Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1894. 
Tablet  Triturates. 
341 
occupy  ultimately ;  and  if  their  use  is  to  be  encouraged,  what  will 
eventually  be  the  effect  upon  the  prescription  business  ?  As  pre- 
viously stated,  the  Triturate  Tablets  are  most  largely  employed  by 
the  country  practitioner,  and  as  his  course  does  not  materially  affect 
the  prescription  business  of  the  pharmacist,  the  movements  of  the 
city  physician  do  most  vitally  concern  him.  In  many  instances  it 
was  found  that  the  city  physician  purchased  liberally  of  the  tablets, 
and  supplied  them  gratuitously  to  his  patients,  thus  necessitating 
an  outlay  of  money  for  which  he  received  no  return.  There  seems 
to  exist  a  difference  of  opinion  among  physicians  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  this  course.  Although  it  brings  the  physician  in  closer  touch 
with  the  patient,  rendering  the  latter  dependent  upon  the  former 
for  his  supplies  of  medicine,  it  involves  the  gratuitous  disposition  of 
the  physician's  stock.  In  some  instances  the  plan  has  been  dis- 
continued. It  is  maintained  by  many  pharmacists  that  the  popu- 
larity of  tablets  is  due  to  a  fad,  and  like  many  other  things  that 
promise  for  a  time  to  become  staple,  they  will  have  their  day  and 
eventually  fall  into  disuse.  However  true  this  prediction  may  be, 
time  will  prove  its  accuracy.  By  those  who  endorse  and  advocate 
their  use,  it  is  claimed  that  their  popularity  is  only  in  its  infancy, 
that  they  have  not  yet  even  attained  to  the  medium  of  their  ulti- 
mate universal  adoption. 
Although  Triturate  Tablets  possess,  in  many  instances,  an  obvious 
superiority  over  pills,  they  are,  however,  objectionable  in  others. 
For  example,  in  exhibiting  the  bitter  substances,  such  as  Strychnine, 
Quinine,  Aloes,  etc.  Owing  to  the  absence  of  a  coating,  it  is  quite 
impossible  to  swallow  a  tablet  containing  any  of  the  bitter  medica- 
ments without  leaving  some  indication  of  its  bitterness  upon  the 
sense  of  taste.  An  occasional  objection  is  found  in  some  instances 
where  the  active  constituent  of  the  tablet  is  crystalline  in  character; 
owing  to  the  recrystallization  in  the  tablet,  it  becomes  hard,  and  con- 
sequently rendering  it  difficult  to  reduce  to  a  powder  unless  subjected 
to  extraordinary  pressure,  thus  destroying,  to  some  extent,  one  of  the 
advantages  claimed  for  it.  Again,  if  the  quantity  of  adhesive  matter 
introduced  into  the  tablet  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  its  form 
and  holding  it  together  has  been  used  in  excess,  its  ready  reduction 
to  powder  is  impeded.  Care,  therefore,  should  be  intelligently  exer- 
cised in  their  preparation,  or,  again,  their  superiority  over  coated 
pills  becomes  weakened.    From  personal  observation,  it  must  be 
