418 
November 19,1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
quantity does not make a mass which, when kept, can 
readily he made to assume its plastic condition again. 
Simple syrup is sometimes used for vegetable powders, 
but it likewise forms a somewhat bulky excipient. 
Hard Soap. —This is one of the excipients in seven of 
the official pill-masses. A little powdered soap is useful 
in reconciling an essential oil to an obstinate pill-mass, 
but on account of its chemical action its use should, as 
much as possible, be avoided. Mucilage is often used 
foi extemporaneous work, but pills made up with it are 
apt to become very hard and insoluble,—in fact, with 
some fine metallic powders it forms a good cement. 
Bread crumb and manna are used for such substances 
as calomel. Those containing bread crumb, it is well 
known, get very hard when kept. 
But where a somewhat fluid excipient is needed, the 
one which either alone or with some admixture, finds 
most favour, is glycerine. If there be any extractive 
matter among the active ingredients, such as there is in 
vegetable powders generally, it forms of it a ready sol¬ 
vent, and of the whole a plastic mass. But there is a 
great danger of adding too much of this excipient, in 
which case it oozes out to the surface of the pills after a 
time, and gives them an unsightly moist appearance. 
To avoid this, it is generally mixed with one-third of its 
bulk of water, or better still, of rectified spirit. A little 
in this diluted state, kept in one of Chalk’s drop bottles, 
flows more readily than the pure, and, if used in slight 
excess, the more volatile fluid evaporates, there is thus 
less likelihood of the surface of the pills becoming moist, 
but a mass of this kind does not keep sufficiently plastic. 
On account of its peculiar properties, for therapeutic 
reasons glycerine forms about the best general excipient 
for pills. In the pure state it is not liable to change in 
itself,—its taste is agreeable, and excepting in a few in¬ 
stances with metallic salts, it produces no reaction more 
than mere solution of them, with non-metallic salts the 
same, but of these it is a much more general solvent,— 
and its solvent and preservative action on vegetable sub¬ 
stances generally is such, that a class of preparations of 
this kind has been suggested as substitutes for tinctures. 
When the vegetable ingredients of a pill are bulky, 
powdered rhubarb for example, less is required of it than 
of any other excipient. It has, too, the advantage of 
keeping them in a readily soluble condition, and by rea¬ 
son of its non-volatility, if a mass containing it should 
not remain plastic, it easily becomes so, without further 
addition of excipient, when “ worked ” in a mortar. But 
the disadvantage of the pills made with it becoming 
moist on their surface is a great drawback to its being 
generally used, I have, therefore, endeavoured to get 
some absorbent for this excess of moisture. 
W r e used to have at the University College Hospital a 
general excipient for pills, which was then called bread 
mass. This was composed of a mixture of wheat flour, pow¬ 
dered soap, and treacle beaten together ; it did duty for 
confection of roses, confection of hips and most other ex¬ 
cipients ; and generally did this well, as regards rapidity 
with which it would form substances into a suitable plastic 
condition for rolling into pills. But when required for such 
salts as calomel, corrosive sublimate, nitrate of silver, the 
sulphates of iron and copper, etc., these were decidedly in¬ 
compatible with the soap it contained. Nevertheless, 
when I interdicted its use, I found we had need of some¬ 
thing resembling it, as most frequently we get the exci¬ 
pient left to the option of the dispenser, and no other exci¬ 
pient in ordinary use was found so generally applicable as 
it has been. To obtain this desideratum, I first tried a 
mixture of four and glycerine , but this I was surprised 
to find possessed little or no adhesiveness, very unlike 
the mixture of Jlour and water , of which the gluten con¬ 
tained in the flour forms such an adhesive paste; yet I 
found the flour was an excellent absorbent of the glvcc- 
nne. 1 next tried various proportions of glycerine and 
flour heated together, to form a jolly resembling the gly¬ 
cerine of starch, but of firmer consistence. By stirring 
constantly and heating together until a temperature of 
about 240°F. is reached, five parts of glycerine, by weight, 
and one part of flour, a firm adhesive paste is formed, which 
I call Glycerine Mass. As an excipient for vegetable 
powders it answers well, and for other substances on 
which it can exert a partially solvent action, it is eminently 
useful. Among these are such salts as valerianate of zinc, 
4 grains with 1 of the glycerine mass forms a good pill. 
