vapor hovers over the mortar during the making of the pill mass, thus protecting the phosphorus against oxidation. Phosphorus, being very inflammable, must be cut and weighed under water, hence the weighing of small quantities is often attended with much difficulty. A small glass capsule, or a watch-crystal, containing some water, should be carefully tared, and in it the phosphorus, having been cut into small pieces under water with a penknife, should be weighed; the pieces may be removed with a small pair of forceps, quickly dried by means of filtering paper, and then dropped into the chloroform contained in a test-tube.

Phosphorus is rapidly oxidized, particularly in a state of fine division, hence pills of phosphorus should be coated as soon after they have been made as possible; as in the case of pills of ferrous iodide, the alcoholic solution of mastic and balsam of tolu is preferable to the official ethereal solution.

Each pill contains 0.0006 Gm. (practically phorus.

grain) of phos

Pilula Rhei Composite. Compound pills of rhubarb will become very hard by age, and as they are not often called for, it is decidedly better to keep the ingredients properly mixed, in a glass-stoppered bottle, and make the mass when required. A mixture of syrup and water, or glycerin and water, may be used with advantage in place of water, as in the case of pills of aloes and mastic.

The Official Masses.

As stated before, these masses are usually employed as constituents of other pill-masses; they are Massa Copaibæ, Massa Ferri Carbonatis, and Massa Hydrargyri. The last named alone is of sufficiently firm consistence to admit of being rolled into pills which will retain their spherical shape without the addition of absorbents, except when freshly made in warm weather.

Mass of Copaiba. This is made by mixing six parts of calcined magnesia, previously dampened with water, with ninety-four parts of copaiba, heating the mixture for one-half hour on a water-bath, and setting it aside until it has assumed a pilular consistence. Copaiba contains an acid resin capable of uniting with magnesia to form a solid mass, which may be looked upon as magnesium copaivate; upon exposure this resin compound becomes dry and hard. Of the different commercial varieties, the Maracaibo copaiba is best adapted for making the official mass; it is thicker than the rest, not quite transparent, and contains less volatile oil. When mixed with of its weight of freshly-calcined magnesia, good Maracaibo copaiba becomes heated and sets to a solid mass in the course of a few hours. Experience has taught that the previous addition of water to the magnesia materially facilitates the reaction. Mass of copaiba is sometimes known as solidified copaiba; although it can be formed into pills, these will not retain their shape unless some vegetable powder has been added.

Mass of Ferrous Carbonate, or Vallett's Mass, is a mixture of ferrous carbonate, sugar and honey. Even when very carefully made, so as to contain the full amount of iron salt, it is never of a pilular consistence, but always in the form of a rather tenacious paste. The Pharmacopoeia directs the formation of ferrous carbonate by mixing solutions of ferrous sulphate and sodium carbonate in the presence of sugar, and then washing the precipitate well with sweetened water until the newly-formed sodium sulphate has been removed; the washing is best performed by decantation in flasks having a narrow neck, and which can be tightly stoppered. Theoretically the official product should contain about 42 per cent. of ferrous carbonate, as 100 Gm. of crystallized ferrous sulphate will yield 42 Gm. of the carbonate, but as there is always some loss during the washing process, the finished mass rarely contains more than 36 per cent., and this much only, if care has been observed to prevent oxidation by rigid exclusion of air. Freshly precipitated ferrous carbonate is greenish-gray, gradually deepening in color, and the finished mass is decidedly green, but should not be brown, which would indicate oxidation. When Vallett's mass is allowed to stand for some time, even in well-covered jars, it becomes dry on the surface, and assumes a blackish-green color. The change extends to the interior very slowly, being due to the gradual escape of moisture.

Mass of Mercury, better known as Blue Mass or Blue Pill, is probably the most familiar of all pill-masses. In the official formula thirty-three parts of mercury are triturated with a mixture of three parts of glycerin and thirty-four parts of honey-of-rose, until extinguished, the viscid character of the vehicle enabling a rapid division into minute globules. When mercury is no longer visible to the naked eye, and the mixture has assumed a uniform brownish-gray appearance, five parts of powdered liquorice-root and twenty-five parts of powdered althæa are gradually added with constant trituration, until the mercury is so finely divided that it cannot be detected with a lens of at least ten diameters magnifying power. Blue mass contains 33 per cent. of metallic mercury, which probably undergoes slight superficial oxidation in the course of time, but is well protected by the other ingredients. In my experience the mass will be somewhat improved in consistence if the amount of glycyrrhiza officially directed be doubled and the amount of althaea correspondingly decreased.

CHAPTER XXIX.

CONFECTIONS AND LOZENGES.

Confections.

THIS now almost obsolete class of medicinal preparations still finds recognition in the leading pharmacopoeias, although, in this country, at least, they are very rarely used by physicians. At one time the incorporation of saline and vegetable remedial agents with honey or fruit-pulp was a favorite mode of medication, such being the invariable composition of electuaries or confections which were dispensed in the form of a thick semifluid mass. When made with honey, or with the addition of glycerin, confections will retain their original soft condition for a long time; but if made with fruit-pulp, or sugar and water, the moisture gradually evaporates and the mass becomes dry and hard. All medicinal ingredients must be added in the form of impalpable powder, and heavy metallic salts should never be employed, as they are apt to sink to the bottom, and thus become separated. Whenever essential oils are to be incorporated in confections they should first be triturated thoroughly with some finely-powdered sugar; narcotic extracts or other potent remedies should be added in the form of solution, so as to insure their uniform distribution throughout the soft mass.

The U. S. Pharmacopoeia at present recognizes but two confections, and the German Pharmacopoeia one (Electuarium Senne), while the British Pharmacopoeia still retains eight-namely, confection of hips, opium, pepper, roses, scammony, senna, sulphur, and turpentine.

The Official Confections.

Confectio Rose. This preparation, which at one time was largely used as a favorite excipient for certain pill masses, possesses little or no medicinal virtue. It contains 8 per cent. of red rose leaves, which are rubbed with warm rose-water previous to the mixture with sugar and honey, for the purpose of reducing the rose petals to the condition of a soft pulp, and thus replacing freshly gathered rosebuds.

Confectio Senne. Confection of senna, sometimes called for under the name of lenitive electuary, if carefully prepared, presents an agreeable mild laxative preparation. If the fig, tamarind, prune, and purging cassia, finely bruised, be digested with the water, in a covered vessel, for three hours, on a boiling water-bath, and occasionally stirred with a stiff glass-rod or porcelain spatula, there will be no necessity to rub the pulp through a coarse hair-sieve with the

hands, since a horn or porcelain spatula will answer as well, and is surely more desirable in every way. After the sugar has been dissolved in the hot pulpy liquid, the mixture evaporated to the required weight and allowed to cool somewhat, the senna and oil of coriander, having previously been triturated with a portion of the sugar, may be incorporated.

Lozenges or Troches.

Lozenges are solid, flattened masses of round, oval, or other desirable shape, not intended for mastication, but to be dissolved slowly in the mouth, therefore, not adapted for medicines which are expected to undergo disintegration in the stomach prior to any therapeutic action. In one or two cases the cylindrical form is preferred, as for the wellknown liquorice lozenges and Wistar's cough lozenges. The remedial action of lozenges is generally designed to be purely local, either as an expectorant, demulcent, stimulant, sedative, astringent, or antiseptic. The usual base or vehicle for lozenges is sugar (that known among confectioners as lozenge sugar being preferred), although powdered extract of liquorice is also added at times, and, of late years, fruit paste, made from black or red currants, has been advocated for certain kinds of lozenges. Adhesiveness is obtained by the addition of tragacanth or acacia, and syrup or water (plain or aromatic) is used to supply the necessary moisture. All medicinal constituents, as well as the sugar or extract of liquorice, should be in very fine powder to insure a smooth paste, and potent remedies, wherever possible, should be added either in the form of solution or triturated with a small quantity of sugar before being mixed with the other ingredients, so as to insure uniform distribution. Tragacanth is preferable to acacia for making a lozenge mass, as the resulting paste is more tenacious; in both cases the mucilage is to be preferred to the powder with the subsequent addition of water, as, in the latter case, it is often difficult to avoid an excess of moisture, which retards subsequent drying. Lozenge-masses are made after the manner of pill-masses, except that more adhesive material is used, and the paste is made somewhat softer. The proportion of powdered tragacanth necessary for a well-made plastic mass may vary from 1 to 3 per cent. of the total weight of the mixed powders (acacia about three or four times as much); and, in making the mass, the necessary water or syrup should be added cautiously, and the mixture well kneaded after each addition, so as to avoid too soft a condition, which readily occurs on account of the great solubility of the sugar. A good plan is to follow the suggestion of Hager, to reserve about one-fifth of the powder, and, when the remaining four-fifths have been made into a plastic mass, quickly incorporate the reserve portion, which can be done without risk of the mass becoming dry or crumbly. For massing small quantities of material a Wedgewood mortar and pestle will be found quite convenient, while for large quantities the pill-mass mixers shown on page 310 are preferable.

After a suitable mass has been made it is transferred to a hardwood board or a stone slab, rolled out into either a flat sheet or a cylinder, and divided into the requisite number of parts. When cylindrical lozenges are to be made, the mass is rolled out without dusting and divided into pieces about five-eighths of an inch in length, by means of a special cutter. In order to prevent the mass from adhering, the flat roller may be lightly rubbed with a very small quantity of oil of sweet almond. For flat lozenges the mass is conveniently rolled out into a sheet, the required thickness of which must be ascertained by experiment; this is done by dividing the weight of the whole mass by the number of lozenges to be made, then weighing off as many grains of the mass as correspond to the quotient obtained, and forming this into a lozenge by means of a punch or spatula. As every well-made lozenge-board is provided

Showing the manner of rolling out the lozenge-mass.

with guides and screws for regulating different thicknesses, no difficulty will be experienced in adjusting the side strips to the proper height, and then rolling out the mass by means of a cylindrical roller, as shown in Fig. 225. To prevent adhesion of the mass, the board may be dusted with a little starch or a mixture of starch and sugar.

The lozenge-board lately designed by Wallace Procter is very useful and simple in construction, as shown in Fig. 226. A is a board of well-seasoned hard wood, 1 inches thick, 10 inches wide, and 14 inches long, planed perfectly flat, and both sides and ends made square and true. At each side, about 3 inches from one end, a plate is let in flush and tapped with a screw, as shown in B. On each side of the board a plate of brass, 1 inches wide, 14 inches long, and of an inch thick, is fitted. Each plate has two slots crossing