PILULA  FERRI  IODIDI. 
109 
Dr.  Squibb  lias  pointed  out  a  means  of  restoring  the 
bright  color  of  the  iodide  when  the  discoloration  is  due  to  free 
iodine,  (see  page  99).  Mr.  Tilden  has  suggested  the  plan 
of  keeping  the  syrup  in  a  large  vessel  with  a  tap,  and  its 
surface  covered  with  a  stratum  of  olive  oil.  This  plan  may 
apply  on  a  very  large  scale,  but  is  not  to  be  recommended  to 
the  dispenser  unless  kept  in  a  glass  vessel,  terminating  with  a 
funnel,  the  neck  of  which  is  provided  with  a  faucet  or  a  com- 
pressed gum-tube  valve,  so  that  the  last  portions  may  be  drawn 
off  without  danger  of  being  mixed  with  globules  of  oil.  The 
change  which  occurs  after  it  is  dispensed  will  not  be  remedied 
completely  by  any  of  these  suggestions.  Even  a  coil  of  wire, 
while  it  keeps  the  syrup  free  from  free  iodine,  don't  prevent  the 
oxidation  and  deposit.  We  believe  the  moderate  change  which 
occurs  during  the  consumption  of  two  ounces  of  the  syrup  will 
not  materially  injure  or  modify  its  therapeutic  value. 
When  very  long  kept,  say  for  fifteen  years,  we  have  known  a 
change  in  the  saccharine  matter  to  occur,  by  which  a  dark  color 
and  caromel  odor  was  acquired  not  discharged  by  agitation  with 
iron  filings.  W.  P.,  Jr. 
PILULA  FERRI  IODIDI.  ■ 
T.  B.  Dorset. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy. 
That  the  pilular  form  is  the  best  as  well  as  the  most  conveni- 
ent mode  for  prescribing  the  iodide  of  iron  all,  I  believe,  are 
ready  to  admit,  and  the  difficulty  attending  the  preparation 
of  these  pills  1  have  no  doubt  is  equally  apparent.  Many 
Pharmaceutists,  as  well  as  myself,  have  found  the  present  offici- 
nal formula  not  well  suited  to  the  wants  of  the  dispenser.  In 
the  officinal  process  we  are  directed  to  evaporate  the  whole  to  a 
pilular  consistence,  which,  when  performed  with  the  greatest 
possible  care,  is  attended  with  very  uncertain  results.  Some- 
times we  find  our  mass,  when  cool,  quite  difficult  to  separate  into 
pills,  owing  to  its  extreme  elasticity,  and  when  made  they  will  not 
retain  their  proper  shape.  The  writer  has  seen  and  tried  the 
various  published  formulas  for  the  preparation  of  these  pills, 
and  has  also  sought  to  devise  something  of  his  own  with  a  view 