Quinine, 3 parts with 1 of the mass,—B. P. strength,— 
works well. Compound powder of ipecacuanha, 5 grains 
with f of a grain of the mass makes a small pill. Oxide 
of zinc, too, 4 grains with 1 makes a good mass. But 
for most mineral and insoluble powders it is too moist, 
and will not form with them a firm mass; some addi¬ 
tional absorbent is necessary, and for this purpose I found 
nothing better than the one I have before mentioned— 
flour; equal parts of the glycerine mass and flour forms a 
tolerably firm, solid, adhesive paste, somewhat resembling 
dough, but it is not so elastic; this I now call Bread 
Mass. It possesses great capacity for the absorption of 
insoluble powders, such, for example, as calomel (3 grains 
with H grain of this mass makes a good pill), nitrate 
and carbonate of bismuth, arsenic, etc. Of reduced iron, 
three parts with two of it forms a good mass, in which 
the iron is not liable to oxidation. Carbolic acid, too, of 
which it is a good solvent, is readily made into a pill with 
the bread mass,—a little additional flour being necessary 
for this substance. Then again, substances that are given 
in minute doses, as the salts of morphia, resin of podo¬ 
phyllum and other active principles, to partially dilute 
their action, or where an excipient is needed to slightly 
increase the bulk of a pill, it is well adapted for use. And 
among the official pill-masses, an equal quantity of it can 
with great advantage be used to supplant confection of 
roses in all these, with the exception of pilula aloes cum 
ferro—for which the glycerine mass is needed, and pilula 
ferri earbonatis, this too, requires the glycerine mass, 
with which it mixes well, but after a time the pills have 
a tendency to become moist. Mercurial pill I have not 
tried with it. The same quantity of this bread-mass will 
replace the treacle in pilula scillas composita. Equal 
parts of it and powdered soap in place of powdered soap 
alone (if this might be permitted), form a much better 
mass than the official one of pilula saponis composita.. 
This pill-mass, made strictly according to the British 
Pharmacopoeia, soon becomes set into a condition resem¬ 
bling a piece of soap, in which state much beating is 
necessary to make it again plastic. 
Of the glycerine mass to be added to the Pharmacopoeia 
quantities of 
Pil. Cambogim Comp, (vice Syrup) 1 oz. makes a good 
mass. 
,, Colocynth. Comp. ( vice Water) 3 dr. makes a good 
mass, and does not get so hard. 
„ Hydrarg. Subchlor. Comp. ( vice Castor Oil) 14- oz. 
makes a good mass, but becomes slightly moist. 
„ Ipecac, c. Scilla ( vice Treacle), 1 oz. makes a good 
mass, which does not crumble. 
,, Rhei Comp. ( vice 4 oz. Treacle) 2 oz. makes a good 
mass, and keeps tolerably plastic. 
Among the other official pill-mass which I have not 
tried with these excipients are pilula colocynthiclis et 
hyoscyami and pilula conii composita—these I find do 
not generally require any excipient—and pilula ferri 
iodidi, the starch contained in the flour with that would 
not form an elegant preparation. 
Nitrate of silver is generally recommended in works 
on Materia Medica to be made into a pill, with bread 
crumb, but this contains common salt, with which it is 
incompatible. I recommend the following formula,, 
which is a modification of the bread mass :— 
Nitrate of silver, 6 grains. 
Distilled water, 6 minims. 
Dissolve and add— 
Glycerine mass, 12 grains. 
Flour ... 24 grains. 
