NOTES ON PRESCRIBING. 445 



the druggist's counter half a century ago, as do the medicines 1867. 

 then in vogue from those which are now in use. 



The art of prescribing, it must be admitted, is not a subject 

 coming precisely within the province of the pharmacist, yet the 

 pharmacist is necessarily acquainted with the methods of 

 prescribing which are prevalent, and is more capable than any 

 other person of judging of the merits of formulae under pharma- 

 ceutical and chemical aspects. 



It has long appeared to me that some of these methods or Undesirable 

 modern phases of prescribing call for notice in the pages of the pre 

 Pharmaceutical Journal, and in the hope that the subject may be 

 further handled, I have thrown together the observations here 

 presented. Some of the formulae that I shall quote will afford 

 evidence that the precepts of the author of the Pharmacologia 

 and the rules of chemistry are too little observed, and that the 

 duties of the private dispensary performed by many of the 

 older physicians while practising as apothecaries, enabled them 

 to avoid the errors and eccentricities into which some of their 

 successors occasionally fall. The result of mixing the ingredients 

 ordered in a prescription is sometimes very unexpected, so that 

 even the most practised dispenser is often unable to predict 

 whether certain given ingredients can be united into a compound 

 that shall be suitable for administration : and if the pharmacist 

 whose time and skill are chiefly devoted to the mixing of drugs 

 is thus at fault, it is hardly surprising that the physician, whose 

 mind is mainly directed to other subjects, should sometimes pre- 

 scribe ingredients that it is impossible to combine, or that if com- 

 bined, cannot be taken, or are devoid of the required efficacy.. 



For convenience I shall place my remarks under different 

 heads, and shall notice firstly 



UNCHEMICAL FORMULA. 



As an example let us take the following : 



R Barii chloridi gr. iss 

 Ferri sulphatis gr. ij 

 Extracti gentian 83 q, s. 

 Tit fiat pilula. 



