Ergotinum

This is supplied of different consistencies, some samples being quite thick and granular like extract of beef, others smooth and semi-fluid. In either case it requires the addition of an inert vegetable powder, such as powdered althaea or liquorice- our favourite excipient is a mixture of powdered tragacanth 1 part and powdered liquorice 19 parts, this generally sufficing for 20 parts of ergotin. If there be more than 2 grains of the ergotin in each pill, it requires evaporation in order to keep the pill of a reasonable size. The addition of about a twentieth part of tragacanth to each part of ergotin is an improvement. The following are typical combinations prescribed as uterine stimulants:

Reduced iron, being non-absorbent, rather hinders the massing of No. I. The best result is obtained by triturating the strychnine well with the reduced iron, adding 10 grains of powdered tragacanth, then the ergotin, and sufficient powdered liquorice to mass. No. II. is a wretched incompatible, as the permanganate oxidises the ergotin. Mr. Harold Wyatt, jun., dispensed the prescription by massing the permanganate with resin ointment, dividing into pills which were well rolled in French chalk. The ergotin was massed with althaea, cut, and the pills flattened into discs. Each permanganate pill was then coated with an ergotin disc. This exquisite plan may be adopted as the last resort in the case of other incompatibles.

Essential Oils

The addition of wax or resin should be the last resort, but this is sometimes unavoidable, as in the following case, where the use of soap is objectionable owing to the double decomposition which would result between the ferrous sulphate and the soap:

M. Fiat pil. Mitte cxliv.

Melt 72 grains of yellow wax on a water-bath, and add the oil, gently beating if necessary till they are thoroughly mixed. Mix the aloes and ferrous sulphate with 12 grains of powdered tragacanth. Pour upon this the oil and wax. Mix well, and mass with a little glucose syrup. This makes a beautiful 4-grain pill. Soap is generally all that is required to make a tractable mass, but a mixture of powdered soap 1 part and powdered liquorice-root 5 parts is better. Three grains of this makes a good mass with 1 minim of an essential oil and a little water or rectified spirit. In such a case as the following the liquorice should of course be omitted, seeing that the fibrous vegetable material is already provided:

Misce. Fiat pilula.

Rub up the oil with 1 grain of powdered soap, add the powders, and mass with the smallest possible quantity of treacle.

When the powders in a pill are resinous, as is the case with aloes, ext. coloc. co., and pil. asafetid. co., they should be triturated with the oil for a few minutes, and the remaining ingredients, if any, added; then, if too hard, use rectified spirit, or, if too soft, a sufficiency of liquorice and soap. Such addition is not required in the following, where the essential oils are really the excipients.

A little solution of potash is often of great service in a mass containing much essential oil. Its use, however, in the majority of cases is to be deprecated.