AmXJPrii%P876a.rm-}  The  Pill  Subject.  i 59 
4 
THE  PILL  SUBJECT. 
BY  JOSEPH  P.  REMINGTON. 
The  article,  by  the  writer,  on  the  "Ready-made  Pills  of  our  day," 
which  was  published  in  the  recent  Proceedings  of  the  American  Pharm- 
aceutical Association,  seems  to  have  caused  a  disturbance  in  the 
ranks  of  the  pill  fraternity,  more  particularly,  however,  to  some  inter- 
ested in  the  high-pressure  lenticulars,  who  no  doubt,  find  it  up-hill 
work  to  force  them  upon  the  market,  and  who  grow  restive  under 
criticism. 
The  results,  as  published  in  the  paper  above  mentioned,  having  been 
the  subject  of  so  much  misconstruction,  it  has  been  deemed  best  to 
reproduce  the  principal  portions  of  the  paper,  in  order  that  a  clearer 
understanding  may  be  had  concerning  it. 
After  the  preface,  the  following  occurs  : 
"  Realizing  the  fact  that  a  fair  absolute  test  of  solubility  that  would 
be  applicable  to  all  the  varied  conditions  of  the  fluids  of  the  stomach, 
whether  acid,  alkaline,  or  neutral,  would  be  an  impossibility,  it  was 
thought  best  to  take  temperature,  acidity,  alkalinity,  and  digestive 
power  into  consideration,  and  from  this  range  a  tolerably  fair  judgment 
might  be  arrived  at. 
"  Taking,  then,  fair  samples  of  the  best  pills  that  the  market  afforded 
the  following  experiments  were  made  :    (See  page  160.) 
"  An  examination  of  the  results  as  tabulated  shows  that  the  plain 
un coated  pill  is  to  be  preferred  in  point  of  solubility ;  that  next  in  order 
the  sugar-coated  pill  comes ;  then  the  compressed,  and  lastly  the 
gelatin-coated. 
"  It  was  thought  advisable  to  try,  along  with  the  comparative 
tests,  the  Cachet  de  Pain  under  the  same  circumstances,  and  it 
will  be  seen  that  this  method  of  coating  powders  and  pills  is 
superior  to  any  in  point  of  permitting  the  medicine  to  dissolve  or  digest 
readily." 
A  careful  examination  of  these  remarks  in  connection  with  the  table 
of  Relative  Solubilities,  which  is  reprinted  just  as  it  occurs  in  the  "  Pro- 
ceedings," will  convince  most  of  the  readers  of  the  u  Journal  "  who 
take  sufficient  interest  in  the  subject,  that  the  conclusions  arrived  at 
were  correctly  deduced  from  the  results  of  the  experiment ;  and  it  is 
the  intention  to  pursue  the  inquiry  further,  and  report  at  a  future  time. 
A  recent  review  of  the  article  by  a  friend  and  neighbor  (page  121, 
March  number,  "Am.  Jour.  Pharmacy  ")  contains  some  inaccuracies, 
which  may  be  usefully  corrected. 
