'^™Aprii'''f882'"'"'}  Confection  of  Sulphur.  167 
NOTE  ON  CONFECTION  OF  SULPHUR. 
By  Peter  Boa. 
Mead  at  a  Meeting  of  the  North  British  Branch  of  the  Pharmaeeutieal 
Society,  February  8,  1882. 
The  formula  for  confection  of  sulphur  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia 
was  intended,  I  apprehend,  to  afford  physicians  a  convenient  means  of 
prescribing  sulphur  in  a  more  elegant  way  than  the  old-fashioned  one 
•of  suspending  it  in  treacle. 
That  the  pharmacopoeial  preparation  has  not  gained  the  favor  of  ])re- 
scribers,  or  patients  for  whom  it  has  been  ordered,  or  superseded  to  any 
appreciable  extent  the  old  electuary,  must,  I  think,  be  the  experience 
of  most  of  us.  This  is  due,  I  believe,  to  the  fact  that  it  is  unsatisfac- 
tory. When  kept  even  for  a  few  days,  separation  occurs,  the  sulphur 
subsides  and  the  syrup  remains  on  the  top,  necessitating  a  new  mixing 
before  a  dose  can  be  taken.  And  if  it  only  be  considered  how  nasty  an 
operation  it  is  to  stir  it  up,  say  in  a  2-ounce  pot,  especially  if  the  pot  be 
nearly  full,  it  need  not  cause  surprise  that  patients  reject  it  on  this 
account. 
Recently  prepared  it  is  very  elegant  and  palatable,  and  under  the 
conviction  that  if  it  could  be  made  in  such  a  way  as  to  retain  the  sul- 
phur in  complete  and  permarfent  suspension  it  would  be  a  most  accept- 
able form  in  which  to  administer  this  medicine,  I  have  from  time  to 
time  tried  various  expedients  with  a  view  to  accomplish  this.  After  a 
■considerable  number  of  unsuccessful  experiments,  which  I  need  not 
here  describe,  it  occurred  to  me  to  try  tragacanth.  At  first  I  used  too 
much  and  the  result  was  a  confection  of  too  firm  consistence.  How- 
ever, the  separation  was  most  effe(itually  prevented,  and  my  next  pro- 
ceeding was  to  determine  the  smallest  quantity  of  the  gum  that  would 
effect  this.  The  quantity  which  I  have  found  to  give  most  satisfactory 
results  is  2  grains  to  an  ounce.  The  confection  prepared  with  this 
addition  appears  to  be  all  that  could  be  desired  ;  it  is  soft  yet  insepar- 
able. 
Samples  are  shown  prepared  with  the  addition  of  the  tragacanth,  and 
according  to  the  formula  in  the  Pharmacopoeia,  at  the  same  time,  and 
it  will  be  seen  that  those  containing  the  tragacanth  are  in  perfect  con- 
dition, while  the  others  have  a  stratum  of  supernatant  syrup  which  can 
be  poured  off  without  disturbing  the  sulphur. 
