12 
ECONOMY  IN  THE  USE  OF  ALCOHOL  IN  PERCOLATION. 
could  hardly  be  substituted  without  increase  of  bulk,  or  loss  in 
effect,  and  yet  is  liable  to  make  the  pill  burn  the  fauces  and 
throat  in  swallowing.  The  Sugar  of  Milk  as  an  excipient  is 
chosen  for  its  hardness  and  slow  solubility,  to  divide  minutely, 
cover  and  sheathe  the  resin.  It  may  be  substituted  by  sulphate 
of  potassa  with  equal  effect,  and  if  either  be  taken  in  crystals, 
and  rubbed  with  the  resin  until  reduced  to  a  very  fine  powder, 
the  effect,  as  in  making  Dover's  Powder,  is  so  much  the  better. 
The  Acacia  is  used  to  give  adhesiveness  to  the  mass,  and  the 
Glycerin  to  prevent  the  pills  from  becoming  hard  or  less  soluble. 
This  is  a  very  useful  addition  to  all  pill  masses,  and  particularly 
so  to  those  containing  resinous  substances.  The  repeated  and 
prolonged  trituration  directed  is  regarded  as  a  very  important 
matter.  All  harsh,  drastic,  or  active  substances  have  their  harsh- 
ness and  acridity  very  much  diminished  by  such  management, 
and  there  is  some  reason  for  believing  that  this  pill  would  be  a 
different  thing  without  this  management,  and  that  the  more  time 
and  labor  bestowed  upon  the  material  in  this  way  the  better. 
These  pills  are  rarely  if  ever  well  used  as  a  purgative  or  cathar- 
tic proper,  and  are  best  and  perhaps  only  adapted  to  useas  an  ape- 
rient and  alterative  medicine.  One  pill  taken  at  night  will  usually 
insure  the  morning  evacuation  if  its  occurrence  be  doubtful,  or 
will  increase  it  and  render  it  more  pultaceous  and  easier.  If  the 
pill  be  without  effect,  or  produce  too  slight  an  effect,  another 
may  be  taken  in  the  morning.  This  will  commonly  ensure  a 
pultaceous  though  not  copious  evacuation  before  evening,  often 
without  sensation,  but  generally  with  occasional  slight  uneasi- 
ness, but  with  nothing  like  active  purgation.  In  the  ordinary 
and  perhaps  the  best  use  of  this  pill  to  overcome  constipation, 
the  effect,  or  want  of  effect  from  the  first  dose  maybe  disregarded, 
and  no  more  be  taken  until  the  next  evening.  The  second 
evening  dose  is  pretty  sure  to  produce  an  evacuation  on  the 
following  morning,  and  this  of  an  improved  character.  A  third 
pill  on  the  third  evening  still  improves  the  effect,  and  often  so 
far  re-establishes  a  habit  of  daily  evacuations  that  it  becomes 
proper  to  omit  one  evening  and  renew  the  dose  on  the  fifth. 
Next,  two  evenings  may  be  omitted,  and  next  a  pill  may  be  taken 
twice  a  week,  then  once  a  week,  and  so  on  until  the  habit  of 
