306 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS There are several ways out of this dilemma. One is to market a product which gives little or no color, yet looks colored and gives a beautiful sheen so that the customer is convinced that she has achieved the promised "color highlights." Another is to limit the product primarily to profes- sional use so that only persons skilled in the art will apply it. l,ess de- sirable is to damage the hair uniformly, pretreating it by some process such as a peroxide bleach. The soundest approach however seems to be the application of a light transparent color film which allows a natural sheen to reflect from the hair, which does not rub off, which can be and is completely removed •¾om the hair with each shampoo. Thus, each application starts from scratch and always gives the same result to the same woman. Such a product, unaf- fected by the chemical reactivity of the hail if properly formulated, can be made by using anion-cation color complexes. At present, it seenas the ideal basis for formulating home-use temporary hair colorings. REFERENCES (1) Den Beste, Marion J., U.S. Patent No. 2,643,211 (1953). (2) Monsavon L'Oreal, British Patent No. 741,307 (1955). (3) Diserens, Louis, "The Chemical Technology of Dyeing and Printing," Vol. II, transla- tion by Wengraf and Baumer of 2rid German edition, New York, Reinhold Publishing Corp. (1951), 32-33. (4) Diserens, Louis, Ibid., 101-103. (5) Diserens, Louis, Ibid., 315-319. (6) Diserens, Louis, Ibid., 323. (7) Harry, Ralph G., "Cosmetics--Their Principles and Practices," 1st U.S. edition, New York, Chemical Publishing Co. (1956), p. 484. (8) Harry, Ralph G., Ibid., 489-498. (9) British Patent No. 435,431 (1953) German Patent No. 673,158 French Patent No. 770,235. (10) Geigy Chemical Corp., "Sequestrene," technical bulletin (1952), 44. (l 1) Karrer, Paul, "Organic Chemistry," 3rd ed., New York, Elsevier Press, Inc. (1947), p. 475. (12) Kass, G. S., ztm. Pe•f. ztromatics, 68, (1), 25 (2), 34 (3), 47 (1956) (13) Ferber, K. H., Dyestuffs, National Aniline Div., Allied Chemic•{1 and •)ye Corp. (March 1957). (14) Karrholm, M., and Lindberg, J., Textile Research •7., 26, 528 (1956). (15) Widner, W., Buehler, A., and Roesti, H., U.S. Patent No. 0.,602.722 (1952). (16) Wittwer, Robert, U.S. Patent No. 2,585,610 (1952). (17) Seemuller, J. R., U.S. Patent No. 2,848,369 (1958). (18) Kritchevsky, Wolf, U.S. Patent No. 2,116,521 (1938). (19) Schlack, Paul, U.S. Patent No. 2,131,145 (1938). (20) Kritchevsky, Wolf, U.S. Patent No. 2,163,043 (1939). (21) Kritchevsky, Wolf, U.S. Patent No. 2,185,467 (1940). (22) Brown, A. E., U.S. Patent No. 2,717,228 (1955). (23) Orelup, J. W., U.S. Patent No. 2,208,594 (1940). (24) ¸relup, J. W., U.S. Patent No. 2,359,783 (1944). (25) Charle, R., U.S. Patent No. 52,695,259 (1954). (26) Norland, E., British Patent No. 799,458 (1958). (27) Den Beste, Marion J., U.S. Patent No. 2,763,269 (! 956). (28) Donker, Dirk J., Dutch Patent No. 68,372 (1951). (29) Samuel, Ruth, and Wotzilka, Minna, U.S. Patent No. 2,577,921 (1951). (30) Alexander, P., and Hudson, R. F., "Wool--Its Chemistry and Physics," 1st edition, New York, Reinhold Publishing Corp. (1954), pp. 232-233. (31) Deadman, L. L. F., British Patent No. 721,831 (1955).

THE THERAPEUTIC POTENTIALITIES OF TRIGLYCERIDES By S. G. KNIGHT* Presented November 20, 1958, N•w York City DuRt•rc THE past year lornrelations containing glycerol triacetate (triacetin) as the active ingredient have been used with great success in the treatment of superficial mycotic infections. Basically the use of triacetin is merely a unique way of providing a constant level of mildly fungistatic acetic acid and, as a consequence, a lowered pH. The acetic acid is liberated from the triglyceride after enzymatic hydrolysis of the ester bond by esterases or lipases from various cells. This paper deals with certain aspects of this hydrolysis and its consequences. PR•oR ART AND PATENTS The use of acetic acid, usually in the form of vinegar, as an aid to healing goes back to antiquity. The Assyrians in the era of 600 to 700 B.C. reportedly used vinegar in the treatment of ear diseases (l) and the "Jewish Encyclopedia" mentions the medicinal use of vinegar in a number of ways. "The Encyclopedia Britannica" states that Hippocrates used vinegar medicinally in 400 B.C. and of course the Bible records the use of wine, probably vinegar or "soured wine," for annointing wounds. "The Oxford English Dictionary" points out that in 1600 vinegar was known to be very good for healing burns, and in World War II, a solution of one-half per cent •'•cetic acid in saline glycerol was used in a Naval hospital in the Pacific to treat burns that were large enough to require skin grafts (2). Also, in modern' times, Burrow's solution or variations of the basic aluminum acetate-acetic acid formula has been used for a variety of purposes. Most of these usages are directed toward combating bacterial infections, often gram-negative bacteria. As a therapeutic fungicide acetic acid has had comparatively little usage, undoubtedly because the higher fatty acids are somewhat more active. Previous to the past year, triacetin has not been formulated into chemo- therapeutic agents. However, because of its low toxicity, it has been * Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, Madison 6, Wis. 3O7