340 
YELLOW  WAX  COMPARED  WITH  WHITE,  ETC. 
National  Pharmacopoeia,  still  the  manipulation  differed  somewhat 
from  that  followed  by  Pharmaceutists  on  the  small  scale.  The 
material  was  fused  by  steam,  then  stirred  until  it  became  so  thick 
that,  on  being  run  into  cold  tin  cans,  it  would  congeal  in  a  few 
minutes.  Made  in  this  way,  it  was  not  quite  as  white  as  usually 
met  with  in  apothecaries'  stores  ;  but  a  thin  layer  on  the  surface, 
containing  more  wax,  and  being  firmer  on  that  account,  rather 
tended  to  counteract  the  tendency  to  become  rancid;  and  he  had 
repeatedly  examined  some,  several  months  after  its  preparation, 
and,  though  a  slight  odor  of  incipient  rancidity  was  observed, 
this  decomposition  had  not  proceeded  far  enough  to  unfit  it  for 
surgical  use.  From  800  to  1200  lbs.  were  frequently  run  off  in 
one  dav. 
Mr.  Brlnghurst  said  that  he  had  no  doubt  that  the  simple 
cerate,  like  all  other  preparations  made  at  the  U.  S.  Army 
Laboratory,  were  prepared  in  accordance  with  the  Pharma- 
copeia ;  but  he  had  opened  a  great  many  packages  issued  from 
that  institution,  and  found  them  all  rancid,  and,  in  his  opinion, 
unfit  for  dressing  wounds. 
Mr.  Maisch.  Early  in  1863,  he  had  proposed  to  make  simple 
cerate  with  yellow  instead  of  white  wax,  as  probably  furnishing 
a  preparation  not  so  prone  to  change  as  the  officinal ;  but  the 
surgeons,  who  had  to  decide  upon  it,  would  not  entertain  the 
proposition,  because  the  preparation  would  be  so  different  in 
appearance  from  that  with  which  the  surgeons  of  the  army  were 
familiar,  that  it  would  be  returned.  There  was,  however,  one 
reason  which  easily  accounts  for  the  rancidity  of  the  simple 
cerate  as  met  with  in  the  general  hospitals  and  on  the  battle 
field.  Mr.  Henry  N.  Rittenhouse,  who  is  present  at  this  meet- 
ing, and  who  has  acted  as  Medical  Purveyor  during  a  considera- 
ble period  of  this  war,  has  had  practical  experience  in  the  mode 
of  furnishing  medical  supplies  to  the  army,  and  could  give  better 
information  on  this  point  than  the  speaker.  Towards  the  close 
of  a  quarter,  the  Laboratory  would  endeavor  to  have  a  stock  of 
all  preparations  on  hand  to  fill  the  requisitions  of  the  various 
medical  purveyors,  who  made  theirs  three  months  in  advance. 
The  surgeons  in  charge  of  general  hospitals  likewise  made  their 
quarterly  requisitions  three  months  ahead,  and  they  were  usually 
