j  2  Extemporaneous  Coating  of  Pills.  {Am^eburi^6.ara' 
proper  excipients.  Here  we  come  to  the  most  important  part  in  making 
pills,  the  excipients  used.  The  success  of  the  "manufacturer"  of 
pills  is  mainly  due  to  the  employment  of  the  proper  excipients,  enabling 
him  to  dry  the  pills  thoroughly. 
A  pill  may  be  soft  and  yet  be  not  as  soluble  as  a  hard  pill.  If  we 
have  gum-resins  or  resinous  extracts,  and  add  a  little  spirit  we  will  pro- 
duce a  pill  of  softness  and  plasticity,  but  when  we  take  such  a  pill 
between  our  fingers  and  try  to  mix  it  with  water,  we  will  find  that  it 
may  adhere  to  the  skin,  and  cannot  be  well  washed  off  without  using 
alcohol  or  some  other  solvent  of  resin.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  take 
compound  cathartic  pills,  prepared  strictly  as  the  "  United  States  Phar- 
macopoeia "  directs,  by  using  the  different  substances  in  the  form  of 
powders,  and  having  beaten  them  into  mass  with  water,  we  shall  have 
a  pill  which  will  fall  into  powder  again  when  put  into  water.  The 
excipient  should  be  such  as  will  not  combine  much  with  the  resinous  or 
other  ingredients,  but  form  rather  a  layer  between  the  powders  employed. 
A  layer  of  soluble  substances  between  powders  less  soluble  in  water 
(such  as  gum-resins  or  resinous  extracts),  will  produce  a  pill  that  can 
be  dried  to  become  perfectly  hard,  and  yet  that  will  fall  into  powder 
when  put  into  water,  the  water  washing  out  the  layer.  Soft  pills  are 
apt  to  lose  shape  \  and  pills  containing  moisture  cannot  be  kept  in  well- 
closed  bottles,  lest  they  become  mouldy. 
The  success  in  making  pills  is  based  on  the  excipient  used. 
Pills  which  have  been  thoroughly  dried  can  be  coated  with  sugar,  as 
follows:  Boil  32  ounces  of  best  white  sugar,  with  12J  ounces  of 
distilled  water,  to  a  syrup,  and  use  enough  of  this  syrup  (temp.  1200  to 
1500)  to  moisten  the  pills,  in  a  small  copper  kettle  or  pan,  exposing  it 
to  a  heat  sufficient  to  dry  the  pills  while  kept  in  motion  and  worked 
with  the  hand.  After  this  first  coat  is  dry,  the  operation  is  repeated 
until  the  pill  is  covered  with  sugar  sufficiently.  A  very  soluble  coating 
for  pills  is  the  following  composition  :  1  ounce  of  flaxseed,  \  ounce  of 
Irish  moss  ;  boil  with  8  fluidounces  of  water,  strain,  add  4  ounces  of 
sugar,  boil  and  use  in  the  same  manner  as  a  solution  of  gelatin  is  used 
for  coating  pills. 
If  pills  in  very  small  quantities  are  to  be  made  and  coated  with 
sugar  or  gelatin,  in  a  retail  prescription  department,  the  mass  should  be 
made  as  hard  as  it  possibly  can  be  made,  and  allow  cutting  ;  after  being 
cut  it  should  be  exposed  to  a  draft  of  dry  air  so  long  as  time  will  allow. 
Thus  pills  can  be  made  and  coated  in  small  quantities  within  an  hour 
or  less  time. — Druggists'  Circular,  January,  1876. 
