Pills

“ Can't you praise my pill?
Dr. Herd. (struggles with himself) . I—I cannot. You should not attempt to compound pills on your own account.
Rübub (breathing laboriously) . And yet there was a time when you, too——
Dr. Herd. (complacently) . Yes, it was certainly a pill that came as a lucky stepping-stone—but not a pill like that!
Rübub (vehemently) . Listen! Is that your last word? Is my aged mother to pass out of this world without ever knowing whether I am competent to construct an effective pill or not? ”

“ Being composed of the choicest, concentrated vegetable extracts, their cost of production is much more than that of most pills found in the market, yet from forty to forty-four of them are put up in each glass vial, as sold through druggists, and can be had at the price of the more ordinary and cheaper made pills. Once used, they are always in favor. Their secondary effect is to keep the bowels open and regular, not to further constipate, as is the case with other pills. ”

“ Some, like salts, operate to thin the blood, and reduce the system; others are stimulating; and others have a peculiar operation on certain organs. Of course, great discrimination and knowledge is needed, in order to select the kind, which is suitable to the particular disease, or to the particular constitution of the invalid. This shows the folly of using the many kinds of pills, and other quack medicines, where no knowledge can be had of their composition. Pills which are good for one kind of disease, might operate as poison in another state of the system. ”

“ Veratrine, 1 gr.; extract of henbane and liquorice powder, of each 12 gr.; mix, and divide into 12 pills.—Dose, 1 pill, every 3 hours; in dropsy, epilepsy, hysteria, paralysis, nervous palpitations, &c. This should be prepared and used with great caution.
Pills, Ward’s Red. Syn. Ward’s antimonial pills. Prep. From glass of antimony (finely levigated) , 4 oz.; dragon’s blood, 1 oz.; mountain wine, q. s.; to form a mass. For 11⁄2-gr. pills. Emetic. “They are recommended in obstinate rheumatism affections, in foulness of the stomach and bowels, &c. ”

“ For women who are hysterical, and go heart and soul into the business of being sick, I have found the little pills a most charming resort, because you cannot carry the refinement of symptoms beyond what my friend Jahr has done in the way of fitting medicines to them, so that if I had taken seriously to practising this double form of therapeutics, it had, as I saw, certain conveniences. ”

“ Mucilage, formerly so much used in the preparation of pills, is now only employed for those which are to be taken within a day or two after being made; as pills containing it become so hard and insoluble when kept for some time as to resist the action of the stomach, and frequently to pass through the bowels without even losing their form. Glycerin, as well as a mixture of glycerin and tragacanth made into a paste of proper consistence, are also employed as pill-excipients. ”

“ I was a fairly good dispenser, so I worked this alkaloid into small, soluble pills, and each pill I put in a box with a similar pill made without the poison. I determined at the time that when I had my chance, my gentlemen should each have a draw out of one of these boxes, while I ate the pill that remained. It would be quite as deadly, and a good deal less noisy than firing across a handkerchief. ”

“ Take Socotrine aloes, two drams; colocynth, gamboge, rhubarb, and castile soap, each one dram; cayenne, thirty grains; oil cloves, thirty drops. Make into one hundred and twenty pills with extract of gentian or dandelion. Dose: For dyspepsia, inactive liver or costiveness, one or two pills once a day; as a cathartic, three to five pills at a dose. This is [148] a splendid pill. It cleanses the stomach, gives tone and energy to the digestive organs, restores the appetite, excites the liver and other secretory organs, without causing any debility. ”

“ A case th't sh'ld be treated, and be treated speedily.
I have—yes, here it is—a pill th't has been made by me.
Now, I have had occasion—" Said ye other, "In most cases
Your pills are excellently good, but h're, my friend, are traces
Of a lassitude, a languor, th't your pills c'ld hardly aid;
In short, they're rather violent for th's, I am afraid.
I have a tincture—" Said ye first, "Your tincture cannot touch
A case as difficult as th's, my pills are better much."
"Your pills, sir, are too violent." "Your tonic is too weak." ”

“ The regulus of antimony is used in the form of pills, which purge more or less in proportion to the acid they meet with; and as they undergo little or no change in passing through the body, they are called perpetual pills. ”

