CATAPLASM, poultice or plaster applied to sore parts to increase suppuration, relieve pain, stimulate the skin or some similar pur pose. It may be composed of any moist and pulpy substance that will retain the water with out dripping or soaking through thin muslin covering in which it is usually wrapped. Cata plasms are not official in the United States Pharmacopeia. The linseed-meal poultice is the most easily made, and most satisfactory of all soothing applications. The meal is stirred gradually into a sufficient quantity of boiling water, placed in the bottom of a small basin or teacup, until a perfectly smooth pulp is formed of the proper consistency, and in quantity suffi cient to cover completely, to the thickness of three-quarters of an inch, the whole painful part. The pulp is then folded up in muslin or thin calico and applied as soon as the heat will permit it to be borne. The bread and milk, or
even bread and water poultice, is also very good; as is also the oatmeal-porridge poultice, to which a little butter may be added with advantage. A spoonful or two of yeast may be added, if there are foul discharges, or char coal may be sprinkled on the surface of the poul tice before it is applied. Poultices made of clay and glycerin have great advantage over linseed or bread poultices in that they can be made aseptic. When considerable irritation of the skin in a short time is desirable, a mustard plaster or sinapsitn [sinapi, mustard] is used. The making of an effective poultice, however, is rather a delicate operation, since numerous little niceties must be considered and proper conditions observed before a desirable prepara tion is obtained. .