Am.  Jour.  Pharm.\ 
September,  1896.  / 
Gelatine  Capsules. 
491 
out  adding  to  its  medicinal  properties.  Furthermore,  while  all  these 
ingredients  may  be  perfectly  harmless,  if  considered  by  themselves, 
they  may  yet  change  the  finely  comminuted  powder  to  a  hard  lump, 
which,  instead  of  being  easily  assimilated  by  the  patient,  would  pass 
undissolved  through  the  system  or  even  be  the  cause  of  serious 
digestive  disorders.  Lastly,  we  may  also  state  that  although  there 
are  people  who  prefer  small  capsules  to  large  ones,  there  are  just  as 
many  who  will  take  a  large  capsule  as  readily  as  a  small  one. 
A  few  words  may  be  added  about  the  filling  of  capsules,  which 
seems  to  be  a  difficult  task  to  some  pharmacists.  Whenever  a  mass 
is  first  prepared,  little  difficulty  is  experienced.  The  general  pro- 
cedure is  to  roll  the  mass  and  cut  it  into  the  required  number  of 
pieces,  in  such  a  way  that  each  piece  has  the  shape  of  a  small  cyl- 
inder, of  a  diameter  a  little  smaller  than  that  of  the  body  of  the 
selected  capsule.  The  operator  should  then  wash  his  hands,  in 
order  to  remove  all  traces  of  the  mass,  and  then  introduce  the  small 
cylinders  into  the  capsules  by  means  of  a  needle  with  which  he 
picks  them  up.  As  especially  fit  for  this  work,  I  mention  the  small 
botanical  needles  used  in  dissecting  flowers,  which  are  provided 
with  a  wooden  handle,  an  instrument  that  every  pharmacist  can  pre- 
pare himself.  The  covers  are  afterwards  put  on  with  the  fingers. 
By  this  method,  the  odor  as  well  as  the  taste  of  the  ingredients  of 
the  mass  are  thoroughly  covered  by  the  capsule.  Care  should  be 
taken  not  to  select  too  large  a  capsule,  so  that  the  mass  after  drying 
will  fill  only  half  the  space  ;  but  even  with  the  greatest  care  in  pre- 
paring the  mass  a  shrinking  will  afterwards  take  place,  an  inconve- 
nience which  it  seems  impossible  to  overcome. 
During  the  last  year,  I  have  given  this  method  of  filling  capsules 
my  special  attention,  and  compared  repeatedly  the  cylindrical  parts 
of  the  mass  by  weighing  them.  In  very  rare  instances  have  I  found 
two  parts  that  weighed  exactly  the  same,  the  variation  in  my  own 
work  ranging  from  a  fraction  of  I  per  cent,  to  3  per  cent.,  in  spite 
of  the  greatest  care  exercised.  Experiments  with  masses  cut  by 
other  operators  showed  a  similar,  sometimes  worse,  result.  I  have 
discovered  two  apparently  equal  pieces  of  the  same  mass  to  vary  as 
much  as  8  per  cent.  In  most  instances  this  lack  of  exactness  seems 
to  be  irrelevant,  but  we  must  admit  that  if  we  once  allow  a  variation 
it  is  hard  to  draw  a  limit.  I  have  therefore  adopted  a  better  and 
more  correct  method,  and  during  the  last  six  months  instructed  my 
