82 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.. 
X    February,  1902. 
When  this  action  occurs  in  the  stomach  the  medicament  is  in  the 
best  possible  form  for  speedy  solution  and  absorption. 
The  tablets  arranged  before  you  for  your  careful  and  intelligent 
inspection,  you  will  observe,  possess  this  quality  of  free  solubility 
or  disintegration,  and  yet  are  remarkably  firm  or  hard. 
To  obtain  the  results  here  displayed,  it  has  been  necessary  to 
study  the  characteristics  of  each  tablet  batch  separately,  as  well  as 
its  intended  use  and  form — as,  for  instance,  an  ordinary  tablet  for 
the  same  purpose  as  a  pill,  a  tablet  triturate,  a  hypodermic  tablet — 
and  by  repeated  experiments  determine  the  special  method  of  manu- 
facture which  yields  the  best  results.  There  is  no  one  rule  which 
can  be  applied  to  all  tablets  with  uniformly  good  results.  As  each 
combination  has  distinct  individuality  arising  from  the  nature  of  its 
component  parts,  so  each  kind  of  tablet  requires  its  own  special 
treatment  to  yield  the  most  desirable  degree  of  solubility. 
A  general  treatment  applies  only  in  the  manufacture  of  such 
simple  and  compound  tablets  as  chlorate  of  potash,  soda-mintf 
muriate  of  ammonium,  and  the  class  designated  "  throat  tablets,"  in 
which  quick  solubility  is  neither  sought  nor  desired. 
PROGRESS  IN  PHARMACY. 
A  REVIEW  OF  SOME  ADVANCES  MADE  DURING  THE  PAST  YEAR. 
BY  M.  I.  WII.BKRT. 
After  reading  an  interesting  book,  it  is  sometimes  well  to  allow 
the  subject-matter  to  pass  in  review  before  our  mind's  eye  so  as  to 
impress  the  more  interesting  and  important  points  on  our  memory 
in  a  connected  and  methodical  way. 
The  happenings  of  a  day,  a  week,  or  a  year  are  like  the  records  of 
a  book,  and  if  at  the  close  of  any  specified  period  we  allow  the 
memory  of  these  happenings  to  pass  again  through  our  mind,  we 
will  not  only  be  the  gainer,  by  having  them  impressed  more  vividly 
and  indelibly  on  our  memories,  but  we  may,  in  addition,  assort  the 
various  facts  into  groups  or  classes,  so  as  to  facilitate  our  retaining 
them  for  future  use  and  reference. 
The  opening  year  of  the  twentieth  century  has  passed  into  history^ 
and  has  left  us,  as  a  heritage,  a  wealth  ot  theories  and  facts  that 
have  been  discovered  and  gathered  together  by  the  assiduous  toil  of 
many  earnest  workers  in  the  various  fields  of  scientific  research. 
