MEDICINAL  DRAGEES  AND  GRANULES. 
271 
the  "patent,"  or  leading  article  of  nearly  every  pharmacist,  can 
be  made  quicker,  better  and  more  advantageously  than  by  the 
ordinary  method,  even  where  aided  by  machinery.  The  ingre- 
dients for  the  pills  should  be  thoroughly  mixed  and  sifted,  so  as 
to  form  a  fine,  impalpable  powder.  With  some  substances  of  an 
untenacious  character  it  is  necessary  to  add  a  little  dextrine, 
sugar,  or  gum.  The  sugar  granules  forming  the  nuclei  of  the 
pills  are  either  to  be  bought  from  the  wholesale  confectioners 
under  the  name  of  nonpareils^  or  are  easily  made  by  agitating 
and  rubbing  together  coarsely  sifted  sugar  and  syrup  in  a  large 
copper  basin  over  a  slow  charcoal  fire. 
The  granules,  weighing  each  about  one-tenth  of  a  grain,  are 
measured  out  so  as  to  furnish  the  requisite  number  of  pills,  and 
are  introduced  into  a  large  copper  basin  suspended  by  two  ropes 
from  a  bar  of  wood,  capable  of  revolving  horizontally  on  an  iron 
bolt  fixed  in  the  ceiling.  A  small  charcoal  fire  is  lit  in  an  open 
pan  under  the  basin,  and  serves  also  to  keep  warm  a  quantity 
of  syrup,  with  which  the  granules  are  moistened  from  time  to 
time,  and  continually  rubbed  and  agitated  with  a  little  of  the 
powder,  added  very  gradually,  the  basin  being  rapidly  rotated, 
and  jerked  upwards  occasionally.  This  operation,  which  must 
be  repeated  an  indefinite  number  of  times,  until  the  dragees  are 
completed,  requires  considerable  skill  on  the  part  of  the  mani- 
pulator, for  if  too  much  of  the  excipient  be  added  at  once,  it 
dissolves  the  previous  couche,  and  prevents  the  regular  forma- 
tion of  the  concentric  layers  of  which  each  dragee  is  built  up, 
much  in  the  same  manner  as  starch  granules  are  by  some  sup- 
posed to  be  formed.  The  final  coating  with  sugar  is  the  least 
difficult  part  of  the  operation,  and  is  done  either  with  syrup 
alone,  or  with  the  addition  of  a  little  plaster  of  Paris,  very  brisk 
agitation  being  required,  so  as  to  avoid  any  agglomeration  of  the 
dragees^  the  temperature  being  so  regulated  as  to  dry  the  sugar 
without  a  possibility  of  melting  it.  Or,  in  the  case  of  certain 
pills,  where  sugar-coating  is  undesirable,  owing  to  its  discolora- 
tion by  the  ingredients  of  the  kernel,  such  as  in  pills  of  iodide 
of  iron,  etc.,  copal  and  balsam  of  tolu  dissolved  in  ether  forms 
an  excellent  coating,  easy  of  application,  and  effective  in  results. 
The  advantages  of  making  large  quantities  of  pills  by  this 
