PHARMACEUTICAL  GLEANINGS. 
119 
the  outer  sides  of  the  rollers  as  they  continue  to  revolve.  Thus 
far  the  simple  plan  of  making  or  casting  pills  by  means  of  a  ro- 
tatory machine,  with  minor  modifications,  has  been  before  at- 
tempted, but  as  frequently  abandoned  from  the  pills  remaining 
firmly  imbedded  in  the  hemispheres  of  one  or  other  of  the  rollers, 
and  the  want  of  contrivance  to  deliver  them  freely,  without  the 
necessity  for  detaching  them  with  the  hand.  That  difficulty,  in 
the  present  machine,  is  entirely  overcome,  and  this  achievement 
is  its  principal  claim  to  originality  and  practical  utility.  The 
arrangement  by  which  this  long  sought  desideratum  is  accom- 
plished consists  of  a  moveable  bolt  or  pin  at  the  bottom  of  each 
hemisphere,  which,  acted  upon  by  springs  at  the  interior  of  the 
rollers,  forces  out  the  pills,  and  detaches  them  effectually  from  the 
mould  in  which  they  have  been  cast.  The  only  point  of  adhesion 
is  now  the  end  of  the  pin,  from  which  they  generally  fall  by  their 
own  gravity  ;  but  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  their  being  drawn 
back  again  into  the  hemispheres  by  the  return  of  the  pins  to  their 
original  position,  they  are  gently  lifted  off  by  being  carried 
between  the  teeth  of  a  sort  of  rake  pressing  against  the  outside 
of  the  rollers.  Some  of  the  pills  thus  formed  have  a  slight  rim 
round  them,  giving  them  the  appearance  of  a  seed  or  berry,  but  in 
every  other  respect  they  are  perfect;  they  may  therefore  be  left 
in  their  original  state,  or  subjected  to  the  usual  process  of  mulling. 
From  this  machine,  which  had  only  two  bands  or  tiers  of  hemi- 
spheres round  the  rollers,  about  150  pills  might  be  turned  out  in 
a  minute,  or  9000  in  an  hour,  working  it  very  slowly.  There 
would  be  no  difficulty  in  doubling  the  speed  of  working,  and  the 
rapidity  of  making  might,  be  multiplied  by  increasing  the  number 
of  moulds  or  hemispheres  on  the  rollers." 
Test  for  Turpentine  in  Naphtha  and  Oil  of  Amber. — Dr.  Bolley 
suggests  the  following  means  of  ascertaining  the  presence  of  this 
adulteration,  w-hich  is  founded  on  the  property  possessed  by  oil  of 
turpentine  to  form  a  crystalline  compound  (artificial  camphor)  with 
dry  hydrochloric  acid  gas.  The  suspected  oil  is  put  in  a  tall  cy- 
lindrical glass  vessel,  and  a  slow  current  of  muriatic  acid  gas, 
previously  dried  by  passing  through  a  bottle  filled  with  fragments 
of  chloride  of  calcium,  passed  into  it  by  a  tube  dipping  to  near  the 
bottom.  The  current  is  to  be  continued  about  an  hour,  and  if  oil 
of  turpentine  is  present  to  the  extent  of  even  five  per  cent,  the 
mixture  gives  crystalline  evidence  of  it  after  standing  12  hours. 
