Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
May,  1876.  J 
Glycerin  as  an  Excipient. 
for  the  press,  and  they  will  be  found  to  have  absorbed  sufficient  moist- 
ure to  make  them  adhesive,  but  none  too  much.  My  practice  is  to 
put  them  immediately  from  the  press  into  a  bottle,  and  I  have  never 
had  to  complain  of  too  much  moisture. 
The  polished  brass  dies  are  very  easily  kept  clean,  and  the  whole 
machine  possesses  the  advantage  of  great  simplicity,  and  will  last  for 
years,  u  with  no  expense  for  repairs." 
The  public  are  always  ready  to  encourage  legitimate  enterprize,  and 
in  these  days  of  elixirs,  sugar  pellets,  &c,  every  pharmacist  will  find 
it  conducive  to  his  interests  to  introduce  the  cachets  de  pain  to  the 
notice  of  physicians  and  his  customers. 
I  think  the  cachets  may  also  be  found  useful  for  enveloping  minute 
doses  of  liquid  medicines,  provided  they  exert  no  solvent  action  upon 
the  envelope.  I  have  never  seen  this  suggested,  but  see  no  reason  to 
doubt  its  practicability. 
Philadelphia,  April,  1876. 
GLYCERIN  AS  AN  EXCIPIENT  FOR  PILL  MASSES. 
BY   LOUIS   EMANUEL,   PH  G. 
[From  an  Inaugural  Essay.) 
As  an  excipient  for  pill  masses,  glycerin  has  been  recommended  in 
combination  with  starch  or  tragacanth  for  pills  generally,  and  without 
any  combination  for  pills  of  quinia  and  other  chemicals.  The  latter 
was  suggested  by  Dr.  T.  E.  Jenkins  in  the  "Amer.  Journ,  Pharm,," 
1869,  p.  119.  However,  little  or  nothing  has  been  said  of  its  advan- 
tageous use  as  an  excipient  for  pills  generally.  I  have  used  it  in  com- 
pounding prescriptions  for  the  last  three  years,  and  now  am  confident 
of  its  superior  properties,  and  feel  safe  to  recommend  its  use  by  every 
pharmacist  whenever  it  is  applicable.  I  prefer  to  use  it  without  any 
intermixture,  for  it  answers  all  purposes  and  is  more  convenient  to  use  ; 
being  a  liquid,  it  can  be  dropped  from  a  vial,  which  is  done  with  greater 
rapidity,  accuracy  and  cleanliness  than  if  combined  with  starch  or 
tragacanth,  which  combinations  being  semi-fluids  would  have  to  be 
used  with  a  spatula,  and  if  the  requisite  quantity  be  known,  would  have 
to  be  weighed.  Syrup  of  acacia  is  most  frequently  used,  over  which 
glycerin  has  two  important  advantages.  Pills  made  with  syrup  of 
acacia  are  all  larger,  and,  if  kept  for  a  while,  become  very  hard,  while 
