Am.  Jour.  Pharm  ) 
Nov.,  1878.  j 
New  Excipient for  Pills. 
515 
I  have  made  a  large  number  of  titrations  of  various  solutions,  and 
have  never  found  the  indicator  to  work  other  than  satisfactorily.  The 
color  is  developed  by  all  alkalis  and  discharged  by  alj  acids,  including 
carbonic  acid,  hence  it  is,  like  litmus,  unfitted  for  use  in  the  titration 
of  carbonates  in  the  cold. 
Upon  thorough  trial  I  regard  this  as  very  greatly  superior  to  any 
other  indicator  in  use  for  acids  and  alkalis,  and  consider  that  it  deserves 
a  prominent  place  among  reagents  for  volumetric  analysis. 
Brooklyn,  N.  7%  October  4,  1878. 
A  NEW  EXCIPIENT  FOR  PILLS. 
By  Richard  V.  Mattison. 
Read  at  the  Alnmni  Meeting,  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
We  have  received  from  our  friend  Mr.  Wm.  J.  Martin,  of  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio,  a  gentleman  of  very  large  experience  in  the  actual  work  of 
•dispensing,  and  having  at  his  command  one  of  the  most  perfectly 
arranged  prescription  departments  in  the  country,  some  notes  on  an 
excipient  for  pills,  designed  to  be  used  as  an  almost  universal  excipient 
in  the  preparation  of  the  varied  assortment  of  the  pills  daily  prescribed. 
Its  advantages  are,  first,  ready  solubility  ;  second,  small  bulk  ;  third, 
unusual  plasticity  and  adhesiveness  ;  fourth,  body.  By  the  latter  we 
mean  that  it  has  an  inherent  quality  of  being  able  to  hold  itself  up,  and 
further,  this  quality  prevents  the  falling  or  flattening  common  to  pills 
containing  heavy  substances,  as  calomel,  subnitrate  of  bismuth,  acetate 
of  lead,  &c.  This  of  itself  is  most  desirable,  and  becomes  extremely 
so  in  relation  to  the  small  bulk  of  the  excipient  required  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  suitable  mass.  Its  only  disadvantage,  seemingly,  is  color,  it 
producing  with  white  powders  a  colored  mass,  which,  with  quinia  and 
similar  alkaloids,  may  preclude  its  use,  since  it  is  the  fashion  to  have 
these  prepared  as  light-colored  as  possible.  The  excipient  recom- 
mended by  Mr.  Martin  is  made  by  taking  one  part  of  powdered  gum 
tragacanth  and  seven  parts  of  powdered  elm  bark,  and  using  either 
water  or  syrup,  preferably  the  latter,  to  make  the  excipient  of  the  requi- 
site plasticity.  The  boxes  exhibited  here  contain  pills  made  according 
to  the  formulae  helow,  and  were  prepared,  with  the  exception  of  the 
quinia  pills,  in  June  last.  The  quinia  pills  were  made  early  in  the 
present  year,  being  about  ten  months  old.  Pills  usually  difficult  of 
preparation  have  been  selected,  and  we  are  assured  no  difficulty  is  found 
