Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Mar.,  1877.  / 
Sugar-coated  Pille. 
the  regular  practitioner,  and  the  palatableness  of  homoeopathic  remedies 
that  has  given  the  latter  practice  such  a  foothold,  and  rendered  it  so 
popular  among  the  most  cultivated  and  refined  classes  of  our  population. 
It  is  not  among  the  ignorant  and  poor  that  homoeopathic  practice  has 
attained  its  greatest  popularity,  but  it  is  with  the  more  cultivated  and 
refined,  whose  delicate  and  fastidious  palates  revolt  at  nauseous  doses 
of  regular  medicine.  It  is  this  class  of  people  who  will  employ  that 
doctor  who  will  give  them  pleasant  remedies,  even  though  they  may 
not  really  have  so  much  confidence  in  his  skill,  in  preference  to  one 
who  deals  out  to  them  nauseous  draughts.  To  ascertain  the  truth  of 
what  I  have  said,  inquire  of  those  who  employ  homoeopathic  physi- 
cians, and  I  will  guarantee  that  three  out  of  every  five  persons  will 
tell  you  that  they  were  allured  to  the  latter  by  their  pleasant  remedies* 
Mothers  will  tell  you  that  their  medicines  are  so  nice  for  their  child- 
ren ;  that  their  little  darlings  take  their  medicines  so  easily.  There  is 
no  coaxing  and  petting  necessary  ;  no  throwing  of  their  little  pets  upon 
their  backs  and  holding  their  noses  while  they  pour  the  nauseous  doses 
down  their  little  throats,  and  then  witnessing  their  sobs  and  heart- 
rending cries,  since  they  have  employed  the  homoeopathic  doctor. 
The  physician  who  studies  to  please  the  palate  of  his  patient,  espe- 
cially if  it  be  a  woman  or  child,  does  a  wise  thing,  in  that  he  fortifies 
himself  in  their  confidence  and  respect  to  that  degree  that  it  would 
require  some  powerfully  adverse  circumstance  to  destroy.  Many, 
many  times  have  I  heard  ladies  say,  oh  !  I  do  like  Dr.  So  and  So 
so  much,  he  always  prescribes  such  pleasant  medicines.  Hence,  I  say 
to  the  medical  profession,  pause  and  reflect  awhile  before  you  fall  into 
the  fatal  error  of  taking  the  backward  step  of  opposing  and  discourag- 
ing the  use  of  sugar-coated  pills,  which  give  so  great  a  finish  and  so 
much  elegance  to  this  form  of  remedy. 
The  theory  of  insolubility  of  sugar-coated  pills  is,  at  first  sight,  a 
very  plausible  one,  and  therefore  apt  to  be  accepted  by  medical  men  as 
true,  without  their  having  taken  the  time  and  trouble  to  test  its  verity. 
And  especially  are  such  theories  likely  to  gain  credence  and  rapid  cur- 
rency when  they  emanate  from  prominent  writers,  or  are  heralded  by 
any  of  the  "  Sir  Oracles"  of  a  profession.  But  generally  such  false 
notions  sustain  but  an  ephemeral  existence  ;  they  may  for  a  while,  like 
the  "  will-o'-the-wisp,"  lead  the  unwary  astray,  but  they  cannot  long 
withstand  the  sunlight  of  truth  and  scientific  practical  investigation,  and, 
