338  YELLOW  WAX  COMPARED  WITH  WHITE,  ETC. 
yellow  wax,  «for  exhibition  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  a  specimen  of  which  is  on  the  table, 
and  will  be  found  to  have  kept  well,  and  in  fact  is  as  good,  if  not 
better,  than  the  specimen  of  officinal  cerate  made  about  six  weeks 
since. 
I  have  used  yellow  wax  for  several  years  in  making  u.  Gly- 
cerin Cream,"  and  have  never  known  it  to  spoil,  while  in  "Cold 
Cream,"  made  with  white  wax,  the  change  of  age  is  readily  de- 
tected. This  difference  is  no  doubt  due  in  part  to  the  preserva- 
tive influence  of  the  glycerin. 
In  making  suppositories,  I  have  for  a  long  time  used  the 
yellow  instead  of  white  wax,  for  giving  proper  consistence  to 
the  cocoa  butter,  and  find  a  decided  advantage. 
In  the  former  case,  the  original  chocolate  odor  is  well  pre- 
served, while  in  the  latter  there  is  a  rank  odor,  like  that  of  stale, 
burnt  coffee. 
About  two  years  ago,  while  the  armies  for  and  against  the 
Republic  were  contending  about  Spottsylvania,  I  was  one  of  a 
Committee  sent  from  our  city  to  Fredericksburg  to  care  for  the 
sick  and  wounded.  Having  a  knowledge  of  medicines,  I  was  at 
once  assigned  as  Hospital  Steward  in  the  main  hospital  of  the 
Second  Corps,  then  actively  engaged.  Large  supplies  of  dress- 
ing were  required,  and  I  had  occasion  to  open  and  inspect  many 
cans  of  simple  cerate,  some  bearing  the  labels  of  eminent  houses 
here,  others  that  of  the  U.  S.  Army  Laboratory';  all,  no  doubt, 
made  according  to  the  officinal  formula,  and  of  selected  materials; 
but  there  was  scarcely  any  of  it  I  considered  fit  to  dress  sores 
and  wounds,  requiring  a  bland  cerate  free  from  irritating  quali- 
ties, as  the  "Ceratum  Adipis  "  is  intended  to  be.  Let  us  for  a 
moment  compare  the  virtues  of  the  two. 
Selected  yellow  wax,  having  been  subjected  to  but  one  simple 
manipulation,  contains  a  trace  of  honey,  to  its  advantage  rather 
than  otherwise,  a  peculiar  balsamic  principle,  which  gives  it  a 
delightful  odor,  and  tends  to  preserve  not  only  the  wax,  but  all 
its  compounds  also,  and  a  yellow  coloring  matter  which  is  con- 
sidered its  objectionable  feature. 
Commercial  white  wax,  having  passed  through  several  manipu- 
lations, nearly  always  contains  a  considerable  portion  of  tallow, 
