AmMarrz876arm  }       Ready-Made  Pills  of  Our  Bay.  123 
experience  of  several  pharmacists  with  whom  I  have  conversed,  that 
the  waste  of  time  and  labor  involved  by  their  use,  will  ultimately 
consign  them  a  place  among  the  rubbish  of  drug  stores. 
I  have  thus  criticised  this  paper  from  the  fact  that  I  have  been  en- 
gaged on  this  subject  for  some  time  past,  deeming  it  one  of  importance 
to  the  members  of  both  professions  and  the  community.  The  follow- 
ing table  of  experiments  were  made  from  the  various  pills  taken  from 
stock  ort  hand  in  my  store,  and  were  conducted  conscientiously  with 
a  view  of  arriving  at  a  true  solution  of  which  is  the  best  ready-made 
form  of  pill  for  immediate  dispensing  by  the  retail  pharmacist. 
The  following  list  of  pills  embrace  all  the  known  standard  ready- 
made  pills  of  our  day,  viz.  :  The  officinal  ready-made  pills  ;  the  solu- 
ble pills  from  Schieffelin  &  Co.,  of  New  York  ;  the  sugar  coated  pills 
from  many  well-known  houses  ;  the  gelatin  coated  pills  from  Keasbey 
&  Mattison,  of  Philadelphia  and  from  McKesson  &  Robbins,  of  New 
York  ;  the  compressed  pills  from  Jacob  Dunton  and  John  Wyeth  & 
Bro.  ;  the  medicated  globules  or  pearls  from  E.  Fougera  &  Co.,  of 
New  York  ;  also  the  cachet  de  pain,  a  French  wafer,  first  introduced 
into  this  city  by  L.  Dursse,  of  Baltimore,  and  thence  through  myself 
to  the  medical  profession  of  this  citv.  The  points  to  be  considered  in 
such  experiments,  are  the  maintenance  of  a  regular  temperature,  and  to 
get  a  solution  as  nearly  representing  the  gastric  juice  as  possible,  which, 
according  to  the  latest  authorities  on  physiology,  consists  of  about  5 
parts  acid  to  15  parts  of  pepsin,  with  traces  of  the  chlorides  of  sodium, 
potassium,  calcium  and  ammonium  ;  also  phosphates  of  lime,  magnesia 
and  iron,  in  1,000  parts  of  liquid.  In  my  experiments  I  used  a  hot 
water  oven,  in  which  heat  was  maintained  at  a  regular  desired  tempera- 
ture, by  means  of  a  Bunsen  gas  regulator  as  long  as  required,  day  and 
night.  The  pills  were  placed  in  small  cylinders  of  tin,  inches  in 
diameter  by  J  inch  deep,  having  gauze  bottoms,  and  suspended  in  / 
tumblers  holding  12  fluidounces.  The  solvents  used  were  water  kept 
at  a  steady  temperature  of  ioo°  Fahrenheit,  and  a  mixture  correspond 
ing  to  the  gastric  juice,  as  before  described,  and  previously  tested  to 
prove  its  digestive  power  by  its  action  upon  albumen,  also  maintained 
at  a  temperature  of  ioo°  Fahrenheit,  with  the  following  tabled  results  : 
