MEDICINAL SOAPS.
Soap is often used for the conveyance of various medicants, antiseptics or other material presumably beneficial for treatment of skin diseases. While soap is an ideal medium for the carrying of such materials, it is an unfortunate condition that when incorporated with the soap, all but a very few of the numerous substances thus employed lose their medicinal properties and effectiveness for curing skin disorders, as well as any antiseptic value the substance may have. Soap is of such a nature chemically that many of the substances used for skin troubles are either entirely decomposed or altered to such an extent so as to impair their therapeutic value. Thus many of the claims made for various medicated soaps fall flat, and really have no more antiseptic or therapeutic merit than ordinary soap which in itself has certain germicidal and cleaning value.
In medicating a soap the material used for this purpose is usually added at the mill. A tallow and cocoanut oil base is best adapted for a soap of this type. The public have been educated more or less to the use of colored soap to accentuate its medicinal value, and green is undoubtedly the most popular shade. This inference, however, is by no means true for all soaps of this character. Possibly the best method of arranging these soaps is briefly to outline some medicinal soaps.