584 
Phosphorus  in  the  Pill  Form. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t       Dec,  i8f6. 
of  odor,  but  had  lost  its  characteristic  scent,  and  now  possessed  an 
odor  suggestive  of  rose  water. 
We  may  add,  that  if  strong  nitric  acid  be  added,  drop  by  drop,  to 
orange  flower  water,  the  rose-color  at  first  produced  is  destroyed  when 
the  quantities  of  the  two  liquids  are  about  equal. 
If  the  orange  flower  water  be  agitated  with  nitrous  fumes  and  dilute 
nitric  acid  then  added,  no  color  is  produced,  or  if  acid,  largely  charged 
with  such  fumes  be  added  to  orange  flower  water  the  color  appears 
for  an  instant,  but  is  almost  instantly  destroyed. 
Before  leaving  the  subject  of  orange  flower  water  it  may  not  be 
inappropriate  to  its  bearings  on  pharmacy  to  quote  from  Parrish's 
"Pharmacy"  (ed.  1859)  tne  following  statement;  "Its  sedative 
effects,  which  are  not  generally  known  in  this  country,  and  not  noticed 
in  our  works  on  Materia  Medica,  adapt  it  especially  to  use  in  nervous 
affections.  In  doses  of  a  tablespoonful,  it  is  found  to  allay  nervous 
irritability  and  produce  refreshing  sleep  "  If  orange  flower  water  has 
valuable  hypnotic  qualities  it  should  be  welcomed  as  a  desirable  rival 
to  various  less  innocent  substances  now  used  for  the  purpose. — Pharm. 
Jour,  and  Trans.  [Lond.],  Sept.  28. 
NOTE  ON  PHOSPHORUS  IN  THE  PILL  FORM. 
By  A.  W.  Gerhard,  F.C.S.,  Teacher  of  Pharmacy  at  University  College. 
Read  at  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference. 
During  the  past  four  years  much  has  been  said  and  written  about  the 
dispensing  of  phosphorus,  and  various  methods  have  been  suggested 
for  presenting  this  active  and  useful  drug  in  a  form  which  shall  be  at 
once  reliable,  uniform  and  elegant.  Of  the  various  novel  suggestions 
made  none  seems  to  have  received  anything  like  a  general  adoption  ; 
and  glycerin,  resinous  and  albuminous  solutions  of  this  drug  are  rarely 
or  never  seen  in  the  physician's  prescription. 
Of  the  two  methods  by  which  phosphorus  can  be  exhibited,  solid 
and  liquid,  the  pilular  or  solid  is  that  to  which  preference  is  mostly 
given,  and  this  preference  may  be  explained  upon  good  reasons.  For 
instance,  the  material  in  which  the  phosphorus  is  diffused  in  a  pill  is  small 
in  bulk  as  compared  with  an  emulsion  or  mixture,  therefore  the  phos- 
phorus in  the  pill  is  more  likely  to  be  preserved  from  change  or  loss  by 
oxidation  and  to  yield  a  more  uniform  therapeutic  effect.    Again,  as  a 
