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4. Find a container that will support this tube (or a number of these tubes) and can hold it (them) securely upright once it has been filled with the warm liquid mixture.

Foil Wrapped Snuggly Around the Pencil

A Completed Form

Tubes Standing Up in a Narrow Container

SIZE AND SHAPE

Rectal suppositories should weigh around 2–3 Gm each, smaller sizes being made for infants. Vaginal suppositories should weigh in at about 4 to 5 Gm each.

Rectal suppositories are retained more easily when they have been shaped to taper at both ends, the taper being greater at one end (the front or lead end). Vaginal suppositories are best shaped into a globular form or oviform (egg-shaped).

METHODS OF PREPARATION

There are two types of boluses or suppositories that I will discuss in this chapter. The first is made by using cocoa butter as a base, and the other is a product of a glycerated-gelatin base.

COCOA BUTTER

Cocoa butter, Oleum Theobromatis (also spelled Cacao butter), is a non-irritating, yellowish-white fat derived from the nut of the chocolate tree (Theobroma cacao). It is probably the best general base for boluses and suppositories. It is hard and wax-like at ordinary temperatures, but melts at 86 to 95° F. (30 to 35° C.). It can be incorporated with powdered herbs, small portions of aqueous substances, or with oils, and it does not become rancid. The cocoa butter melts from the natural temperature of the body and releases the herbs.

It is suggested that boluses be inserted at night prior to going to bed, so the person is lying horizontally, a more retentive position than standing up. The use of protective accoutrements is suggested to deal with any leakage that might occur.

Cocoa butter begins to liquefy to a semisolid when warmed to around 86° F. (30° C.) and it usually melts at 93 to 95° F. (34 to 35° C.), which is slightly below normal human body temperature. However, in certain circumstances, if the cocoa butter has been heated to about 97° F. (36° C.) and then quickly cooled in a chilled suppository mold, it solidifies into a less stable form which will then melt at about 73 to 75° F. (23 to 24° C.), rendering it difficult to handle and insert. A bolus in this state might not make it intact into the intended orifice. So it is worth knowing that for best overall results one should avoid overheating cocoa butter. This is best done by melting (liquefying) cocoa butter slowly with low heat (using a double boiler apparatus or a small glass beaker placed into a larger container which is half filled with warm water) and pour the liquefied cocoa butter into molds that are room temperature.

MAKING THE COCOA BUTTER BASE SUPPOSITORY

When using cocoa butter as the base, there are two basic methods for making boluses, the Cold Process and the Warm Fusion Process. The latter employs heating and the use of pre-shaped molds in which to cool and solidify the liquid; the former requires neither heat nor molds.

In the warm process, the powdered herb(s) is added to the melted base, poured into a mold, and allowed to cool. In the cold process, the herbal powder is incorporated with the unmelted base and the resulting mass is shaped by hand. As to which method is best, I’d say it pretty much comes down to which one you enjoy doing more.

Glass Beakers Set Up with Thermometer

Warm Infusion Process

The following warm fusion procedure takes into account that cocoa butter base herbal boluses, when they are not overheated and not too rapidly cooled, remain more stable and retain their ideal melting point of around 90 to 95° F.

1. Grind your herbal ingredients into as fine a powder as possible. Use the electric coffee bean grinder to grind the herbs and then run the ground herbs through a fine sieve to ensure that they are finely powdered. Weigh and make note of the amount of your herb powder for future reference.

2. Reduce the cocoa butter to small pieces by grating or shaving it. Avoid using large particles; they melt slowly and mess with the low temperature