Am.  Jobr.  Pharm.  I 
8ept.  1, 1872.  } 
Note  on  Pill  Excipients. 
411 
blood,  M.  Bousingault  found  51  milligrammes  of  iron  ;  in  that  of  the 
ox,  55  milligrammes ;  of  the  pig,  59  milligrammes ;  and  in  that  of 
the  frog,  42  milligrammes.  But  it  was  not  only  in  red  blood  that  iron 
was  found ;  the  worthy  savant  detected  it  even  in  colorless  blood ; 
and  after  some  experiments  he  found  that  the  blood  of  snails  con- 
tained as  much  iron  as  that  of  the  ox  or  calf,  and  this  he  thought  was 
sufficient  to  demonstrate  that  the  red  color  of  the  blood  is  not  due,  as 
is  generally  supposed,  to  the  presence  of  iron  in  that  liquid. — Pharm. 
Jour,  and  Trans.,  July  27,  1872,  from  Correspondent  of  Med.  Times 
and  Gazette. 
NOTE  ON  PILL  EXCIPIENTS. 
By  Walter  Tearle. 
At  the  last  November  meeting,  Mr.  J.  B.  Barnes  read  a  paper  on 
anew  pill  excipient — boro-potassium-tartrate,  or  soluble  tartar.  When 
carefully  evaporated  to  a  mucilaginous  consistence,  a  solution  of  this 
salt  possesses  that  weight  and  plasticity  which  are  necessary  to  form 
certain  untractable  bodies  into  pills.  Yet  it  presents  an  objectionable 
feature,  for  pills  made  up  with  it  soon  acquire  that  flinty  hardness, 
which,  in  a  medical  sense,  at  least,  is  prejudicial. 
While  looking  for  some  such  thick  heavy  substance  as  this,  but 
which  would  not  so  readily  solidify  and  get  hard,  I  was  led  to  try  a 
neutral  solution  of  citrate  of  potassium  in  syrup  and  glycerin  ;  this 
solution  was  very  heavy  and  of  the  consistence  of  treacle,  and  pos- 
sessed sufficient  adhesiveness  to  form  nitre  and  chlorate  of  potassium 
into  pills  without  the  aid  of  tragacanth ;  but  from  the  deliquescent 
nature  of  this  excipient,  the  pills  could  not  be  kept  for  any  time  with- 
out getting  moist.  A  solution  of  soluble  cream  of  tartar  was  next 
prepared  and  evaporated  to  a  thick  consistence,  and  then  rediluted 
with  syrup  and  a  small  proportion  of  glycerin  till  sp.  gr.  was  about 
1*420.  One  ounce  of  this  was  then  mixed  with  half  an  ounce  of  the 
above  citrate  of  potassium  solution,  and  dilution  with  syrup  continued 
till  the  sp.  gr.  of  the  mixture  was  1*400,  and  a  liquid  of  the  consist- 
ence of  mucilage  was  obtained.  This  liquid  possessed  sufficient  ad- 
hesiveness to  form  sulphur,  antimonial  powder,  bismuth,  gallic  acid, 
benzoic  acid,  rhubarb,  Dover's  powder,  etc.,  into  pills  without  the  aid 
of  tragacanth,  the  pills  being  very  small  compared  with  the  amount  of 
drug  present  : — thus  7  grains  of  sulphur,  6  grains  of  rhubarb,  5  grains 
of  gallic  acid,  5  grains  of  benzoic  acid,  and  8  grains  saccharated  car- 
