Page 485 - My FlipBook

OLEATES. 483

DENTAL FORMULA.
For Neuralgia.
R. Ext. nucis vom gr.v
Zinci valerian ^ij
Ext. gentianae
^j.
Fiat pill No. XX.
SiGNA.—One pill 3 or 4 times a day.
OLEATES.
Medicinal oleates are, according to Dr. D. Shoemaker,
J,
definite chemical compounds or salts, having no excess of either
their acid or basic radicals, and Dr. Lawrence WolfF finds that
the best and readiest method of preparing oleates is by the double
decomposition of sodium oleates with solutions of neutral salts.
The sodium oleate is made by the saponification of oleic acid
with sodium hydrate. Dr. Squibb, howeve , is of the opinion,
that in the preparation of oleates, none are so good as those made
bv the direct union of the acid with the drv base, without heat-
ing, and that the preparation should always be either a liquid or
semi-solid which is easily and completely liquefied by the natural
temperature of the surface to which it is applied ; and he further
savs that in the rare cases where the excess of acid as a solvent
of the oleates proves an irritant to the skin, dilution with a bland
oil becomes admissible. The most common oleates in use are
those of mercury, zinc, lead, copper, aluminum, bismuth, iron,
arsenic, silver, aconite, atropine, morphine, veratria and strych-
nine. Oleates of the more active alkaloids, namely, aconitia,
atropia, strychnia and veratria, are usually made of the strength
of two per cent, of the alkaloid; the oleate of morphia usually
contains five per cent, of the alkaloid ; the oleate of quinine
usuallv contains twenty per cent, of the alkaloid. Dr. Squibb
says that all of these are very simply and easily made by putting
the weighed quantity of the alkaloid into a mortar, adding a small
quantity of the oleic acid, little by little, and triturating until the
alkaloid is completely dissolved. The strong solution thus made
is then poured into a tarred bottle, and the mortar and pestle
rinsed twice into the bottle with small quantities of oleic acid.
The proper weight is then made up by the addition of oleic acid.