Pill  Coating.  105 
place  the  attempt  may  be  given  up.  Another  difficulty  that  has  to 
be  overcome  is  with  pills  containing  essential  oils.  Unless  these  are 
varnished  previous  to  the  coating  the  oil  will  work  through  and 
spoil  the  appearance.  It  is  best  to  dilute  the  pill  varnish  in  com- 
mon use  to  half  strength  and  allow  the  pills  a  day's  rest  before 
clothing  in  white. 
I  use  two  covered  gallipots  and  a  round  tin  box  in  the  process. 
The  pots  should  be  perfectly  smooth,  and  have  well-fitting  lids,  and 
should  be  large  enough  to  hold  double  the  quantity  of  pills  for 
coating.    The  tin  corresponds  in  size  to  the  pots. 
Place  some  French  chalk  in  the  tin  and  the  pills  in  one  of  the 
pots,  damp  with  a  solution.  The  one  I  use  is  equal  parts  of  muci- 
lago  acaciae,  syr.  simp,  and  aqua ;  too  much  solution  should  not  be 
used.  A  2  drachm  measure  is  convenient  for  the  purpose.  The 
pills  should  all  be  damped,  but  if  too  much  solution  be  used  too 
much  chalk  is  taken  up.  Now  turn  them  out  of  the  pot  into  the 
tin  containing  the  chalk,  shake  sharply  and  empty  out  on  to  a 
proper  receptacle  (I  use  the  lid  of  a  card-board  box),  keep  moving 
and  separate  the  loose  chalk.  They  are  now  ready  for  the  polishing 
pot,  being  the  second  gallipot,  which  should  be  kept  as  polisher  only. 
Repeat  the  operation,  but  this  time  removing  as  much  of  the  loose 
chalk  as  possible  before  using  the  polisher,  never  forgetting  that 
these  small  things  are  the  tedious  puzzles  of  pill  coating.  Repeat 
the  operation  once  again  and  it  is  complete.  It  is  necessary  to  give 
particular  attention  to  the  washing  of  the  pots  between  each  course, 
and  to  keep  the  polisher  perfectly  dry.  I  generally  after  washing 
and  wiping  the  pot  hold  it  over  a  spirit  lamp  and  polish  out  with  a 
soft  cloth. 
With  close  attention  to  the  preceding  remarks  pill  coating  can  be 
mastered  after  a  few  experiments. 
I  had  intended  to  dwell  upon  sugar  and  keratine  coating  but  will 
not  at  present  trespass  on  the  valuable  space  of  the  journal,  but 
sincerely  trust  that  these  few  lines  may  act  as  a  stimulus  for  further 
papers  in  this  direction,  viz  :  the  practical  part  of  the  trade. — Phar. 
Jour,  and  Trans. ,  Jan.  10,  p.  597. 
Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
Feb.,  1891. 
Injections  of  pyoktanin  were  observed  by  Dr.  Lindstrcem  to  cause  a 
diminution  of  gonorrhoeal  secretion,  without,  however,  lessening  the  pain.  The 
strength  of  the  solution  varied  from  1  to  4  parts  of  pyoktanin  in  1,000  parts. 
