Am.  Jour.  Pharm., 
Dec,  1885. 
Pills  and  Excijyients. 
595 
mortar,  the  fullers'  earth  added,  thoroughly  mixed,  and  formed  into  a 
mass  with  water. 
Another  class  of  substances  which  are  frequently  troublesome  are 
the  resins  and  gum  resins,  and,  by  many,  alcohol  in  small  quantities 
is  recommended,  to  enable  the  operator  to  obtain  a  plastic,  tough  mass, 
which  it  certainly  accomplishes  ;  at  the  same  time  the  pill  as  it  becomes 
old  gets  harder,  and  almost  inert ;  while  the  use  of  Castile  soap 
secures  the  former  quality,  and  renders  the  mass  soluble  in  the  juices 
of  the  stomach.  This  excipient  we  have  found  most  successful  in 
making  a  satisfactory  mass  with  camphor  alone,  or  even  with  it  and 
powdered  capsicum,  which  is  well  known  to  be  a  most  difficult  combi- 
nation to  form  into  a  good  mass.  A  small  quantity  of  powdered  resin 
when  added  to  camphor  will  also  enable  the  dispenser  to  make  pills 
quite  easily  and  of  small  size ;  it  must  be  used  quite  sparingly,  or  the 
pills  in  a  short  time  will  become  so  soft  that  they  will  lose  their 
shape. 
Pills  in  which  any  essential  oil  is  an  important  constituent  are  also 
well  known  to  be  troublesome  to  the  dispenser,  who  feels  that  he  must 
conscientiously  fulfill  the  order  of  the  prescriber,  and  this  we  have 
found  is  most  thoroughly  attained  by  the  use  of  powdered  Castile 
soap.  A  formula  which  will  serve  as  typical  is  as  follows :  Aloes 
pulv.  gr.  xii,  podophyllin  gr.  iv,  oil  of  hedeoma  gtt.  xxiv,  pulv.  sapon. 
hisp.  gr.  xii.  Rub  the  oil  and  soap  together  till  a  smooth  mixture  is 
attained,  then  add  the  aloes  and  podophyllin,  previously  well  mixed  ; 
make  into  a  mass,  and  divide  into  12  pills. 
Creasote  is  also  readily  made  into  pills  in  the  same  manner.  Pill 
masses  containing  deliquescent  salts  can  be  made  by  means  of  Canada 
balsam,  or  of  soluble  cream  of  tartar.  The  administration  of  deliques- 
cent salts  in  pills  is  not  frequent,  and  needs  less  notice  than  the  ferru- 
ginous and  scaled  salts ;  these  are  of  frequent  demand,  and  several 
formulas  have  caused  great  annoyance  to  dispensers,  Blaud's  pills 
being  one  of  them.  The  use  of  a  portion  of  dried  ferrous  sulphate, 
equivalent  to  the  crystals  ordered,  has  been  found  to  overcome  the 
difficulty,  glycerin  and  tragacanth,  as  before  described,  being  used  as 
an  excipient ;  the  method  of  procedure  being  to  rub  the  ferrous  sul- 
phate and  potassium  carbonate  separately  with  a  small  portion  of  the 
glycerin,  then  mix  them  thoroughly.  Should  the  mass  be  too  soft,  a 
small  amount  of  tragacanth  dust  may  be  added. 
The  use  of  manna  has  been  alluded  to  in  the  first  part  of  this  paper, 
