Materia medica and therapeutics : for physicians and students / by John B. Biddle.
- John Barclay Biddle
- Date:
- 1886
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Materia medica and therapeutics : for physicians and students / by John B. Biddle. Source: Wellcome Collection.
42/572 page 32
![Springs, the effervescence being produced by the addition of sodium bicarbonate and tartaric or citric acid. The lighter powders may be administered in water or other thin Hquid. The heavier powders require a more consistent vehicle, as syrup, treacle, or honey. Pills [Pihilce] are small globular masses, of a semi-solid consistence, and of a size that can be conveniently swallowed. The form of pill is suitable for the exhibition of medicines which are not bulky, and are of disagreeable taste or smell, or insoluble in water. Deliquescent substances should not be made into pills, and those which are efflorescent should be previously deprived of their water of crystallization. Some substances are readily made into pills with the addi- tion of a little water or spirit. Very soft or liquid substances require the addition of some dry inert powder, as bread-crumb or powdered gum Arabic, to reduce them to a proper consist- ence. Wax is a good excipient for oils. Heavy powders are mixed with some soft solid, as confection of rose, plasma, manna, etc., or with a tenacious liquid, as treacle or syrup. When the pilular mass is properly prepared, it is rolled with a spatula into a cylinder of uniform thickness, and is then divided into the required number of pills, with the spatula, or, more accurately, with a pill-tile, or with a pill- machine. The pills are rolled into spherical form between the fingers; and, to prevent adhesion, are dusted with some dry powder, as powdered liquorice-root, lycopodium, orris-root, starch, or magnesium carbonate. They should weigh from one to four grains, unless metallic, when a weight of from six to eight grains is admissible; a large pill is termed a bolus. When long kept, pills may pass unchanged through the stomach and bowels, and are, therefore, objectionable. To conceal the taste and smell of pills, they are sometimes coated with gelatin, collodion, mucilage, sugar, etc. When they are designed to be of slow operation, the modern practice of sugar- coating pills answers very well. But, when they are intended to act quickly, the coating is objectionable, as it retards the solution of the pills in the gastric fluids. Compressed pills are](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20386357_0042.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
