238 
Blaud's  Pills. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
May,  1887. 
salts  will  be  sure  to  deliquesce,  and  in  the  "  Extra  Pharmacopoeia" 
recommends  the  following  improved  formula  : 
E    Ferri  sulph   2\  grs. 
Potass,  carb   \\  grs. 
Sacchar   1  gr. 
Pulv.  trag     \  gr. 
I  also  made  two  dozen  by  Martindale's  formula,  but  used  a  little 
glycerin  to  rub  up  the  salts,  as  in  Ince's. 
The  following  are  the  percentages  of  FeCOs  in  the  fresh  pills  : 
FeCOs 
per  cent. 
No.  1  (luce's  formula)   17.9 
"    2  (Martindale's).   17*0 
3  (Martindale's  formula,  but  Ince's  mod.)  .,   19*5 
"    4  ( with  tragacanth  only)   16'5 
These  four  sets  were  laid  aside  in  ordinary  chip  boxes  for  two 
months,  the  boxes  during  that  time  being  occasionally  opened.  They 
were  then  carefully  examined  and  estimated.  No.  1  (Ince's)  were  quite 
hard,  and  seemed  as  good  as  the  day  they  were  made. 
No.  2  (Martindale's)  were  very  slightly  marked  with  damp-looking 
patches,  the  pill  powder  (pulv.  amylic.  5  per  cent,  trag.)  being  slightly 
caked  on  them. 
No.  3  were  very  soft,  and  altogether  unsightly  from  absorption  of 
moisture,  although  the  glycerin  used  in  them  was  hydrated,  as  recom- 
mended as  not  being  hygroscopic. 
No.  4  were  quite  dry  and  round,  but  fell  to  powder  when  pressed 
between  the  fingers. 
On  being  estimated — 
No.  1  contained   1373  per  cent.  FeC03 
<•    2      "  183      "  " 
<<    3      "   18-8  il 
«    4      "    117  " 
One  pharmacist  tells  me  he  had  the  same  difficulty  with  the  pills 
made  from  Martindale's  formula,  namely,  sweating,  and  suggested 
sugar  of  milk  to  be  used  in  place  of  cane  sugar.  This,  I  find,  is  an 
improvement  only  in  appearance,  for  on  estimating  pills  in  which  the 
same  quantity  of  iron  was  used  to  begin  with,  and  which  had  been 
kept  a  month,  I  found  that  they  only  contained  12*2  per  cent. 
FeC03. 
From  these  experiments  I  have  come  to:  the  conclusion  that  Martin- 
dale's formula  is  the  one  that  should  be  adopted  by  those  of  us  who 
