Olivae Oleum. Olive Oil. An oil expressed from the fruit of Olea Europaea, the European Olive; Lin. Syst., Diandria mon-ogynia; growing near the shores of the Mediterranean.

Sapo Durus. Hard Soap. [Sapo. U. S.] Soap made of olive oil and soda.

Sapo Mollis. Soft Soap. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] Made of olive oil and potash.

Glycerinum. Glycerine. [Glycerina. U. S.] A sweet principle, obtained from fats and fixed oils.

Descrip., Prop. & Comp. The olive fruit, used at dessert,, is a smooth, elliptical, single-seeded drupe, about 3/4 of inch long, and 1/2 inch in diameter, of a dark green colour. The oil, Oleum Olivae, called also Salad oil, is of a pale straw colour, with a slight and agreeable odour and taste; sp. gr. 0.92; congeals partially at about 36°; and consists of about 72 per cent. of Oleine, and 28 per. cent. of Margarine; it unites with alkalies and other bases, forming soaps; the two alkaline soaps are named Sapo durus and Sapo mollis.

Sapo durus, or the combination of the oil with soda, called also hard soap, is greyish-white, horny and pulverizable when kept in warm dry air, easily moulded when heated. It is often marbled blue or red, when of the Castile variety, from the presence of a little oxide of iron. Hard soap is soluble in water; the solution is precipitated by lime, lead, and some other metallic salts: it is composed of oleate and margarate of soda.

Sapo mollis, the combination of the oil with potash, forms a yellow, transparent, very soft substance, inodorous, of the consistence of thick honey; it is usually spotted with white points, from some crystallization having taken place; in other respects it agrees with soda soap; it is a compound of oleate and margarate of potash. Both hard and soft soap should be entirely soluble in rectified spirit, and should not impart an oily stain to paper.

Glycerine, a substance which is separated, when all ordinary fats and oils are saponified or distilled with superheated steam, from the oleine, margarine, or stearine, contained in them, is a slightly yellow or colourless syrupy-looking liquid, sp. gr. 1.260, very sweet, oily to the touch, mixing readily with water and alcohol; the watery solution does not ferment with yeast, nor does glycerine itself evaporate or dry at an ordinary temperature. Its composition is represented by the formula (C6 H8 O6); when decomposed by heat it evolves intensely irritating vapours. Glycerine possesses very remarkable solvent powers: arsenious acid, borax, many vegetable alkaloids and acids dissolve freely in it. Heated with starch (from 80 to 100 gr. to 1 fl. oz.) it forms a "plasma," which can be employed as an ointment.

Off. Prep. - Of Olive Oil. Linimentum Calcis. Liniment of Lime. (Solution of lime, two fluid ounces; olive oil, two fluid ounces.) [Solution of lime, eight fluid ounces; flax-seed oil, seven troy ounces. U. S.]

Linimentum Camphorae. Liniment of Camphor. (Camphor, one ounce; olive oil, four fluid ounces.)

Olive oil is also used in the preparation of the Linimentum camphorae compositum, Linimentum crotonis, of several plasters, and many of the ointments.

Of Sapo durus.

Emplastrum Saponis. Soap Plaster. (Hard soap, six ounces; litharge plaster, two pounds and a quarter; resin, one ounce.) [Soap, sliced, four troy ounces; plaster of lead, thirty-six troy ounces; water, a sufficient quantity. U. S.]

Linimentum Saponis. Liniment of Soap. (Hard soap, two ounces and a half; camphor, one ounce and a quarter; English oil of rosemary, three fluid drachms; rectified spirit, eighteen fluid ounces; distilled water, two fluid ounces.) [Soap, in shavings, four troy ounces; camphor, two troy ounces; oil of rosemary, half a fluid ounce; water, four fluid ounces; alcohol, two pints. U. S.] This liniment is commonly known by the name of Opodeldoc. Hard soap is also contained in many pill masses.

Therapeutics. Olive Oil is used in medicine internally as a demulcent in the form of emulsion; it may also be used as an enema: if taken in large doses it is slightly laxative, as is the case with almost all fixed oils: externally it is much employed in the form of liniment as a lubricating substance.

Soaps act as antacids, but are apt to disagree with the stomach from the liberation of the fatty acids contained in them, especially, as often happens, when not made of olive oil: they possess no particular value as internal remedies, and are more used as adjuncts to other drugs to aid in the formation of pills, than for their medicinal virtues. Soaps are used as external applications, and are more valued for their mechanical effects than for any special property they possess.

Glycerine is used on account of its physical properties as an adjunct to lotions in skin diseases, to prevent the surface becoming dry, or in the form of plasma; it has also been proposed as a substitute for oil in the treatment of some forms of deafness. It has likewise been used internally as a substitute for cod liver oil, but without much benefit.

Dose. Of olive oil, 1 fl. drm. to 1 fl. oz. or more, as a demulcent or laxative; of sapo durus or sapo mollis, as an antacid, etc, 5 gr. to 1 scruple; of glycerine, 1/2 fl. drm. to 2 fl. drm.

Adulteration. Soap made from animal oils or fats and potash, is very commonly employed in place of the officinal soft soap, and common hard soap is substituted for the Castile variety.

Manna. Manna. The juice (concreted) flowing from the incised bark of Fraxinus rotundifolia and Fraxinus ornus, Lin. Syst., Diandria monogynia; native of Sicily and Calabria. It is probable that both trees yield manna, and a similar substance can be obtained from Fraxinus excelsior, when growing in the southern part of Europe.

Description. Manna of the best description, called flake manna, forms long white pieces not unlike stalactite masses, from one to six inches in length, and about one to two inches broad, hollowed out and discoloured on the side which was attached to the tree; it is porous and friable; it may also occur in small masses, or tears, and when of an inferior kind, in broken and coloured fragments mixed with impurities. Manna has a sweetish odour and taste, but it is also rather bitter.

Prop. & Comp. Manna is readily soluble in water; it dissolves also in alcohol, and consists almost entirely of a peculiar sugar, named Manniie (C6 H7 O6), which crystallizes in four-sided prisms, is sweet, and differs from grape or cane sugar in not fermenting; a small amount of bitter matter also exists in manna, the nature of which is unknown.

Therapeutics. A very mild laxative, adapted for children; also a pleasant adjunct to some purgative draughts; it sometimes causes flatulence and griping.

Dose. 60 gr. to 1/2 oz. or more.

The leaves of Fraxinus Excelsior,or Common Ash (not officinal), have long been used in medicine, and within the last few years they have been much extolled in Germany and France in the treatment of gout and rheumatism; their real composition is unknown. From the author's experience of their effects in acute gout, he is not at all inclined to think highly of their value, for in several cases they failed to afford the slightest alleviation, when the use of other treatment was immediately followed by relief; in the treatment of chronic gout, when taken for a long time and in large quantities in the form of decoction of the leaves (half an ounce to the pint), they probably may have some influence in keeping off attacks.