“ All pills looked and tasted alike, and the same might be said of the powders, so that I was never troubled by those absurd investigations into the nature of remedies which some patients are prone to make. Of course I desired to get business, and it was therefore obviously unwise to give little pills of “Lac.,” or “Puls.,” or “Sep.,” when a man needed a dose of oil, or a white-faced girl iron, or the like. I soon made the useful discovery that it was only necessary to prescribe cod-liver oil, for instance, as a diet, in order to make use of it where required. ”

“ Castile soap and syrup of buckthorn, of each 1 oz.; mucilage, 7 oz.; beat them together, and divide the mass into 5-gr. pills. A powerful cathartic, and, from containing mercury, not adapted for frequent use. See Wyndham’s pills.
Pills, Lewis’s Al′terative and Liver. These “for the most part resemble Scott’s bilious and liver pills. They are, however, of a more drastic and powerful character, and frequently operate with considerable violence.”
Pills, Lockstadt’s. Prep. (Phœbus.) Sulphate of quinine, 3 gr.; aromatic powder, 10 gr.; essential oil of almonds, 1 drop; extract of gentian, q. s. ”

“ From powdered foxglove, 12 gr.; calomel, powdered squills, and opium, of each 4 gr.; conserve of hips, q. s. For 12 pills.
2. (Dr A. T. Thomson.) Mercurial pill, 1 dr.; powdered squills, 20 gr.; confection of roses, q. s.; divided into 20 pills. The dose of either of the above is 1 pill, twice or thrice daily; in dropsy, &c.
Pills, Dixon’s. According to Dr Paris these pills consist of aloes, scammony, rhubarb, and a little tartar emetic, beaten up with syrup. “The following formula produces a pill precisely similar to this nostrum:—Take of compound extract of colocynth (Ph. L. 1836) , 4 dr. ”

“ Everybody must have been taking pills. In one of the hotel rooms in the Strand they have found the luggage of a lady covered up by falling rubble and unburnt, and she was equipped with nine different sorts of pill and tabloid. The pill-carrying age followed the weapon-carrying age. They are equally strange to us. People’s skins must have been in a vile state. ”

“ And, as those who are ailing are commonly benefitted by producing some amount of cathartic effect, these different pills actually do some good to quite a large proportion of the cases to which they are applied. The difficulty with them is, that used indiscriminately, as they so generally are, they in many cases do injury, and in some to a fatal extent. ”

“ The rapid and skilful preparation of pills, from all the numerous substances of which they are composed, is justly considered to demand the highest qualifications in the practical dispenser. The medicinals employed must be made into a consistent and moderately firm mass, sufficiently plastic to be rolled or moulded into any shape, without adhering to the fingers, knife, or slab, and yet sufficiently solid to retain the globular form when divided into pills. ”

“ Four pills are a full dose for a man--one will suffice for a woman. They received from our men the name of "rousers," from their efficacy in rousing up even those most prostrated. When their operation is delayed, a dessert-spoonful of Epsom salts should be given. ”

“ Taking one pill out he placed it upon the anvil and as he tip-toed back he smiled on it with a smile of infinite tenderness. "Before I begin on this subject I want to warn you once more that if any man as much as stamps upon the floor, or moves about except on tip-toe this substance will explode and will lay London from here to Charing Cross in one mass of indistinguishable ruins. I have spent ten years of my life in completing this invention. And these pills, worth a million a box, will cure all ills to which the flesh is heir." ”

“ He paid for the aspirin, accepted the druggist's offer of a glass of water, downed two pills, and left.
"Seemed in a hurry," Rick commented.
The druggist nodded. "Seemed so. He usually stops to pass the time of day. Had a terrible time yesterday with an infected hangnail. They can be pretty painful. I tried to sell him a new analgesic ointment, but he insisted on methyl chloride. ”

“ During the trial the box containing the balance of the pills, which the defence contended were calomel, unexpectedly turned up. It has always been one of the greatest regrets of the writer's life that he did not then and there challenge the defendant to eat one of the pills and thus prove the good faith of his defence.
This was one of the very rare cases where a chemical analysis has been conducted in open court. The chemist first tested a standard trade morphine pill with sulphuric acid, so that the jury could personally observe the various color reactions for themselves. ”

