^58  NOTES  ON  PLASMA. 
come  into  more  general  use  as  it  becomes  more  extensively 
known." 
He  then  alludes  to  a  class  of  preparations  in  which  glycerine 
acts  as  a  useful  solvent,  and  in  which  the  resulting  compounds 
still  retain  the  fluid  form  of  the  solvent.  After  commending 
these  also  as  a  useful  series  of  applications,  he  proceeds  to  criti- 
cise the  names  by  which  they  have  hitherto  been  called.  He 
says : — 
"  If  glycerine  is  to  be  thus  used,  it  is  desirable  that  we  should 
have  some  name  that  could  be  conveniently  applied  in  pharmacy 
as  a  generic  name  for  solutions  where  it  is  employed  as  the  sol- 
vent. Some  names  have  been  already  proposed,  but  none  of 
them  appear  to  me  unobjectionable.  Solutions  in  glycerine 
have  sometimes  been  called  glyceroles,  but  this  name  is  sugges- 
tive of  a  property  the  reverse  of  that  which  glycerine  imparts. 
Glyceroleum  cannot,  therefore,  be  considered  a  suitable  generic 
name  for  a  class  of  preparations  distinguished  from  olea  and 
unguenta  by  the  possession  of  entirely  different  characters. 
Then  we  cannot  call  them  glycerides  or  glycerates,  because  these 
names  are  already  appropriated  as  chemical  names,  having 
different  significations  from  those  here  intended.  I  would  sug- 
gest that  the  name  glycemate  might  be  suitably  used  for  these 
preparations.  This  name  has  not  yet  been  appropriated  that  I 
am  aware  of,  and  it  seems  to  fulfil  what  is  required.  The  word 
glycemate  would  be  glycematum  in  Latin,  and  this  would  apply 
to  solutions  of  substances  such  as  I  have  named  in  glycerine. 
The  solution  of  starch  in  glycerine,  Mr.  Schacht's  Plasma,  would 
be  Glycematum  Amyli,  glycemate  of  starch.  Under  this  name 
it  would  be  included  among  other  solutions  in  glycerine  ;  but  as 
this  glycemate  of  starch  may  itself  become  the  basis  of  a  class  of 
external  applications,  while  others  of  the  glycemates  are  appli- 
cable for  different  purposes,  it  would  be  desirable  to  have  a  name 
that  could  be  used  as  a  generic  name  for  preparations  of  glyce- 
mate of  starch  with  more  active  ingredients.  Thus  the  glyce- 
mate of  starch  forms  a  good  vehicle  for  the  application  of 
aconitia,  atropia,  &c,  and  what  name  should  be  applied  to  such  ? 
I  would  suggest  that  the  name  Glycematum  Amyli  should  be 
abbreviated  into  Glycemylum,  which  would  be  a  synonym  for 
