340 
Tablet  Triturates^ 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1894. 
business  with  the  average  pharmacist?"  (i)  What  are  Triturate 
.Tablets  ?  The  writer  finds  they  are  simply  mixtures  or  triturations 
of  an  active,  combined  with  an  inert  or  inactive  substance — such  as 
sugar  of  milk  with  an  adhesive  powder  moistened,  made  into  a  mass 
of  proper  consistency,  and  forced  into  suitable  moulds,  usually  by 
means  of  a  spatula,  and  formed  thereby  into  discs  or  tablets.  The 
finished  product  affords  a  convenient  means  of  administering  drugs 
usually  given  in  pill,  powder  or  liquid  form  without  resorting  to  the 
necessity  of  measuring  or  weighing,  and  apparently  possessing  an 
advantage  over  pills,  inasmuch  as  their  solubility  or  ready  disin- 
tegration by  the  stomach  is  not  impeded  by  an  outward  coating,  as 
in  the  case  of  coated  pills  or  capsules.  To  the  country  practitioner, 
with  cumbersome  saddle-bags  and  medicine  cases,  they  are  a  boon 
and  great  convenience,  overcoming  the  necessity  of  weighing,  meas- 
uring or  subdividing.  He  now  has  a  line  of  preparations  of 
known  strength,  inexpensive  and  portable,  and  at  the  same  time 
yielding  results  that  are  determined  by  their  intelligent  use. 
The  history  connected  with  their  introduction  is  rather  meagre. 
They  were  first  described  by  Dr.  Robert  M.  Fuller,  of  New  York 
City,  in  an  article  published  in  the  New  York  Medical  Record,  of 
March,  1878.  The  slowness  of  action  of  coated  pills  culminated  in 
the  suggestion  for  the  manufacture  of  tablets,  the  writer  of  the 
article  claiming  many  points  of  advantage  over  the  coated  pill.  In 
point  of  solubility,  Triturate  Tablets  are  a  success.  Owing  to  their 
porous,  spongy  character,  the  fluids  of  the  stomach  act  upon  them 
promptly,  resulting  in  a  rapid  disintegration,  and  consequently  a 
quicker  action  might  reasonably  be  expected  therefrom. 
Thus  far,  the  country  practitioner  is  the  largest  consumer  or  dis- 
tributer of  Triturate  Tablets.  This  fact  is  sustained  by  evidence 
and  data  gathered  from  prominent  manufacturers  of  these  products. 
There  seems  to  be  a  growing  disposition,  however,  on  the  part  of 
physicians  in  the  more  densely  populated  towns  and  cities  to 
employ  Triturate  Tablets  in  their  practice,  as  well  as  the  physician 
who,  by  reason  of  his  removal  from  close  proximity  to  the  phar- 
macy. However  prejudicial  the  pharmacist  may  be  towards  the 
introduction  of  a  line  of  products  that  might  in  anywise  alienate 
the  prescription  business  from  his  hands,  he  is  forced  to  admit  that 
the  Triturate  Tablet  has  already  attained  a  formidable  attitude.  It 
is  well  to  estimate  the  probable  position  Titurate  Tablets  might 
