Blaud’s Pills.
These pills are probably taken in larger numbers than any other pills sold in Great Britain. If in proper condition they present iron in the form of the protocarbonate, either formed in the pills, or perhaps partially or entirely in the stomach. They are similar to Griffiths’ pills, which were the popular Mist. Ferri Co. in pilular form. Dr. J. Blaud, a French provincial practitioner, in an article published in the Revue Medicale, in 1831, entitled “Memoires sur les Maladies Chlorotiques,” gave the following formula:—
“Gummi Arabici, 5 grammes; solve calore baln. vapor in aquæ distillatæ, 30·5; syrupi simplicis 15 grammes; ferri sulfuric. sicci, 30; quibus caute mixtis adde kalii carbonici, 30; et inter agitatione ope spatula ferreæ in balneo vaporis evaporando ad massam pilularum redige; e qua forma pilulas 120; obducantur argento foliato.”
There has been much discussion concerning the best method of making these pills so as to keep them from oxidation. Honey was for a long time generally used as the excipient, but glycerin and sugar are generally preferred with gum acacia or tragacanth. Pilula Ferri, B.P., is a substitute for Blaud’s pills.