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.^[1]

Template:Pharma-stub

See also[edit | edit source]

• Pharmaceutical formulation
• Pill splitting

References[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

• Duke University History of Medicine collections
• Pills and pill-making - Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain