AmNo°vUr"i92iarm* }  Therapeutic  Action  of  Cod  Liver  Oil.  759 
was  prepared  by  adding  a  newly  made  aqueous  solution  of  mer- 
curous  nitrate  to  a  3  per  cent,  solution  of  sodium  morrhuate  to 
complete  precipitation,  washing  and  drying  the  precipitate  in  a 
current  of  warm  air.  Collapsules  *  containing  3  grains  of  mercurous 
morrhuate,  representing  50  per  cent.,  i.  e.,  iT/2  grains  of  metallic  mer- 
cury were  made  at  our  request,  by  two  prominent  capsulating  houses. 
Many  of  these  collapsule  injections  were  made  and  have  been  found 
to  be  very  satisfactory.  The  contents  can  readily  be  expressed  from 
the  collapsules  without  preliminary  warning.  (The  amount  of  local 
reaction  produced  about  equals  that  obtained  with  the  ordinary  two' 
grain  "salicidol"  preparations.)  Patients  have  not  complained  of 
the  severe  local  reactions  so  common  with  the  ordinary  preparations 
heretofore  employed. 
MERCURIC  MORRHUATE. 
Mercuric  morrhuate  was  obtained  by  adding  a  warm  dilute 
solution  of  mercuric  chloride  to  a  warm  dilute  solution  of 
an  equivalent  amount  of  sodium  morrhuate,  slowly  and  with 
thorough  agitation.  A  reddish  yellow,  opalescent  colloidal  solu- 
tion resulted.  When  an  attefnpt  was  made  to  remove  the  sodium 
chloride  and  uncombined  mercuric  chloride  by  dialysis,  the  colloidal 
solution  of  mercuric  morrhuate  agglomerated.  For  this  reason  a 
more  suitable  preparation  for  intravenous  medication  was  obtained 
by  carefully  calculating  the  amount  of  mercuric  chloride  required 
and  making  the  suspension  neutral  to  phenolphthalein  by  using  a 
small  quantity  of  dilute  potassium  hydroxide.  This  kept  perfectly 
at  room  temperature  only  a  slight  precipitation  taking  place  on 
standing. 
It  was  found  that  syphilitic  patients  could  tolerate  as  much  as. 
3  c.  c.  of  this  suspension  intravenously,  without  producing  general 
manifestations.  In  one  young  girl  of  eighteen  years,  suffering  from 
congenital  syphilis,  temporary  symptoms  vascular  in  origin  developed 
after  giving  about  2  c.  c.  intravenously.  When  this  preparation  was 
added  drop  by  drop  to  ordinary  clear  human  serum,  no  precipita- 
tion of  protein  occurred.    When  added  to  freshly  drawn  blood  in 
*Mr.  L.  W.  CyreniuSy  of  the  American  Collapsule  Company  and  Dr. 
Sheridan  Baketel,  of  the  H.  A.  Metz  Company,  were  kind  enough  to  prepare 
these  collapsules,  using  the  same  medium  as  employed  in  the  preparation  of 
"salicidol." 
