Glycerol

(g/is’-er-d/) [yAvuvq, sweet], C3- H5(HO)3. Glycerin. A colorle substance, of syrupy consistence, sweetish to the taste, obtained from fats and fixed oils. Chemically it is a triatomic alcohol, and may be looked upon as propenyl alcohol. It is soluble in water and in alcohol; and has a specific gravity of 1. 25 at 150 C. It is used as a vehicle in pharmaceutic preparations, as an emollient application to chaps of the skin, as a laxative administered by the mouth or in suppository, for tampons in pelvic congestion, as a substitute for sugar in diabetes, as a mounting-medium in microscopy, and as an addition to bacteriologic culture-media. 299