I  20 
Sugar-coated  Pills. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Mar.,  1877. 
Besides,  the  materials  of  which  pills  are  usually  composed,  will  much 
more  quickly  dissolve  or  liquify  in  the  fluids  of  the  alimentary  canal 
than  will  ordinary  alimentary  substances.  In  the  former  there  is  not 
that  obstinate  cohesion  to  overcome  in  order  to  reduce  to  an  absorbable 
condition,  that  would  be  presented  by  the  muscular  fibre  and  vegetable 
tissue  and  other  tough  and  insoluble  parts  of  alimentary  substances. 
Almost  any  pill-coating  or  pill-mass  will  dissolve  and  readily  disintegrate 
by  simple  maceration  for  a  few  hours  in  water  at  the  temperature  of 
ioo°,  with  occasional  agitation,  whereas  you  might  soak  a  piece  of  beef 
steak  or  cabbage  for  some  time  before  you  would  reduce  it  to  a  state  of 
-fluidity. 
There  is  still  another  very  important  circumstance  in  the  history  of 
the  digestive  process,  which  seems  to  have  been  overlooked,  or  its 
importance  not  properly  estimated  in  the  consideration  of  this  subject, 
and  that  is  the  length  of  time  a  pill,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
would  be  likely  to  be  subjected  to  the  solvent  and  digestive  powers  of 
the  fluids  of  the  alimentary  canal  in  its  passage.  It  is  estimated  by 
physiologists  that  alimentary  substances  average  from  one  to  two  days 
in  their  transit  along  the  intestinal  tube,  and  from  two  to  five  hours  or 
longer  are  spent  in  the  stomach.  This  slow  passage  and  long  macera- 
tion in  the  corroding  juices  of  the  canal  must  insure,  beyond  peradven- 
ture,  the  thorough  solution  of  any  pill-coating  or  pill-mass,  unless  of 
adamantine  hardness.  If  hyperesthesia  of  the  intestinal  tube  or  other 
morbid  condition  should  exist  which  may  accelerate  peristaltic  move- 
ment, of  course  a  more  rapid  transit  would  be  likely  to  take  place. 
But  again,  there  are  frequently  inactive  and  comparatively  stagnant 
conditions  of  the  intestinal  canal,  in  which  a  pill  may  loiter  for  days  or 
even  longer. 
The  great  length  of  the  intestinal  tube,  which  is  about  six  times  the 
length  of  the  entire  body,  with  its  numerous  convolutions  and  varied 
secretions,  is  wisely  provided  by  nature  to  adapt  it  to  the  work  of  a 
thorough  digestion  and  absorption  of  indigestible  alimentary  matters,  etc. 
Upon  inquiry  I  find  that  the  materials  most  generally  employed  by 
sugar-coated  pill  manufacturers  for  making  their  coating,  is  sugar  and 
starch,  only  a  few  add  a  trace  of  gum  Arabic.  It  must  therefore  be 
evident  to  every  intelligent  pharmacist  or  other  persons  having  a 
knowledge  of  the  solvent  power  of  aqueous  fluids,  when  maintained  at 
the  temperature  of  ioo°,  over  any  mass  composed  of  such  materials, 
