  melted  with  paraffin,  "  white  wax"  or  spermaceti,  or  in  the  presence 
of  carbonate  or  acetate  of  lead,  but  the  odor  is  not  developed  when  yellow 
wax  is  mixed  with  it.  Another  new  hydrocarbon  basis,  called  "  white 
ozokerine,"  was  reported  to  have  given  more  satisfactory  results. 
Mr.  Siebold  then  read  a  note  on  the  "  Processes  of  the  British  and  United 
States  Pharmacopoeia  for  the  Determination  of  Hydrocyanic  Acid,^'  in 
which  he  stated  that  subject  to  the  correction  as  to  the  volume  of  silver 
nitrate  solution  required  to  indicate  a  certain  strength,  first  pointed  out  as 
necessary  by  Mr.  Cripps,  and  if  precautions  be  taken  for  the  absence  of 
chlorides  from  the  magnesia  and  hydrochloric  acid  from  the  hydrocyanic 
acid,  the  U.  S.  P.  process  is  as  reliable  and  delicate  as  that  of  the  B.  P.  In 
the  discussion  a  preference  for  the  B.  P.  process  was  expressed  by  Mr.  J. 
Williams  on  the  ground  that  hydrochloric  acid  is  almost  invariably  added 
to  hydrocyanic  acid  as  a  preservative,  and  Mr.  Siebold  pointed  out  that 
where  it  was  desired  to  repeat  the  determination  one  process  might  be  con- 
veniently used  to  check  the  other. 
In  a  paper  on  "  Iodine  in  Cod  Liver  Oil,^^  Mr.  E.  C.  C.  Stanford  described 
the  results  of  experiments  made  with  the  object  of  testing  the  statement 
attributed  to  Garrod  that  "Cod  liver  oil"  contains  0*06  per  cent.  The 
author  says  that  if  this  statement  were  true,  cod  liver  oil  would  be  the 
richest  source  of  iodine  with  which  we  are  acquainted  ;  but  although  he 
found  iodine  present  in  every  specimen  examined,  it  never  exceeded 
0*000434  per  cent,  the  mean  of  six  specimens  being  0"000322  per  cent.  Nearly 
double  this  mean  quantity  (0'000517  per  cent.)  of  iodine  was  found  in 
fresh  cod  liver,  and  the  metalloid  was  also  ascertained  to  be  present  in 
the  flesh  of  the  cod  and  the  Scotch  herring,  in  herring  brine  and  in  fulmar 
oil.  It  may  be  remarked  that  this  "statement  that  cod  liver  oil  contains 
0*06  per  cent,  of  iodine,"  which  in  the  "  blue  list  "  and  by  various  writers 
