it  62 
Pills  and  Pill  Masses. 
[Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\       April,  1877. 
twine.  By  telling  the  person  to  "  shake  the  bottle  well "  before 
opening,  I  dispense  unexceptionable  citrate.  The  above  is  virtually 
the  "  officinal  formula,"  or,  I  should  say,  a  multiple  of  it.  The  above 
quantity  (12  bottles)  lasts  us  about  six  days,  and  I  am  confident  that 
the  last  is  as  good  as  the  first.  I  am  afraid  friend  "  W."  has  not  tested 
the  efficiency  of  the  present  "Pharmacopoeia"  formula,  and  I  think.it 
would  be  advisable  to  do  so,  before  condemning  it. 
Respectfully  yours,  W.  Wesley. 
West  Philadelphia,  March,  1877. 
PILLS  AND  PILL  MASSES. 
By  Hans  M.  Wilder. 
Mr.  Moore,  in  his  twenty-two-and-one  quarter-page  article  on  sugar- 
coated  pills  (this  journal,  p.  105)  states  several  objections  to  plain  pills, 
the  chief  of  which  seems  to  be  that  when  to  be  made  freshly  too  much 
time  will  be  consumed.  I  venture  to  offer  an  expedient  which  I  have 
used  for  several  years,  whereby  the  time  is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 
Those  pills  which  are  very  often  called  for  I  keep  in  mass,  ready  for 
rolling  out.  Take,  for  instance,  compound  cathartic  pills  :  I  mix  the 
powders  and  make  into  a  stiff  mass  with  q.  s.  glycerin,  and  keep  in  a 
jar,  marked  :  take  four  grains  for  each  pill  (making  allowance  for  the 
glycerin).  In  this  way  any  kind  of  pills  often  called  for  may  be  kept. 
The  rolling  out  does  not  take  one  minute,  and  people  know  that  the 
pills  are  fresh,  having  seen  them  made.  I  must  say  that  since  I  started 
this  feature  (and  the  one  with  freshly  made  tartrate  of  sodium)  I  had 
more  calls  for  either  than  ever  before  :  our  customers  appreciate  such 
things.  The  idea  of  keeping  pill  masses  was  easily  got  by  noticing 
the  convenience  of  blue  mass  ;  objections,  there  are  none  :  if  a  stiff 
mass  be  made,  it  will  not  soften  so  soon,  notwithstanding  the  hygro- 
scopic property  of  glycerin.  Spoiling  is  out  of  question  ;  make  only 
sufficient  to  last  a  week  or  so. 
UNGUENTUM  HYDRARGYRI  NITRATIS. 
By  S.  Wolff. 
[Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  March  20.) 
Of  all  the  preparations  in  the  "  Pharmacopoeia,"  there  is  probably 
none  that  causes  more  disappointment  and  dissatisfaction  to  the  con- 
