lOO 
On  Suppositories. 
Am.  Jour.  Phaim„ 
Mar.,  1875, 
objections  as  Mr.  Mclntyre's  in  regard  to  elegance  of  appearance.  To 
those  gentlemen  who  are  pledged  to  the  cold  process,"  this  mould  we 
regard  as  very  superior  to  anything  ever  offered  to  the  profession. 
In  a  recent  letter  to  us,  Mr.  Sloan  says  :  "  The  seat  or  foot  of 
brass,  in  which  is  turned  the  conical  cavity,  should  be  slightly  warmed,, 
otherwise  the  point  of  the  cone  may  break  off,  leaving  an  inelegant  ap- 
pearance Any  practical  pharmacist  can,  with  half  an  hour's 
practice,  prepare  suppositories  with  this  mould  expertly  and  rapidly,  it 
taking  no  more  time  than  a  lot  of  pills  or  powders.  Now,  for  a  man- 
ufacturer I  could  not  recommend  my  machine,  but  for  a  dispenser,  who 
has  frequent  calls  at  all  hours  for  perhaps  from  two  to  twelve  supposi- 
tories, I  think  the  ease  with  which  he  can  use  this  will  at  once  sug- 
gest itself  to  his  mind." 
Just  here  we  will  make  a  digression  in  favor  of  manufacturers  whom 
Mr.  Kennedy  so  soundly  berates. 
We  think  the  manufacturers  of  this  country  are  generally  as  honest 
as  the  retail  pharmacists.  They  do  not  "  prepare  suppositories,  hc.y 
regardless  of  the  equal  distribution  of  the  medicament,  never  once 
thinking  of  the  poor  sufferer,  who  expects  immediate  relief  only  to  be 
disappointed." 
We  have  had  some  experience  in  the  manufacture  of  the  pharmaceu- 
tical preparations  known  as  suppositories,  and  we  have  frequently,  in 
turning  out  a  gross  of  them,  calculated  the  quantity  upon  the  first  trial^ 
so  as  to  mould  one  hundred  and  forty-four,  no  more  nor  less. 
This,  we  think,  is  as  accurate  as  any  retail  pharmacist  is  in  the  habit 
of  preparing  them.  The  point  at  issue  seems  to  be  this  :  Many  of  our 
otherwise  intelligent  writers,  in  recommending  a  pet  process  through 
the  journals  which  has  little  to  recommend  it,  base  their  main  argu- 
ment on  the  stereotyped  formula  of  manufacturers  are  so  unreliable  ;" 
"  they  have  no  conscience,"  etc. 
It  is  of  no  use  ;  an  imperfect  or  impracticable  process  cannot  be 
foisted  upon  the  profession  and  trade  by  means  of  any  such  nonsense. 
In  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  the  best  mode  of  dispensing  supposito- 
ries with  dispatch,  insuring  at  the  same  time  a  perfect  distribution  of 
their  medicinal  ingredients,  avoiding  all  foreign  matter,  for  the  purpose 
of  hardening  and  giving  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the  cones  will 
melt  at  animal  heat,  is  the  following,  which  we  offer  to  the  readers  of 
the  "  Journal,"  hoping  it  will  be  of  benefit  to  those  pharmacists  who 
have  experienced  trouble  and  loss  of  time  in  their  preparation  : 
Place  the  mould,  preferably  a  hinged  one,  capable  of  holding  twelve 
