A universal formulary : containing the methods of preparing and administering officinal and other medicines. / by R. Eglesfeld Griffith.
- Robert Eglesfeld Griffith
- Date:
- 1851
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A universal formulary : containing the methods of preparing and administering officinal and other medicines. / by R. Eglesfeld Griffith. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
479/582
![—«— Setons are wounds kept in a suppurating state by means of some foreign body, •which prevents their healing. They are made by passing a seton needle, arrned with : a skein of silk, thread, or a slip of gum clastic, through a folded portion of the skin, withdrawing the needle and leaving the silk in the wound. If a scton needle cannot be procured, the punctui'e may be made with a thumb-lancet or bistoury, and the silk ■ passed through the wound by means of an eyed probe. The edges of the wound are : apt, however, after it has been discharging for some length of time, to become callous, :and the discharge to cease. When this occurs, the irritating substance should bo : smeared with some stimulating ointment. It should be recollected that much mischief I may result fi-om suddenly suppressing or removing either an issue or a seton. If this ; takes place, purgatives should be administered, and the discharge of the issue or the • seton checked as gradually as possible. Ointments are simple or compound fatty bodies of a soft consistence, which are applied to the skin by inunction. They are more consistent than liniments, but softer : than tjerates. Simple ointment consists of one part of wax and four of lard, melted : together and thoroughly mixed. This preparation is the basis of many compound I ointments. Compound ointments are of three kinds: one consisting of simple oint- :ment, combined mechanically with various substances; the second, formed by dissolving tthe active ingredients in melted ointment or lard; the third, made by uniting substances tto the fatty matters that induce a chemical action between them. Compound ointments of the first class are mixtures of the fatty basis with various 5solid and liquid substances; these are incorporated by trituration in a mortar, or on a s stone slab. When hard substances enter ihto the combination, they require to be I previously reduced to a fine powder, or, if they are soluble, to be rubbed into a paste Twith an aijpropriate menstruum, and then admixed. When extracts form constituents cof an ointment, if they are not of a soft consistence, they should be rendered so by ttrituration with water before they are mixed with the fatty body. The mixture of ttwo or more ointments may be effected by rubbing them together on a stone slab by imeans of a spatula. Compound ointments of the second kind are made by boiling recent vegetable ssubstances in the fatty basis, until all the water of vegetation is driven off; the heat sshould then be reduced to about that of boiling water, when the ointment is to be sstrained. Those of the third kind, as citrine ointment, are prepared by adding the ceonstituents gradually together, aided by heat and constantly stirring. Ointments are preserved by keeping them in glazed jars, with the surface covered mith tin foil. According to M. Deschamps, the admixture of a twenty-fifth part of Ibenzoin with the fatty matter used to make the ointment, will prevent or greatly rretard the process of decomposition (see p. 128). In the case of simple ointment, land those for highly irritable surfaces, this plan answers well; where it is inexpedient, the ointments should be renewed at short intervals. Cerates consist of a basis of wax and a fatty matter, with which other sub- ^stances are incorporated. They are of such a consistence as to be softened, but not inelted, by the warmth of the body. The general directions for making them are -similar to those for ointments. Many preparations of the present class are made by simply mixing or triturating ttheir component parts together. But when resins, wax, spermaceti, or concrete oils aare to be mixed either together or with fluid oils, it is better to unite them with the aid of l]heat, which not only liquefies the solids, but likewise renders them much more soluble in the liquids. Brisk agitation is required while the mixture concretes on cooling; otherwise, the solid ingredients will separate either mechanically or by crystallization! lEven in purifying lard or suet by fusion and filtration, it is right to stir the mass as iit cools; otherwise, the stearin or solid oil is apt to separate in part from the cluin or 'liquid oil, so that an irregular mixture of the two principles is obtained. A gentle 'heat is sufficient for making ointments, cerates, and the like, because most of the ingredients are easily fusible; and a strong heat must be avoided, for in that case acrid acids are engendered, which may alter the properties of the preparation. Hence](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b23982901_0481.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
