64  COLD  CREAM. 
world  and  other  sources,  not  less  than  twentj-six.  Nearly  all 
of  the  old  formulas  contain  lard  as  the  base,  a  few  have  the 
addition  of  wax  and  suet.  The  first  mention  that  I  have  found 
of  the  employment  of  the  oil  of  sweet  almonds  and  spermaceti,  is 
in  Coxe's  American  Dispensatory,  edition  1831.  In  a  note  the 
author  says  :  "  Under  the  name  of  unguentum  aqua  rosse,  the 
U.  S,  Pharm.,  and  of  Phil.,  direct  two  ounces  of  oil  of  almonds, 
half  an  ounce  of  spermaceti  and  one  drachm  of  white  wax,  to  be 
melted  in  a  water  bath ;  and  two  ounces  of  rose  water,  to  be 
stirred  till  the  mixture  is  cold.  The  New  York  Pharm.  has, 
we  think,  done  well  to  discard  such  trumpery,  at  least  under  any 
supposition  of  the  two  ounces  of  rose  water  being  medimial.''  So 
I  presume  that  the  present  almost  universal  mode  of  making  this 
ointment  of  oil  of  sweet  almonds,  spermaceti,  etc.,  is  the  off- 
spring of  our  own  Pharmacopoeia. 
The  names  by  which  this  preparation  has  been  designated  are 
almost  as  various  and  numerous  as  the  formulas  offered  for  its 
manufacture. 
As  a  matter  of  curiosity,  and  to  show  to  those  who  are  not 
already  aware  of  it  how  this  ointment  was  prepared  in  the  days 
of  ^ore,  I  will  append  a  formula  which  I  copy  from  an  old  and 
valued  relic  in  the  possession  of  the  writer,  a  copy  of  an  old 
London  Dispensatory,  edited  by  Nicholas  Culpeper,  published 
in  the  year  1650,  and  now  nearly  220  years  old.  Judging  from 
a  survey  of  the  contents  of  this  book,  I  am  forced  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  pharmacy  at  that  period  was  really  in  its  infancy. 
Many  queer  old  formulas,  with  directions  and  observations  by 
the  author,  couched  in  quaint  and,  now-a-days,  ludicrous  lan- 
guage and  expressions,  are  to  be  found  therein. 
I  copy  the  formula,  with  the  comments  of  the  author,  verbatim 
et  literatim  : 
"  Unguentum  refrigerans,  Galenus. 
It  is  also  called  a  cerecloath. 
Take  of  white  wax  four  ounces,  oyl  of  roses  omphacine  a 
pound ;  melt  in  a  double  vessel,  then  powr  it  out  into  another, 
by  degrees  putting  in  cold  water,  and  often  powring  it  out  of  one 
vessel  into  another,  stirring  it  till  it  be  white  ;  last  of  all  wash  it 
in  rose  water,  adding  a  little  rose  water  and  rose  vineger. 