“ Of these pills, which are sold in a bottle, price 1s. 11⁄2d., containing 27 pills, a circular enclosed in the package said
Coleman’s Nervlettes or Nerve Pills generate brain and nerve-force.
[Pg 176] The pills were coated with talc; after removal of the coating they had an average weight of about 11⁄2 grains. Analysis showed them to contain free phosphorus, quinine sulphate, a little powdered liquorice, and about 20 per cent. of a powdered vegetable tissue, which could not be identified; the remainder of the pill appeared to be of the nature of excipient only. ”

“ The writer has seen violent catharsis produced by bread pills, after podophyllin, castor-oil, and phosphate of soda in the most generous doses—administered as one would drop a letter in a mail-box—had completely failed; it is all in the manner and way we give a medicine or treat a disease. Certain narcotic and irritant poisons or powerful sedative agents have a physical action uninfluenced by the mind, but an intelligent physician is hardly supposed to drive at the small tack of disease with such powerful sledge-hammers. ”

“ This antispasmodic liniment may be used in obstinate rheumatisms, and in some other cases accompanied with extreme pain and tension of the parts.
PILLS. Medicines which operate in a small dose, and whose disagreeable taste, or smell, makes it necessary that they should be concealed from the palate, are most commodiously exhibited in this form. No medicine, however, that is intended to operate quickly, ought to be made into pills, 685as they often lie for a considerable time on the stomach before they are dissolved, so as to produce any effect. ”

“ His father, in relating his death to me, spoke with a resignation which might be imitated, but could not be surpassed by a Christian. It is amazing how the thought of all-powerful and resistless destiny calms the mind, and tones it down to a speechless patience! My stock of drugs is fast going. It consisted originally of worm-powders, emetics (of which the Arabs and Moors are very fond) , fever powders, purgative pills, Epsom salts, compound opium pills, Goulard powders, eye powders, sulphate of quinine pills, and solution of nitrate of silver. They were made up by Dr. Dickson, of Tripoli. ”

“ When, by some accident, a patient despaired of by doctors recovers after he has been dosed with a few of the ‘precious pills,’ the people of course extol their merit to the skies; while if he dies, his case is regarded as having been beyond cure, and the pills remain therefore the object of undiminished faith. ”

“ These people have a constituency of millions. The popular belief is all but universal that sick persons should feed on noxious substances. One of our members was called not long since to a man with a terribly sore mouth. On inquiry he found that the man had picked up a box of unknown pills, in Howard Street, and had proceeded to take them, on general principles, pills being good for people. ”

“ Some states now have strict laws regulating the sale of this dangerous drug.
It is not only the enslaving drugs which are injuri [Pg 346] ous to the body, but even such apparently simple agents as liver pills and pills for the relief of constipation may do more harm than good if resorted to frequently. Some of the ingredients used in the pills for the relief of constipation are said to be injurious to the liver. ”

“ In obstructed and painful menstruation, hæmorrhages, &c.—Dose, 1 pill, thrice daily.
2. (Lallemande.) Aloes, ergot, and rue, of each 8 gr.; for 12 pills. As the last.
Pills of Er′gotine. Syn. Pilulæ ergotinæ, L. Prep. (Bonjean.) Ergotine (Bonjean’s) , 24 gr.; liquorice powder, 40 gr.; syrup, q. s. For 24 pills.—Dose, 3 to 6 daily; as an internal hæmostatic, &c.
Pills, Everlast′ing. Syn. Perpetual pills; Pilulæ æternæ:, P. perpetuæ, L. Small spheres of metallic antimony. They possess the property of purging as often as swallowed, but have now long fallen into disuse. ”

“ In twenty-one years the deceased took 226,934 pills, supplied by a respectable apothecary at Bottesford, which was at the rate of 10,806 pills a year, or twenty-nine pills each day; but as the patient began with a more moderate appetite, and increased it as he proceeded, in the last five years he took the pills at the rate of seventy-eight a day, and in the year 1814 he swallowed not less than 51,590. ”