366     Eighth  Decennial  Revision  of  Pharmacopoeia.  { Ami^i ,i9h05.rm' 
committee,  recognizing  the  fallacy  of  this  belief,  have  directed  that 
a  number  of  tinctures,  formerly  made  by  percolation,  be  now  made 
by  the  older,  more  uncertain  and  less  economical  method  of  macera- 
tion and  subsequent  filtration.  The  Committee  on  Revision  has  gone 
even  farther  than  this  in  connection  with  the  official  wines,  and  di- 
rects that  four  of  the  five  wines  of  vegetable  drugs  be  made  from 
«  fluidextracts,"  simple  dilutions. 
These  are  subjects,  however,  that  should  be,  and  probably  will  be 
considered  at  greater  length  at  some  future  time,  and  are,  in  addi- 
tion, not  quite  germane  to  the  subject  under  consideration. 
Suppositories. — Under  this  heading  the  revision  committee  gives 
a  lengthy  and  in  many  respects  excellent  dissertation  on  the  various 
kinds  of  suppositories  in  use,  and  the  different  materials  used  in  their 
manufacture.  In  some  particulars,  however,  the  description  is  not 
quite  in  keeping  with  the  facts. 
When  the  committee  asserts  that  suppositories  "  melt  readily  at 
blood  heat,"  the  assertion  should  have  been  qualified  and  made  to 
apply  only  to  that  class  of  suppositories  that  do,  or  are  intended  to, 
melt  at  about  that  approximate  temperature.  Glycerin  suppositories, 
for  instance,  do  not  and  are  not  intended  to  melt  at  a  low  tempera- 
ture. 
In  describing  the  method  of  making  suppositories  the  committee 
speaks  of  fusion  and  of  rolling  by  hand.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  by  far 
the  greater  number  of  suppositories  made  and  used  in  this  country 
are  made  by  cold  compression  in  machines  making  from  I  to  300 
suppositories  at  a  time.  As  this  process  is  not  mentioned  in  this 
official  description,  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that  suppositories  of  this  kind 
do  not  meet  with  the  requirements  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  and  should 
not  be  dispensed  or  used  unless  specified.  The  official  weight  of 
rectal  suppositories,  formerly  1  gramme,  has  been  changed  to  2 
grammes,  and  the  weight  of  glycerin  suppositories  is  now  a  fraction 
more  than  3  grammes,  or  little  more  than  one-half  the  size  of  those 
formerly  official. 
Of  the  several  preparations  for  which  a  general  formula  might 
very  properly  have  been  added  to  this  pharmacopoeia,  the  most 
popular  are  hypodermatic  tablets.  These  preparations  are  now  so 
extensively  used,  and  the  diluting  powder  used  by  different  makers 
varies  so  greatly,  that  some  restriction  or  at  least  suggestion  as  to 
the  more  desirable  diluent,  size  and  methods  of  making  might  well 
