Dec '        ■ }    Pei/ers  for  Hypodermic  Medication.  595 
pellets  both  Dr.  Wilson  and  myself  have  noted  it  to  take  place  in  from 
4  to  10  minutes. 
The  pellets  can  be  easily  made  by  any  pharmacist  having  the  neces- 
sary pill  press,  but  should  not  be  compressed  with  too  much  force  (a 
tap  with  a  light  wooden  mallet  usually  suffices),  else  the  solutions  will 
not  be  rapidly  enough  obtained, 
When  used,  they  should  be  first  moistened  with  one  drop  of  water 
out  of  the  filled  syringe,  then  broken  up  with  the  blunt  point  of  the 
syringe,  all  the  water  added,  then  sucked  up  and  forced  out  of  the 
syringe  two  or  three  times,  until  the  solution  is  complete,  which  we 
have  frequently  succeeded  doing  in  22  seconds. 
I  would  enumerate  the  advantages  of  these  pellets  as  follows  : 
1.  They  occupy  the  smallest  possible  space. 
2.  They  can  be  carried  without  paper  (I  usually  dispense  them  in  a 
glass  tube,  about  one  inch  in  length,  closed  on  both  ends  by  small 
corks) 
3.  They  are  always  accurate  j  containing  one  quarter  grain  of  sodium 
chloride,  besides  the  medicinal  agent  ;  their  weight  is  at  least  half  a 
grain,  which  can  be  readily  weighed  out ;  for  the  same  reasons,  the 
possible  inaccuracy  in  weights  or  weighing  is  reduced  to  one-half. 
4.  The  morphia  salts,  by  the  presence  of  sodium  chloride,  pos- 
sessing antiseptic  properties,  can  be  preserved  for  an  indefinite  period. 
5.  Their  solutions  give  less  pain  than  the  ordinary  solutions  of 
either  morphia  salts  alone  or  with  their  antiseptic  admixtures. 
6.  They  can  be  kept  on  hand  ready  made,  and  therefore  dispensed 
at  a  smaller  cost  than  the  powders. 
There  is  no  reason  why  this  form  for  hypodermic  remedies  may 
not  be  extended  to  other  remedial  substances,  and  as  salt  is  already 
suggested  as  an  addition  to  mercuric  bichloride  for  that  purpose,  this 
might  certainly  be  so  prepared,  as  well  as  apjmorphia,  pilocarpia 
hydrochlorate,  strychnia  hydrochlorate,  and  other  remedial  agents 
subcutaneously  administered  in  minute  quantities. 
Philadelphia,  November,  1880. 
