Am'M0aUy;i8s"m*}     Commercial  Hypophosphorous  Acid.  243 
seen  some  of  the  pills  coated  in  this  way,  and  from  the  great  sweeten- 
ing power  of  saccharin  it  seems  admirably  adapted  for  this  purpose. 
Mr.  Howie,  I  must  tell  you  in  case  any  one  should  be  too  enterprising, 
has  patented  his  process,  and  I  understand  the  patent  covers  the  use 
of  saccharin  in  all  descriptions  of  coated  pills  as  well  as  capsules. 
I  had  intended  to  touch  upon  the  coating  of  some  extra-pharma- 
copoeia pills,  such  as  "  Blaud's,"  but  I  am  afraid  I  have  already  ex- 
tended my  remarks  to  too  great  a  length.  You  will  quite  understand 
from  the  current  of  my  remarks  that  I  am  not  altogether  in  favor  of 
pearl-coating.  They  may  give  you  the  necessary  impression  that  I 
am  more  averse  to  the  process  than  I  really  am.  It  has  its  objections, 
and  these  I  have  tried  to  put  before  you.  It  has  one  other  character- 
istic still,  namely,  that  it  makes  a  good  made  pill  look  much  better, 
and  a  bad  made  pill  look  much  worse,  and  this  last  feature  I  look 
upon  as  the  most  important,  seeing  that  there  should  not  be  such  a 
thing  as  a  bad  made  pill  put  out  of  our  hands. — Phar.  Jour,  and 
Trans.,  March  26,  1887.,  p.  781. 
A  NOTE  ON  COMMERCIAL  HYPOPHOSPHOROUS  ACID. 1 
By  George  Luxax. 
Solution  of  hydrogen  hypophosphite  or  hypophosphorous  acid  is 
not  an  official  substance,  but  the  inclusion  of  the  calcic  and  sodic 
salts  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  and  the  prominent  place  which  it  occupies 
in  published  formulae  for  the  preparation  of  compound  syrups  of  the 
hypophosphites  warrant  its  being  included  in  the  category  of  officinal 
preparations.  The  acid,  although  containing  three  hydrogen  atoms 
in  the  molecule,  is  monobasic,  only  one  of  these  being  replaceable  by 
metallic  bases,  and  as  a  consequence  the  formula  is  always  written 
HPH202  and  not  H3P02. 
It  is  the  least  oxygenated  phosphorus  acid,  containing  one  atom 
less  oxygen  than  phosphorous  acid,  and  two  less  than  phosphoric,  in 
the  molecule. 
Procter  in  1858  recommended  for  its  preparation  the  decomposi- 
tion of  480  grains  of  the  calcic  salt  by  350  grains  of  crystallized 
oxalic  acid,  making  saturated  solutions  of  each  ;  mixing,  filtering  and 
evaporating  the  filtrate  to  eight  and  a  half  fluidounces,  when  the  so- 
lution would  contain  10  per  cent,  of  the  acid. 
1  Read  before  the  Edinburgh  Chemists'  Assistants  Association,  reprinted  from 
Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  March  19,  1887,  p.  773. 
