io8  Sugar-coated  Pills. 
unpleasant  task,  and  the  idea  of  swallowing  a  pill  is  associated  with 
the  most  unpleasant  sensations,  amounting,  in  some  cases,  to  the 
utmost  disgust  ;  I  have  known  many  persons  who  positively  could 
not  swallow  a  pill.  Some  people  always  have  to  hold  a  pill  in  their 
mouths  for  some  time,  and  it  is  only  swallowed  after  the  most 
strenuous  efforts.  This  very  repugnance  and  disgust,  experienced  by 
many  persons,  in  taking  pills  and  difficulty  in  swallowing  them,  has 
been,  in  many  instances,  I  have  no  doubt,  engendered  by  their  being 
compelled  to  take  bitter  and  nauseous  uncoated  pills,  whereas  had  they 
been  sugar-coated,  they  might  never  have  experienced  the  slightest 
difficulty  in  taking  pills  at  any  time. 
If  regular  physicians  wish  to  render  their  practice  unpopular  with 
the  public  and  encourage  and  foster  homoeopathy,  let  them  sanction  and 
join  in  the  recent  opposition  to  sugar-coated  pills,  and  continue  to 
discourage  the  employment  of  other  elegant  and  palatable  forms  of 
remedies  which  an  enlightened  pharmacy  offers  them. 
I  consider  opposition  to  sugar-coated  pills  an  unfortunate  retrograde 
step,  and  as  unjustifiable  and  unnecessary  as  it  is  injudicious  and  damag- 
ing to  the  interests  of  both  medicine  and  pharmacy.  I  think  it  should 
be  the  aim  of  every  pharmacist,  who  feels  a  just  pride  in  his 
profession,  to  encourage  rather  than  discourage  the  adoption  and 
perpetuation  of  any  practice  that  gives  elegance  to  his  products  and 
that  renders  his  preparations  as  agreeable  to  the  taste  and  as  inviting  in 
appearance  as  possible.  The  very  appearance  of  a  medicine  may 
invite,  or  it  may  repel  and  excite  feelings  of  disgust  in  the  mind  of  a 
patient.  Physicians  should  feel  it  their  duty,  as  it  most  certainly  is  of 
paramount  importance  to  their  interests,  to  aid  and  encourage  pharma- 
cists in  their  efforts  in  this  direction,  by  using  and  recommending 
such  improved  forms  of  remedies.  I  refer,  of  course,  to  legitimate 
and  substantial  improvements.  I  don't  expect  a  physician  to  adopt 
and  prescribe  every  new-fangled  thing  to  which  the  pharmacist  may  call 
his  attention,  either  personally,  by  circular  or  by  sample,  the  real  merit 
of  which  may  be  all  in  the  label,  the  true  composition  being  kept  a 
profound  secret  and  only  known  to  the  pharmacist  himself,  and  the 
whole  thing,  perhaps,  only  a  fraud  and  deception. 
The  more  elegant  in  appearance  and  the  more  palatable  medicines  are 
the  more  popular  the  regular  practice  will  become.  It  has  unques- 
tionably been,  in  a  great  measure,  the  disagreeable  and  repulsive  doses  of 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
J       Mar.,  1877. 
