November 11,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
393 
The best way of managing this is to reverse the usual 
order of things, mix the liq. pot. with the spirits, add 
the balsam, shake together, then add the mucilage; so 
that you see chemical theory and dispensing practice do 
not always agree. 
Mixtures with tragacanth powder or mucilage used to 
he very troublesome to me until I learnt how to manage 
them; this is another instance of an entire upset of 
orthodox dispensing practice. 
The good old plan of using a mortar when powders 
form part of a mixture does not answer here, as every 
one who has tried it knows very well; hut let the tinc¬ 
tures or spirits, if there are any, he put into the bottle 
first, the tragacanth powder added, all shaken together, 
then the water added, and your mixture is made without 
any trouble. If there should be no spirit of any kind in 
the mixture, half fill the bottle with water, add the tra¬ 
gacanth powder as the B. P. directs and you have no 
difficulty. 
Then, again, vegetable powders, such as rhubarb or 
ipecacuanha, and compound powders, as Gregory, do not 
mix readily with water : well, in all these cases, the plan 
is to mix them first with any tincture or spirit there 
may be, and then there is no difficulty if there be no 
spirit. Mucilage or syrup is better than water. Bicar¬ 
bonate of potash, or soda with citric acid, are often 
ordered together in mixtures, and the effervescence 
sometimes gives a good deal of trouble; but use an 
ounce or two of boiling water to dissolve the salts, the 
effervescence passes off directly, and you can finish your 
mixture at once. 
The other day I had a mixture in which 5 ij potass, cit. 
and 5 j ferri et quin. cit. were ordered with other ingredi¬ 
ents; the potash happened to be alkaline and precipitated 
the quinine, which it ought not to have done, for the 
mixture should have been clear. It required about 15 
grs. acid cit. to dissolve the quinine. Possibly some of 
you may have met with a similar mixture. 
_ I once had a prescription which I had to make several 
times, biit never succeeded in getting to mix, although 
I tried a different way each time. It was this,— 
Glycerini ^i 
Mist. Acac. ^ss. 
01. Amygd. &j. 
Syr. Aurant. ^ss. 
Liq. Calcis Sac. 5 ss. 
Aq. ad ^viij. 
And whichever way I mixed it, the liq. calc, and oil 
seemed to form a kind of insoluble soap, which separated 
immediately. 
Now, with regard to pills. You ail know the trouble 
they give sometimes ; either they are too hard or too 
soft, or they will not mix, or they crumble to pieces in 
rolling out, or go contrary in some way or other, and 
are very difficult to manage satisfactorily. Some of the 
most troublesome masses to deal with are those containing 
essential oil,—peppermint, to my thinking, being par- 
cularly cantankerous, more especially when ext. rhei is 
present. P. capsic. is another very unsociable article, 
and very often makes the. mass crumble to pieces; but 
get a prescription with ol. menth. pip., capsic. and ext. 
rhei, and then you have a treat; indeed, it is hardly pos¬ 
sible to give any general rule in these cases, for a good 
deal depends on the nature of the other ingredients ; but 
if you find the mass crumbling or splitting to pieces on 
rolling out, it wants something to soften it a little in 
most cases. 
Some time ago there was considerable discussion in 
the Pharmaceutical Journal as to the best mode of 
making creasote into pills, some recommending bees’- 
wax, and others something else. I find the best way is 
to rub the creasote, say 10 or 15 drops, with 10 grs. 
P. sap. cast., add the same quantity of light calcined 
magnesia, then sufficient liquorice powder. This forms a 
mass, which is sufficiently cohesive, and does not make 
the pills too large. 
Ext. rhei is a particularly nasty article in pills, for it 
is generally either as soft as treacle or as tough as 
leather ; but it seems an especial favourite with some of 
our Manchester prescribers. The way to overcome this 
difficulty is to powder the extract, and add to it a suffi¬ 
cient quantity of P. rhei to make up the weight lost in 
drying (which also prevents the powdered extract from 
running together again), and with a few drops of decoc¬ 
tion of aloes the pills are made without any trouble. 
Camphor is sometimes very troublesome in pills, es¬ 
pecially if there be much of it; it seems to make the 
pills go hard and crumble in pieces; the best way to 
prevent this is to get the mass worked and rolled out 
as quickly as possible. Here is an example,— 
Camph., 
Ext. Cinchon., 
Zinc Valer. aa 9j. 
This, if done quickly, and the ext. bark is tolerably 
soft, makes up without much trouble ; but if left at all, 
it becomes quite hard, and requires a considerable 
quantity of mucilage to make it up. 
When a pill mass is not much too soft a little P. tragac. 
is generally the best addition; but in cases where a 
large quantity of soft extract is ordered, this plan will 
not do. The only thing then is to leave out a portion of 
the extract, and use some dry powder in its place; for 
instance, we have often 2 or 3 grs. ext. hyosc. ordered 
with the same of blue pill. Nobody can make those into 
a satisfactory pill, supposing the extract to be in its 
usual state ; but take about two parts of extract and one 
of P. hyosc., you then get a nice firm pill of the proper 
size. The same with ext. gent, and sulph. ferri, of which 
here is an example,— 
Ferri Sulph. 12 . 
Ext. Gent. 48. 
01. Cin. 12 . 
I should just like to see the prescriber make that into 
pills without any alteration. The only way to make it 
into a decent pill is to leave out about half the essential 
oil, and use nearly as much powdered gentian as ex¬ 
tract. 
I shall not detain you long with ointments, but there 
are two or three cases I will just mention. When you 
have an extract, such as belladonna, to mix with lard or 
any other fat, if you attempt to mix them together direct, 
there is considerable difficulty in getting a smooth oint¬ 
ment ; but if you soften the extract first with a little hot 
water and rub it smooth, then add the lard, or whatever 
it may be, you have no trouble. 
Glycerine is now frequently prescribed in ointments, 
and is difficult to mix. Well, supposing it be ordered 
with ung. zinci, as is often the case, do not use ready¬ 
made zinc ointment, but weigh the proper quantity of 
oxide, rub the glycerine with it, and then add the lard, 
you have then a good smooth ointment which does not 
separate; of course, the same plan can be adopted with any 
other powder. If there be no powder melt the ointment, 
but do not let it get too hot, and beat the glycerine in 
and stir till cold, it then mixes much better ; but still, 
if there be a large proportion of glycerine, it will sepa¬ 
rate after a time. 
Many other instances might be given, but the above 
are a few that I have met with in my own dispensing’, 
and I have confined my remarks to them, hoping to hear 
during the evening something of the experience of 
others. 
During the discussion which followed the reading of 
the paper, Mr. Siebold advocated the use of powdered 
gum instead of mist, acacia?, which xvas so liable to de¬ 
composition. Mr. Siebold also suggested the addition of 
a small quantity of hyposulphite of- soda to ung. potassii 
iodidi, to prevent its becoming discoloured; and alluding 
