'^"•ocT;;88o"'"'}  Pii^  Coating  at  the  Dispensing  Counter.  497 
of  aluminum.  The  mass  is  now  collected,  dried  again  and  pressed  into 
cakes  by  hydraulic  pressure.  These  cakes  are  then  cut  into  thin  plates, 
which  are  shaped  by  again  subjecting  them  to  pressure.  By  adding 
castor-oil  or  glycerin  to  the  mass  before  pressure  the  product  may  be 
made  transparent.  Colors  may  be  imparted  by  the  use  of  vegetable 
coloring  agents.  Facts  respecting  the  strength]  and  elasticity  of  this 
product  are  wanting. — Ibid.^  August  2,  p.  123. 
PILL-COATING  AT  THE  DISPENSING  COUNTER. 
By  W.  B.  Thompson. 
If  the  pharmacist  would  be  rescued  from  the  thraldom  imposed  by 
the  manufacturer,  and  rise  again  from  the  grade  of  a  peddlar  to  the 
dignity  of  a  factor  and  compounder,  he  must,  by  his  own  ingenuity, 
devise  the  means  to  remove  his  present  abasement.  In  order  to  regain 
his  prestige,  instead  of  being  the  mere  vendor  of  the  products  of  others, 
he  must  originate  and  present  his  own.  The  manufacturer  has  ruth- 
lessly invaded  the  domain  of  the  pharmacist,  and  despoiled  him  of  much 
that  should  characterize  the  importance  and  dignity  of  his  calling.  The 
pharmacist  should  invoke  to  his  aid  his  natural  allies,  the  physician  and 
the  public,  and  all  who  are  conscientiously  interested  in  the  freshness, 
purity  and  integrity  of  medicine,  to  enable  him  to  banish  from  his 
shelves  and  repositories  the  degenerate  coated  pill,  with  all  its  numer- 
ous congeners  in  diversified  shapes,  which  have  insidiously  effected  an 
entrance  into  the  realm  of  modern  pharmacy.  So  long  as  fashion 
demands  a  coating  upon  pills  let  it  be  of  the  least  objectionable  char- 
acter, and  let  such  coating  be  applied  extemporaneously,  and  let  the 
material  to  be  thus  enveloped  be  likewise  prepared  extempjraneously — 
at  the  time  it  is  needed  for  use — never  before — and  let  the  virtue  of 
medicine  in  pill-form  be  characterized  by  its  utility,  and  not,  as  is  now 
too  often  the  case,  be  exposed  to  the  risk  of  failure  and  worthlessness 
in  order  to  serve  the  pecuniary  interests  of  those  manufacturers  who 
have,  by  means  of  a  credulous  medical  profession  and  a  confiding  pub- 
lic, succeeded  in  successfully  reaching  the  pockets  of  the  people  through 
those  avenues  of  trade  which  legitimately  belong  to  the  dispenser. 
The  extemporaneous  coating  of  pills  at  the  dispensing  counter  must 
come  quickly  into  vogue  if  the  dispenser  be  intelligently  alive  to  the 
demands  of  the  medical  profession,  to  the  needs  of  his  patrons  and  to  his 
own  interests  i  and  he  who  is  ready  with  a  practicable  process  and  suit- 
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