Sapo.
Related entry: Soft Soap
Soap, Hard Soap, White Castile Soap.
Soap prepared from Sodium Hydroxide and Olive Oil.
Description.—White or whitish, hard bars, easily cut when fresh; or a fine, yellowish-white powder, having a faint, non-rancid odor, and an unpleasant alkaline taste. Soluble in water and alcohol, more readily by the aid of heat.
Preparation.—Linimentum Saponis, Soap Liniment (Opodeldoc), (Soap, Camphor, Oil of Rosemary, Alcohol, and water). This liniment is an ingredient of Linimentum Chloroformi (Chloroform Liniment).
Action and Therapy.—External. Soap enters into the formation of some pills, as of aloes, rhubarb, gamboge, podophyllin, and other resinous cathartics, and asafoetida, and those of compound extract of colocynth. Soap is detergent and with water may be used, as indicated, to remove scales and crusts in cutaneous diseases, but is less useful than soft soap for this purpose. It is to be preferred, however, where a very mild action is necessary, being less irritant than the softer preparation.
Internal. Soap is irritant to the stomach, but in small doses may be used as an antacid, and in cases of poisoning by the corrosive mineral acids.
