The need to identify rapidly an unknown tablet or capsule frequently occurs in a wide variety of circumstances. In such cases, a qualitative chemical analysis followed by confirmation tests frequently is a long and difficult task. The time factor, coupled with the limited quantities of the unknown, makes the identification difficult and often impossible.
Methods to aid in identification have involved direct comparisons of the unknown with pictures of known products1 or with authentic samples carried on various types of display boards. Such methods may suggest the identity of the unknown or eliminate a few possibilities, and in this way they are of some value in identification work but are necessarily limited in scope.
Development of Identity Guide
As a possible aid in drug dosage identification work occasionally undertaken by the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory, the feasibility of a preliminary screening method, based solely on the physical characteristics