REMARKS ON SOME OP THE MERCURIAL COMPOUNDS. 55 
reasoning and experimental proof,) the activity of all the va- 
rieties of the blue ointments, as they are generally termed, 
must be owing to the presence and chemical combination of 
the protoxide of mercury with the fatty matter. If not, why 
are these changes in color observed in the ointment, which 
every one who has prepared and used it, must have noticed? 
Why is it, that an ointment of twenty-one grains of protoxide 
of mercury to one ounce of lard has been found by Mr. Do- 
novan to possess the same power of producing ptyalism when 
used in smaller quantities? (and recommendations from the 
different hospitals in England have testified to its effects.) 
Why is it, that in the various manipulations of gases with a 
mercurial trough, in which the hands are frequently dipped 
in contact with the mercury, that ptyalism is not produced? 
But those who uphold this theory must explain its action on 
the system when taken up by the capillaries in the metallic 
state; granting absorption into the capillary and lymphatic 
system in the metallic state, can it be proved that any metal 
exerts any influence on the system internally or externally 
applied, unless that influence is occasioned by its combination 
with some other agent, as oxygen, iodine, &c. 
When mercury has been proved in its metallic state to act 
on the system, as an exception to all other metals, or when 
acids can be found to act upon metals without oxidation, then 
it will be granted that the action of the preceding compounds 
are not dependent on the presence of the protoxide of mer- 
cury. 
Maryland Medical and Surgical Journal. 
