Pill (pharmacy)

A pill is a small, round, solid pharmacological oral dosage form in use before the advent of tablets and capsules. Pills were made by mixing the active ingredients with an excipient such as glucose syrup in a mortar and pestle to form a paste, then rolling the mass into a long cylindrical shape (called a "pipe"), and dividing it into equal portions, which were then rolled into balls, and often coated with sugar to make them more palatable. [ [http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/usdisp/pilulae.html 1918 US dispensatory article] ]

In colloquial usage, tablets, capsules, and caplets are still often referred to as "pills" collectively.

ee also

* Pharmaceutical formulation
* Pill splitting

References

External links

* [http://www.mclibrary.duke.edu/hom/exhibits/wilbanks Duke University History of Medicine collections]
* [http://www.rpsgb.org/pdfs/mussheet07.pdf Pills and pill-making] - Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain