Reprinted 'from, the New York Medical Journal, 
for May 30, 1896. 
A NEW SEMIFLUID PRODUCT, 
OLEO-STEARATE OF ZINC. 
By WALTER F. CHAPPELL, M. D., 
SURGEON TO THE MANHATTAN EYE, EAR, AND THROAT HOSPITAL. 
Medicinal remedies for intranasal, pharyngeal, and 
laryngeal use should be more or less fluid, non-irritating, 
protective, tenacious, and easy of application. Owing to 
the necessarily fluid character of spray and douche solutions, 
these conditions are not fulfilled by them ; neither do these 
solutions remain in contact with mucous surfaces long 
enough to produce their fullest remedial benefits. 
The semifluid oily preparation described by me in the 
Annals of Ophthalmology and Otology for April, 1895, met 
many of the objections to sprays, but the lard and petro- 
leum products of the base did not prove entirely satisfac- 
tory. The taste was unpleasant, and they did not retain 
the same density at all temperatures. 
Mr. W. J. Evans, of the house of McKesson & Robbins, 
has carried out certain suggestions of mine in the forma- 
tion of a new compound-oleo-stearate of zinc-which is 
chemically and pharmaceutically perfect, and is a valuable 
advance in the pharmacy of semifluid preparations. This 
stearic compound is prepared by combining a form of 
Copybight, 1896, by D. Appleton and CompaNt? 2 
OLEO-STEARATE OF ZINC. 
stearate of zinc with benzoinated liquid albolene, to make 
an opaque, semifluid, white, creamlike product, having a 
specific gravity at 60° F. of 0'832. It does not precipitate 
at the temperature of 212° F. and remains fluid at 14° F. 
and lower. It is neutral to litmus paper, almost tasteless, 
and entirely non-irritating to any mucous membrane. 
My experience with this preparation has been chiefly in 
the treatment of diseases affecting the linings of the upper 
respiratory passages, but it may be used as an effective ap- 
plication to the skin or to any mucous surface. In my ex- 
perience the oleo-stearate of zinc is specially valuable for 
intranasal applications in cases of diphtheria and scarlet 
fever, and in all diseases of the upper air tract occurring in 
young children. When applied in the nose with a camel's- 
hair brush, it clings for hours to the glandular openings or 
to any abrasions or spots of ulceration on the mucous mem- 
brane. It is readily diffused over the membrane of the 
nasopharjnx, pharynx, and larynx; it may also be applied 
to the latter with a medicine dropper. 
The oleo-stearate of zinc may, of course, be employed 
alone or in such combinations as the nature of the case in- 
dicates. The following combinations have, in the writer's 
experience, been most valuable: Oleo-stearate of zinc with 
balsam, of Peru, in conditions requiring stimulation and 
healing. With liquor plumbi subacetatis, in acute rhinitis 
or the coryza accompanying a common cold. With boric 
and carbolic acids, in copious watery nasal discharges and 
hyperaemic conditions. JFaVA iodine, in dry and atrophic 
rhinitis and ozaena. With tannic acid, in nosebleed, and 
catarihal conditions characteiized by yellow discharges. 
With camphor and menthol, it is cooling, and therefore avail- 
able in hav fever and coryza With acetanilide, it is applied 
after operations as an antiseptic and protective. With anti- 
pyrine, as a haemostatic in recurring epistaxis, and as a seda- OLEO-STEARATE OF ZINC. 
3 
tive in irritable conditions of the mucous membrane. With 
oleum pini pumilionis and eucalyptol, it is soothing and cura- 
tive as an intratracheal injection, in chronic bronchitis and 
asthmatic affections. With oleum pini pumilionis, as a seda- 
tive in irritable conditions of the nasal mucous membrane 
characterized by excessive sneezing. With orthochlor phenol, 
it is valuable in syphilitic ulcerations and ozaena.