November 4,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
361 
A NEW EXCIPIENT EOR PILLS.* 
BY J. B. BARNES. 
Soluble cream of tartar is a solution of bitartrate 
of potasli in biborate of soda, boracic acid, or biborate 
of soda and tartaric acid; either of these compounds, 
when evaporated to the consistence of mucilage, is 
heavy and adhesive. 
Having had my attention directed in an especial 
manner to the medicinal properties of sulphur, I 
was naturally led to reflect upon the inelegant mode 
of its administration. It is true the sulphur elec¬ 
tuary of the Pharmacopoeia is an improvement upon 
the horrible mixture of sulphur and treacle in com¬ 
mon use, but still there is the grittiness and the mess. 
Sulphur is generally taken in combination with bi¬ 
tartrate of potash; and the soluble modification of 
this salt possessing the above-mentioned properties, 
it suggested to my mind the employment of so ap¬ 
propriate an excipient for the conversion of this 
substance into pills; and I venture to suggest that 
pills so prepared might be employed when this sub¬ 
stance is required to be taken in doses of between 
four and twenty grains. 
The samples of sulphur pills on the table, prepared 
respectively with the sublimed and precipitated va¬ 
rieties, contain in each four or five grains, together 
with one grain in twelve pills of gum tragacantli 
and a sufficient quantity of soluble cream of tartar. 
The pills containing four grains of precipitated sul¬ 
phur are smaller than it is possible to prepare them 
with any of the ordinary excipients, being not quite 
so large as a five-grain compound rhubarb pill, and 
as hard as a lozenge. When placed in tepid water, 
the soluble cream of tartar speedily dissolves and 
the sulphur is set free. 
I propose to call them “ sulphur and cream of 
tartar pills.” 
I have also prepared five-grain pills of hydrate of 
chloral, Dover’s powder, nitrate of potash, chlorate 
of pofash, citrate of potash and gallic acid. The 
formula used for the chloral pills is as follows :— 
Hydrate of Chloral.1 drm. 
Soluble Cream of Tartar (of the consist¬ 
ence of mucilage).2 drops. 
Gum Tragacantli.3 grs. 
Mix and divide into twelve pills. These require to 
be kept in contact with lycopodium. They keep their 
form perfectly and gradually harden; minute glisten¬ 
ing particles of the drug have, however, made their 
appearance on the surface of these pills, and also 
on the bottle, indicating that they should not be 
made too long before they are required to be used. 
In the conversion of Dover’s powder into pills, 
soluble cream of tartar only was used; for those of 
nitrate of potash and chlorate of potash one grain 
to the drachm of gum tragacantli was employed, in 
addition to the soluble cream of tartar; for those of 
citrate of potash and gallic acid took two grains of 
the gum to each dozen. The nitrate of potash, 
chlorate of potash, gallic acid and citrate of potash 
pills were dried at a gentle heat; the three former 
keep well in boxes ; those of citrate of potash should 
be kept in bottles in contact with tycopodium. With 
the exception of the gallic acid, all these pills are 
smaller than an ordinary five-grain pill. 
* Read at the Evening Meeting of tlie Pharmaceutical 
Society of Great Britan, Nov. 1, 1871. 
Third Series, No. 71. 
I have also prepared four-grain pills of chloride of 
ammonium, using the soluble cream of tartar, and 
one-sixth of a grain gum tragacantli in each; these 
should also be kept in well-closed bottles. 
The one-grain camphor and three-grain quinine 
pills on the table contain, in addition to the soluble 
cream of tartar, one-twelfth of a grain gum traga- 
canth in each. The gallic acid pill, as might have 
been expected, is large but hard, keeps well, and 
makes a more satisfactory pill than when glycerin 
is used ; all these pills are firm, dissolve quickly in 
tepid water, and, w T hat is of considerable importance, 
present a good appearance. 
I thought it probable that by boiling trisnitrate of 
bismuth in a solution of soluble cream of tartar a 
soluble bismuth pill might be prepared, but I find it 
takes seven grains of the dried salt to dissolve one 
grain of the trisnitrate. I have, however, prepared 
four grain pills of this body, which contain half a 
grain of the trisnitrate in each. 
CINCHONA-TREES GROWN IN INDIA * 
BY JOHN ELIOT HOWARD, F.L.S., ETC. 
I received in the course of the past summer, by 
favour of the Indian Government, two trees, com¬ 
plete with roots, trunk, branches and leaves, not 
living, but packed in cases. I had requested to be 
furnished with these for the purposes of chemical 
analysis, in order to clear up some points which yet 
remained (in some measure) undecided. I reserve 
till another occasion what I may have to say on the 
leaves, and proceed to some observations on the 
trees themselves, which both grew in the Govern¬ 
ment gardens, Ootacamund, and were cut down near 
the close of last year, after a growth of about five 
years. 
The first was a tree of Cinchona succiruhra. The 
height from the base to the summit of what may be 
called the stem, was 10 feet, and above this, there 
may have been from 0 inches to a foot of young and 
merely succulent vegetation. The girth of the base 
of the trunk was 20 inches, of the summit, wliere cut 
from the succulent part, 2 inches. The weight of 
the roots was 8 pounds; of the trunk, 12 pounds 8 
ounces; of the branches, 4 pounds 8 ounces ; of small 
branches, 3 pounds 12 ounces, making together a 
total of 28 pounds 12 ounces. This tree was four 
and a quarter years old, according to Mr. Broughton’s 
reckoning, probably from the time it was planted 
out. The second was a tree of Cinchona officinalis, 
the height of which I estimate at 9 feet 3 inches, 
with less immature vegetation above. The girth at 
the base was 11 inches; at the summit (as above), 1 
inch. The weight of the roots was 3 pounds 8 
ounces ; that of the trunk was 5 pounds 12 ounces ; 
that of the branches, 13 ounces, making altogether 
10 pounds 1 ounce. 
These figures show that the C. succirahra will 
develope in the time at least three times faster than 
the C. officinalis , a circumstance accounted for by 
the great abundance of its leafy branches, whilst the 
general aspect of the Loja-tree, a stem bearing 
a tuft of vegetation on the summit, has caused it 
to be compared to the Aloe. Thus we have, in tliis 
case, a weight in the officinalis of only 13 oz. 
* Read at the Evening Meeting of the Pharmaceutical 
Society of Great Britain, Nov. 1,1871. 
