7o 
Pill  Coating. 
f  ^m.  Jour.  Pharm 
1       Feb.  1876. 
only  way  of  avoiding  and  abating  this  nuisance,  is  to  be  able  to  coat 
the  pills  ourselves,  and  do  it  as  nicely  as  the  manufacturers. 
Having  tried  a  great  many  experiments  in  coating  pills  with  sugar 
and  French  chalk,  my  experience  may  be  of  interest  and  benefit  to  the 
readers  of  "  The  Pharmacist." 
In  coating  with  sugar,  I  find  it  advantageous,  though  not  necessary, 
to  coat  the  pills  first  with  a  resinous  substance  ;  for  this  purpose  I 
prefer  mastic,  as  it  is  not  sticky  when  drying.  Pills,  when  thus  pro- 
tected, may  be  washed  if  necessary,  to  remove  a  subsequent  coating 
not  successfully  applied. 
To  apply  this  resinous  coat,  take  a  patch  box,  or  earthen  jar  of  con- 
venient size,  moisten  the  inside  of  box  and  cover  with  glycerin,  in- 
troduce the  pills,  and  for  every  hundred  of  pills  add  ten  drops  of  a 
saturated  solution  of  mastic  in  ether,  adjust  the  cover,  and  rotate  very 
rapidly  for  a  few  moments,  then  scatter  the  pills  thinly  over  a  plate  of 
glass  that  has  been  previously  rubbed  with  glycerin  ;  when  dry,  if  not 
thoroughly  coated,  return  to  the  box  and  proceed  as  before ;  if  satis- 
factory, moisten  with  mucilage  of  gum  arabic — 1  part  gum  to  5  of 
water — care  being  taken  not  to  use  too  much  mucilage,  yet  the  pills 
must  be  thoroughly  moistened  ;  this  can  be  quickly  done  by  placing  the 
pills  in  the  box  used  for  coating,  dropping  the  mucilage  upon  them,  and 
rolling  them  around  till  moistened  ;  then  transfer  to  another  jar  or 
box  containing  dusted  sugar  (known  as  confectioners'  sugar),  here  the 
pills  are  rolled  around  with  the  fingers,  using  a  gentle  pressure ;  when 
covered,  roll  them  around  in  a  fine  sieve  to  remove  the  superfluous 
sugar,  then  transfer  to  a  clean  damp  box  or  jar,  rotate  rapidly,  avoiding 
a  throwing  motion  ;  if  the  coating  does  not  become  smooth,  again 
dampen  the  box  or  jar,  and  rotate  as  before,  observing  not  to  let  the 
coating  become  dry  till  smooth.  It  will  probably  take  some  practice 
to  be  able  to  obtain  an  even,  white  coating. 
French  chalk,  as  a  coating,  was  suggested  fully  fifteen  years  ago. 
In  the  "Am.  Journ.  Pharm.,"  1874,  Mr.  Cope  calls  attention  to  it 
again,  and  gives  very  simple  instructions  for  its  application,  as  follows  : 
"  Moisten  the  pills  with  mucilage  and  transfer  to  a  gallipot  contain- 
ing the  powdered  chalk  ;  when  thoroughly  coated,  turn  into  a  pill-tray 
and  let  them  remain  a  short  time  ;  they  are  then  put  into  another  galli- 
pot to  polish  and  shake  off  the  loose  powder." 
For  coating  pills  extemporaneously,  I  generally  make  them  very 
moist  with  mucilage,  so  that  they  will  absorb  a  thick  coat  of  chalk  j 
