218 MOHR AND REDWOOD'S PRACTICAL PHARMACY. 
"In making rhubarb into pills with syrup, the whole of 
the syrup required for forming the mass should be added at 
once. A drachm of powdered rhubarb requires a fluid- 
drachm of syrup. If a portion of this quantity of syrup be 
first mixed with the rhubarb, a hard mass would be formed, 
not sufficiently plastic to admit of being made into pills, and 
which it would be found very difficult to incorporate with 
the further portion of syrup required. On adding the requir- 
ed quantity of syrup at once, the mass is formed without any 
difficulty. The mode of proceeding in this case is just the re- 
verse of that which should be adoptediwhen a hard elasticex- 
tract, such as some specimens of extract of rhubarb, has to be 
incorporated with a powder, such ascalomel or ipecacuanha, 
through the intervention of a liquid excipient, such as syrup. 
Under such circumstances, the quantity of syrup required 
should be added very gradually. If the whole of the syrup 
were put in at once, so as to make a very soft paste with 
the powder, the hard extract would slip about in this, and 
might perchance be projected out of the mortar in the 
attempt at effecting the incorporation of the ingredients. 
The quantity of syrup first added should be only sufficient 
to form a very stiff and tenacious paste with the powder, 
and this should be partly incorporated with the extract 
before adding more. 
"Jalap is sometimes made into pills with tincture of jalap, 
when it is desired to have as much of the active ingredient 
as possible in each pill. In this case the spirit, as a solvent 
of some of the adhesive constituents of the jalap, imparts 
some degree of tenacity to the mass. The ingredients, 
however, do not yield a very plastic mass, and to succeed 
well in forming the pills, it is desirable to add the full quan- 
tity of tincture required at once, to make the mass rather 
soft, and to roll out the pills as quickly as possible. 
"In making rhubarb and ginger pills, spirit and soap 
are sometimes used as excipients with advantage, ^jss of 
rhubarb, jj of essence of ginger, and Bj of castile soap, will 
