AmjJa°Ci8P7h8arm' }   Short  Weight  in  Sugar-coated  Pills.  23 
The  dose  of  this  elixir  will  be  about  a  tablespoonful,  representing 
10  drops  of  tincture  of  nux  vomica  ;  the  proportion  of  the  latter  may, 
of  course,  be  varied  if  desirable. 
SHORT  WEIGHT  IN  SUGAR-COATED  PILLS. 
By  E.  M.  Wells,  Ph.G. 
Pharmacists  are  cautioned  not  to  purchase  or  use  sugar-coated  pills 
without  carefully  examining  them.  A  large  lot  was  recently  received 
from  a  manufacturer  in  New  York.  When  those  marked  Compound 
Cathartic  Pills,  U.  S.  P.,  were  opened  for  dispensing,  their  small  size 
attracted  my  attention.  The  dry  material  for  three  comp.  cathartic 
pills,  U.  S.  P.,  weighs  iof  grains.  The  officinal  formula  was  on  the 
wrapper  accompanying  each  box  and  bottle.  The  average  weight  of 
three  of  the  bought  pills,  with  coating,  was  found  to  be  11  grains,  and 
after  the  coating  was  removed,  6  grains.  The  sugar-coating  weighed, 
therefore,  5  grains,  and  there  was  a  deficiency  of  4§  grains  of  what 
the  dry  material  should  weigh,  equal  to  44  per  cent.  The  moisture 
contained  in  them  was  not  considered. 
So-called  improved  compound  cathartic  and  Cook's  pills  were  only 
33  per  cent,  short  in  weight. 
Fort  Worth,  Texas,  Nov.  15th,  1877. 
SOLUTION  OF  DIALYZED  IRON  AS  AN  ANTIDOTE 
FOR  ARSENICAL  POISONING. 
By  Rich.  V.  Mattison,  Ph.G. 
Read  at  the  Alumni  Meeting,  December  7. 
The  statement  having  been  currently  made  by  a  number  of  manu- 
facturers of  solution  of  dialyzed  iron  that  this  article  was  of  great 
value  as  an  antidote  in  cases  of  arsenical  poisoning,  and  this  statement, 
having  subsequently  been  either  doubted  or  u  damned  with  faint 
praise  "  by  recent  writers,  led  the  author  to  undertake,  for  personal 
satisfaction  no  less  than  the  general  good,  to  perform  the  following 
experiments,  with  the  idea  of  directly  confirming  one  or  the  other  of 
the  above  views.  In  furtherance  of  this  object,  a  careful  test  was 
made  of  the  glassware  and  reagents  employed  for  the  presence  of 
arsenic,  with  negative  results. 
