Preparation  of  Mercurial  Ointment,  {^"^Ma? 
A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1880. 
prove  effective  it  must  be  given  in  sufficiently  large  doses,  not  less  than 
two  and  not  more  than  three  grams  to  adults, and  incase  the  convulsions 
reappear  after  the  sleep  produced  by  the  chloral,  one-half  of  the  for- 
mer dose  is  given. 
Chloral  hydrate  ought  to  be  given  internally  when  possible,  but  may 
be  injected  into  the  rectum,  or  hypodermically  if  the  patient  cannot 
swallow  it.  It  was  found  to  prevent  the  death  of  rabbits  poisoned  with 
five  times  a  fatal  dose  of  strychnia. 
2.  As  an  antidote  for  ammonium  salts,  chloralhydrate  is  not  only  not 
efficacious,  but  even  deleterious,  since  it  was  found  to  shorten  the  life 
of  poisoned  animals. 
3.  Chloral  hydrate  was  found  by  Browne  and  Amagat  to  merely  pro- 
long the  life  of  rabbits  to  about  eight  times  the  usual  duration  of  a  fatal 
intoxication  by  picrotoxin. 
4.  Chloral  hydrate  will  not  prevent  death  by  overdoses  of  santonin 
or  sodium  santonate,  according  to  Binz  and  Becker,  although  it  was 
observed  to  prevent  convulsions  if  previously  administered. 
5.  Chloral  hydrate  was  found  by  Husemann  and  Wehr  to  counteract 
almost  twice  the  fatal  dose  of  codeia,  but  no  more.  However,  it  greatly 
prolonged  the  life  of  animals  poisoned  with  twice  the  fatal  dose  or 
larger  doses.  The  authors  consider  it  nevertheless  far  less  reliable  than 
the  usual  antidotes  for  codeia. 
6.  Chloral  hydrate  is  no  antidote  for  barium  chloride,  carbolic  acid  or 
calabarina. — Archiv  d.  Pharm  ,  Dec,  1879,  p.  481-508. 
PREPARATION  OF  MERCURIAL  OINTMENT. 
By  E.  Dieterich. 
Translated  and  abridged  from  "Pharm.  Centralh.,"  Jan.  rst  and  8th,  1880,  by 
Louis  VON  COTZHAUSEN,  Ph.G. 
Few  preparations  have  ever  been  so  much  experimented  with  as 
mercurial  ointment,  and  have  busied  the  inventing  brain  of  as  many 
pharmacists,  whose  researches  ultimately  terminated  in  suggesting  a 
formula  of  their  own  for  preparing  it.  Having  tested  all  those  meth- 
ods which  did  not  seem  too  absurd,  in  order  to  be  able  to  pass  judg- 
ment on  their  respective  merits,  and  to  compare  them  with  my  own 
experience  in  its  manufacture,  1  report  in  the  following  my  observa- 
tions with  the  different  processes  arranged  in  the  chronological  order 
of  the  latter  : 
