Ceratum Cetacei. L. (Ceratum Spermatis ceti. P.L. 1787. Ceratum Album, P.L. 1745). Ceratum Simplex. E. It furnishes a soft and cooling dressing, and constitutes a convenient basis for more active combinations, as in the following instance.
Ceratum Plumbi acetatis. L. (Unguentum Cerussæ Acetatæ, P.L. 1787.) This is cooling for burns, excoriations, and inflamed surfaces.
Ceratum Plumbi Compositum. L. (Cerat: Lithargyri acetati compositum. P.L. 1787.) This is “Goulard’s Cerate” and is applicable to the same cases as the former cerate; the camphor which enters into its composition imparts a gently stimulating power to it; it proves extremely serviceable in chronic opthalmia of the tarsus, and for the increased secretion of tears, which so frequently affects the eyes of persons advanced in years.
Ceratum Resinæ. L. (Ceratum resinæ flavæ, P.L. 1787. Ceratum citrinum. 1745. Yellow Basilicon). Unguent: Resinosum, E. Unguent: Resinæ albæ. D. It is stimulant, digestive, and cleansing, and affords a very excellent application for foul and indolent ulcers.
Ceratum Sabinæ. L. Savine Cerate. It is intended to keep up a purulent discharge from a blistered surface; in practice however it is often found to fail from the difficulty of obtaining it good, since the acrid principle of the plant is injured by long boiling, and by being previously dried; the ointment also loses its virtue by exposure to the air.
Ceratum Saponis. L. This preparation was much used and recommended by the late Mr. Pott; in preparing it the greatest possible caution is required; the fire should never be too rapidly applied, the stirring should be uniform and incessant, and the heat should only be sufficient to keep the two compositions liquid at the time when they are united. The original intention of the cerate was to afford, when spread upon linen, a mechanical support to fractured limbs, and to keep the points of the bone in due apposition, while in consequence of the acetate of lead which is formed in the first stage of the process for its preparation, it possesses the virtues of a saturnine dressing. As a mechanical agent it may prove at once effectual and dangerous, for if it be applied before all inflammation and swelling have entirely disappeared, the inflamed vessels may be completely strangulated by its unrelenting pressure, and high erysipelatous inflammation, and a rapid state of gangrene may be the result.
Ceratum Simplex. A useful application to excoriations and sores.
Besides the above cerates, there are many magistral[[458]] preparations, of great practical value, and I must refer the surgical student for an account of them to that very useful little manual, entitled “Pharmacopœia Chirurgica.”
CETACEUM. L.
(Physeter Macrocephalus, Concretum sui generis.)