Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
September,  1894.  / 
Reviews. 
457 
staff  of  experimenters,  have  devoted  their  time  to  the  collection  of  informa- 
tion from  various  sources  and  to  experimental  work.  Comparative  experi- 
ments have  also  been  made  with  pill  excipieuts. 
The  comparisons  with  foreign  Pharmacopoeias  have  been  revised  with  the 
following  new  editions  :  Danish,  1893  ;  German,  1890  ;  Russian,  1891  ;  Swiss, 
J893  ;  United  States,  1893.  The  new  Italian  Pharmacopoeia  has  also  been 
added  to  the  list,  which  now  numbers  fifteen.  The  subject-matter  has  been 
enlarged  by  120  pages  ;  these  additions  are  pretty  evenly  distributed  through 
the  book. 
That  portion  relating  to  excipients  for  pills  will  bear  repetition  as  follows  : 
"  Excipients  for  pills  are  of  two  kinds  :  (1)  Those  which  are  more  or  less 
fluid  and  employed  to  bind  together  powders,  or  to  impart  the  necessary  moist- 
ure to  adhesive  substances  ;  (2)  those,  generally  in  powder,  which  are  intended 
to  absorb  moisture  and  give  solidity  to  the  mass.  Of  the  former,  '  Dispensing 
Syrup '  (equal  volumes  of  glycerin,  syrup  and  mucilage)  and  glucose  are  most 
in  request ;  proof  spirit  also  is  very  useful.  Glycerin  by  itself  is  distinctly  in- 
ferior to  the  foregoing.  Glycerin  of  tragacanth  is  much  employed,  but  in  the 
majority  of  cases  where  it  would  be  used,  we  prefer  glucose,  either  by  itself  or 
mixed  with  an  equal  weight  of  syrup. 
"  Of  the  powders,  that  of  liquorice  root  is  most  useful  when  moisture  is  to 
be  absorbed  and  no  binding  power  required.  An  unexpected  exception  is  the 
case  of  carbolic  acid,  which  makes  a  very  good  plastic  mass  with  twice  its 
weight  of  liquorice  powder  (when  well  worked  together,  the  result  is  very 
satisfactory). 
"When  more  plasticity  is  required,  the  absorbent  powder  is  supplemented 
with  compound  tragacanth  powder,  or  powdered  gum  acacia.  For  essential 
oils  this  condition  is  best  obtained  by  the  use  of  powdered  curd  soap  ;  as  a 
rule,  one  minim  of  the  oil  will  require  half  a  grain  of  the.  soap  and  two  grains 
of  the  liquorice. 
"  A  mixture  of  paraffins  (massa  paraffmum),  without  or  with  kaolin  (massa 
kaolin),  is  used  for  substances  which  are  readily  reduced  by  organic  matter, 
such  as  the  permanganates  and  the  salts  of  gold  and  silver. 
"  It  '  goes  without  saying'  that  an  excipient  must  not  be  chemically  incom- 
patible with  the  other  ingredients,  but  there  is  not  much  opportunity  for  such 
an  occurrence  with  those  above  selected." 
We  further  learn  that  in  making  Liquor  Plumbi  Subacelatis,  "digestion  in 
the  cold  for  a  week  answers  equally  well,  if  not  better,  than  the  half  hour's 
boiling. ' ' 
The  book  is  interesting,  not  only  to  those  working  with  the  British  Phar- 
macopoeia, but  almost  equally  to  those  using  any  Pharmacopoeia  ;  for  instance, 
under  opium  we  are  able  to  read  at  a  glance  the  morphine  requirements  of 
fifteen  Pharmacopoeias,  besides  that  of  Great  Britain. 
Coming  as  it  does  during  the  revision  of  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  it  will 
be  of  great  value  to  those  engaged  on  this  latter  work. 
Produits  fournis  a  la  matiere  mkdicale  par  la  famille  des  Apocynees.  Par 
Louis  Planchon.    Montpellier.    1894.    Pp.  364. 
This  interesting  and  valuable  monograph  is  reviewed  more  in  detail  on 
page  449. 
