786 
THE PHAEMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[April 1,1671. 
tion, were placed separately upon clean earthen plates 
and desiccated to dryness. 
This desiccation was employed to avoid the difference 
of weight due to the difference of capacity for retaining 
water possessed hy substances in different stages of 
digestion. 
After complete desiccation, the residua weighed as 
follows:— 
The albumen which had undergone no diges¬ 
tion weighed.grs. 
That digested in Houghton’s.7^ 
Grimault’s.5 
Boudault’s.2 
Hawley’s.1 
Now, since it appears that one grain of dry is equal to 
eight grains of fresh coagulated albumen, it follows 
that— 
Houghton’s pepsin is entirely negative or di¬ 
gested nothing. 
>5 
» 
>5 
Grimault’s digested 
V 
V 
8* 
10f 
24 
6o 
44 
Ho 
52 
0 U 
grs. 
Boudault’s 
Hawley’s 
One grain of Grimauit’s pepsin digested 
„ Boudault’s „ 
„ Hawley’s „ 
Grimault’s digested of the albumen 
Boudault’s 
Hawley’s 
This last comparison between Boudault’s and Haw¬ 
ley’s pepsin agrees, within a very small fraction, with 
my digestive test upon fresh beef, made more than a 
year ago, and published in my circular. This circum¬ 
stance is somewhat corroborative of the correctness of 
both tests. 
20 grs. 
44 
52 
4 
1) 
PHARMACEUTIC NOTES. 
BY C. LEWIS DIEHL. 
Blue Bill is one of the simple preparations of our 
Pharmacopoeia that is seldom prepared by the apothe¬ 
cary ; in fact, its preparation is the exception and its 
purchase appears to be the rule. There are numerous 
reasons why it is not generally prepared by' dispensers, 
first and foremost among which may be mentioned the 
labour attending the extinguishment of mercury. Quite 
a number of processes for facilitating this have been from 
time to time recommended, but none seemed to me so 
simple as one recommended some time ago by a waiter 
in one of our pharmaceutic journals, which consists in 
agitating the mercury with a small proportion of tincture 
of tolu, and then incorporating it with the proper ingre¬ 
dients. Another reason appears to be that blue-mass, 
when made strictly according to the Pharmacopoeia, soon 
becomes hard and unmanageable. Manufacturers, taking 
advantage of this, aim to produce a blue-mass which, 
while corresponding in mercurial strength to the officinal 
article, will retain its plastic condition, and thus they 
create a demand for their particular manufacture. 
While engaged in the manufacture of blue-mass on a 
considerable scale, I soon found it necessary to change 
the ingredients in order to obtain a more plastic mass, 
and succeeded very well, with but one objection, namely, 
that the mass was liable to become somewhat tough, and 
consequently more or less diflicult to roll out. In other 
respects the mass left nothing to be desired. By ex¬ 
periments lately made, I believe to have overcome this 
difficulty; but I cannot say as yet that my experiments 
with tincture of tolu warrant the assertion that it affords 
a rapid and convenient medium for extinguishing mer¬ 
cury, without the application of more manual labour 
than is likely to be bestowed upon the object. 
When one ounce of mercury is briskly agitated with 
half a fluid drachm of tincture of tolu, contained in a 
two-ounce vial, it soon becomes divided into globules, 
and in perhaps one or two minutes these globules will 
be scarcely visible, as such, to the naked eye. Occasional 
brisk agitation for twenty to thirty minutes, however, is 
necessary to so far extinguish the mercury as to render 
globules invisible through a lens of moderate power. 
After the mercury is so far extinguished, it would appear 
an easy matter to mix it with syrup, honey or any other 
desirable fluid that, in the manufacture of blue-mass on 
a large scale, is employed as an extinguishing medium; 
but this I have found not to bo the case, for when the 
mixture is stirred into the remaining ingredients for 
blue-mass, globules of mercury abundantly form, and 
delay the completion of the process considerably. This 
is probably owing to the action of the syrup or honey, 
etc. upon the tolu coatings of the minutely-divided 
mercury, by which a portion of mercurial surface be¬ 
comes exposed, and unites with another in a similar 
condition. 
However, something is gained by the use of tincture 
of tolu, for I have prepared blue-mass in less than an 
hour,—twenty to thirty minutes of which being consumed 
in briskly rubbing the mixture to entirely remove glo¬ 
bular mercury. 
If it w'ere practicable to keep blue-mass in the form 
of three-grain pills, as provided by the formula of our 
Pharmacopoeia, there would be no necessity for a change 
in its ingredients. This not being the case, the formula 
should be so altered as to ensure a mass that will keep 
its soft consistence for a reasonable period. It may be 
contended that the ingredients entering its composition 
are necessary to its remedial properties, for some autho¬ 
rities maintain that blue-mass owes its virtues to the 
metal in an oxidized condition, and the question may 
then arise, “ Bo the ingredients of the officinal blue-mass 
specif daily tend to promote this oxidation ?” It is reason¬ 
able to suppose that such is not the case, for otherwise 
much of the blue-mass of commerce, in every other 
respect properly prepared, would be found ineffective. 
I venture to doubt that either powdered liquorice root 
or the components of confection of rose are essential to 
the effectiveness of blue-mass, and propose for its prepa¬ 
ration the following formula :— 
Take of Mercury, 
Finely-powdered Marshmallow' root, each 1 
troy oz. 
Syrup, 
Glycerine, each 240 grs. 
Tincture of Tolu, 30 minims. 
Introduce the mercury into a two-ounce vial containing 
the tincture of tolu, and agitate briskly, at short intervals, 
for thirty minutes, or until the mercury shall have be¬ 
come entirely extinguished; then weigh the syrup and 
glycerine into the vial, agitate briskly, and immediately 
incorporate with the powdered marshmallow, rubbing 
the mass until any globules of mercury formed shall 
have entirely disappeared. 
Blue-mass is formed in this manner with less labour, 
in a shorter time, and of a better consistence, than by 
any other process known to me. While the mass is 
decidedly firm, it will remain plastic for a long time, 
and can be rolled into pills that will keep their shape 
perfectly. After the addition of the liquid mixture to 
the powdered marshmallow, the mass retains a very 
soft consistence for a considerable time, requiring less 
laborious mixing than when confection of rose is used. 
Regarding the use of tincture of tolu in the formation 
of blue-mass no decided opinion is offered, as I am still 
engaged with experiments, and hope in the next issue 
of the Bharmacist to present some more satisfactory 
results. 
In connection with this subject, I would offer a few 
hints regarding other pill-masses that may be familiar 
to some but new to others. 
Quinia pills are dispensed by me preferably, by form¬ 
ing the mass with the aid of glycerine, and rolling the 
