Many of the above-mentioned solutions may also be appropriately employed as mouth washes in various pathological conditions of that cavity. It may be desirable, in order to render them more agreeable for such local ap plication, to incorporate with them additional flavoring materials, such as mel boracis, etc., or to combine several ingredients in the same prescription.

Doses of Medicines for Collyria or Eye-washes.

In ophthalmic medication much greater delicacy is of course required in the selection of the appropriate agents and their doses. The following list will facilitate the practitioner in the choice of a remedy and also indicate to him the usual dose in which it is to be prescribed.

The solution is in distilled water, preferably rose-water, in a fluidounce of which the quantity specified is to be dissolved, unless otherwise stated:

Doses of Medicines for Injection into the Urethra.

The quantity mentioned is intended for solution in a fluidounce of distilled water.

Doses of Medicines for Injection into the Vagina.

The amount mentioned is intended for solution in a pint of water, unless otherwise stated. In gonorrhoea of the female, many of the solutions already mentioned under "Urethral Injections," which may not be repeated in this place, are also applicable, as a general rule, for vaginal injection, but the proportion of the active ingredient, and especially the quantity of solution employed, must be increased.

Doses of Medicines in the form of Suppositories.

The excipient usually employed in the formation of suppositories is oleum theobromæ, or cacoa butter, on account of its possessing the desirable consistence and fusibility for the purpose. Suppositories for young children should not weigh more than five or ten grains; for adults, they may weigh twenty-five or thirty grains. The U. S. Pharmacopoeia recommends thirty grains, the British Pharmacopoeia only fifteen. The usual dose of the active ingredient of the suppository may be from one and a half to two times that of the same medicine administered by the mouth. In city practice the physician usually mentions the quantity of the medicine in his prescription, leaving the exact size of the suppository to the manipulation of the pharmacist; or the latter keeps on hand a full line of ready-made suppositories in anticipation of the needs of the practitioner.

The general subject of suppositories includes those intended for introduction into the rectum, vagina, uterus and urethra.

Doses for Rectal Suppositories.

The quantity mentioned of each article is intended to be mixed with an excipient, preferably cacoa butter (oleum theobroma), according to the rules and manipula tions familiar to pharmacist and physician.'

sulphas, gr. ij.

Elaterium, gr. ss.

rhei, gr. xv.
stramonii, gr. j.

Extractum stramonii,
plumbi acetas, gr. ij.

gr. j;

Extractum stramonii, gr. j; acidum tannicum, gr. v.

Ferri perchloridum, gr. ij.

subsulphas, gr. j-iij.

Gallæ. (See Opium.)

Gambogia, gr. iij-vj.

(See Ex- Hydrargyri chloridum mite, gr.

Extractum belladonnæ, gr. 4-ij.

Extractum belladonnæ, gr. extractum opii, gr. ss-ij. Extractum belladonnæ, gr. 4-ss; plumbi acetas, gr. ij-iij. Extractum belladonnæ, gr. j; acidum tannicum, gr. iij. Extractum belladonnæ, gr. ij; morphiæ sulphas, gr. ss. Extractum conii, gr. ss-ij.

ergota (Squibb's), gr. ij-x. Extractum ergotæ, gr. v; assafoetida, gr. v. Extractum hyoscyami, gr. iij-v. (See Opium) Extractum krameriæ, gr. v-X. nucis vomicæ, gr. ss-ij. opii, gr. j. (See Extractum belladonnæ.)

46

V-X. (See Santoninum.) lodoformum, gr. iij.

Ipecacuanha, gr. ij-x.

Kino, gr. ij-v.

Morphiæ acetas, gr. -j.

66

murias, gr. -j.

sulphas, gr. 7-j. (See Extractum belladonnæ.) Morphiæ sulphas, gr. ss; acidum tannicum, gr. iij. Oleum theobromæ.

Opium, gr. -iv. (See Pulvis ipecacuanha compositus.)

Opium, gr. j; acidum gallicum, gr. ij.

Opium, gr. j-ij; acidum tannicum, gr. ij-v.

Opium, gr. j; extractum hyoscy-
ami, gr. ij-iv.

Opium, gr. j; galla, gr. v.
Opium, gr. j-ij; plumbi acetas, gr.
ij-v.

Plumbi acetas, gr. ij-v.

(For the officinal suppositories, Suppositoria, U. S. Phar., see Pharmacopeial Groups.)

Quiniæ sulphas, gr. j-iv.

Santoninum, gr. ij-v.

Pulvis ipecacuanhæ compositus, gr. | Sodii sulphas, 3j.

j-x.

Resina podophylli, gr. 1-j.

Sautoninum, gr. ij; hydrargyri

chloridum mite, gr. v.

Tinctura assafoetidæ, mxl.
Unguentum hydrargyri, gr. v.
Zinci oxidum, gr. viij-x.

Zinci sulphas exsiccata, gr. ij.

Doses for Vaginal Suppositories.

These conical preparations for the introduction of remedies per vaginam usually weigh about a drachm or more; and are shaped like a minié bullet, but somewhat larger. The quantity mentioned of each article is the proper dose for a suppository:1—

As elsewhere stated, suppositories are usually made with oleum theobrome as the excipient, but Dr. Meadows, in his address before the British Medical Association in 1871, remarks: "Inasmuch as it is no part of the function of the vaginal mucous membrance to digest fats, and as fats without digestion cannot be absorbed, and are apt, moreover, to hinder the absorption of other substances, it is desirable, I think, that we should not use greasy substances of any kind. For this reason I long ago gave up the employment of cacoa butter, and I now invariably use, as the basis of the pessary, gelatin and glycerine, into which we can put any ingredient we wish." Tannic acid, and other substances incompatible with gelatin, cannot, however, be thus administered.