Ointment Containing Much Water.

By JOHN H. EHLERS.
The following recipe was recently handed to me to be filled:

M.

I first intimately mixed the calomel and precipitate, then by degrees the sulphur, the turpentine, and finally a small portion of the lard. I now added a little, say two fluiddrachms of the acid, but entirely failed to get a mixture. As the acid is largely composed of water, the object was to dispose of the latter so that it might not interfere with the mixture. This was done by adding to the salve in the mortar a little wheat flour, with perfect success, after which lard, flour and acid were added alternately until the ointment was finished, leaving out of it as much lard as flour had been substituted. Four hours afterward, the ointment not having been called for yet, and the weather being very warm, it was found that some of the lard had melted, and was floating on the top, but readily mixed with the ointment again on making use of a spatula, but no part of the acid at any time separated from it.

Auburn, Ind., July 14, 1871.

The American Journal of Pharmacy, Vol. XLIII, 1871, was edited by William Procter, Jr. (Issues 1-4) and John M. Maisch (Issues 5-12).