Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
July,  1914. 
Bichloride  of  Mercury  Tablets. 
313 
BICHLORIDE  OF  MERCURY  TABLETS  AND  BICHLORIDE 
In  presenting  a  paper  on  such  a  hackneyed  subject  as  "  Bichloride 
of  Mercury  Tablets  and  Bichloride  Tablet  Legislation,"  I  am  well 
aware  that  I  may  be  trying  your  patience  on  a  subject  that  you  may 
perhaps  consider  as  threadbare.  My  association  with  and  study 
of  this  subject,  however,  convince  me  that  this  is  not  a  dead  subject, 
but  contains  several  problems  directly  associated  with  the  duties  of 
the  druggist  and  which  pharmacists  themselves,  in  a  very  large 
measure,  must  decide. 
The  extensive  use  of  corrosive  sublimate  in  this  form  has  justi- 
fied the  decision  of  the  Committee  of  Revision  of  the  U.  S.  P.  to 
introduce  an  official  formula  and  by  this  means  to  endeavor  to 
formulate  additional  safeguards  to  life  in  their  use.  The  articles 
that  have  appeared  in  the  medical,  pharmaceutical  and  lay  press, 
as  well  as  the  discussion  in  the  committee,  demonstrate  that  this  is 
a  live  subject,  and  associated  with  it  are  several  questions  still  to  be 
settled. 
In  the  official  recognition  of  the  tablet  of  mercuric  chloride  the 
U.  S.  P.  is  only  following  the  example  of  most  of  the  pharmacopoeias 
that  have  been  revised  in  recent  years.  A  study  of  the  foreign 
formulas  and  a  comparison  of  these  and  likewise  of  the  commonly 
used  American  formulas  are  interesting. 
In  American  practice,  either  the  Wilson  formula  containing-  a 
mixture  of  mercuric  chloride  and  ammonium  chloride  or  the  Bernay 
formula  containing  mercuric  chloride  and  citric  acid  has  hem 
almost  exclusively  used.  In  Europe  the  formula  proposed  by 
Angerer  for  Pastilla  Hydrargyri  bichlorati  has  been  the  type  fol- 
lowed.   His  formula  was : 
TABLET  LEGISLATION.1 
By  George  M.  Beringer. 
Mercury  bichloride, 
Sodium  chloride,  aa 
Eosin   
1.0  Gm. 
0.5  Kg. 
1  Read  before  the  New  Jersey  Pharmaceutical  Association,  Lake 
Hopatcong,  N.  J.,  June  17,  1914. 
