12 ACETANILID, ANTIPYRIN, AND PHENACETIN. 



and 109, or 72.6 per cent, employ 5 grains or less as a minimum 

 dose. 



Out of 297 observers using phenacetin 10, or 3.3 per cent, employ 

 less than 2 grains as a minimum dose; 90, or 30.3 per cent, employ 

 2.5 grains or less as a minimum dose; 188, or 63.3 per cent, employ 

 from 3 to 5 grains as a minimum dose ; 89, or 29.9 per cent, use doses 

 exceeding 5 grains; while 208, or 70 per cent, never exceed a dose of 

 5 grains. 



From this it seems reasonable to conclude that the doses of these 

 remedies which are prescribed to-day are much smaller than those 

 which were formerly employed. The report of the therapeutic 

 committee of the British Medical Association with regard to the ill 

 effects of acetanilid, antipyrin, and phenacetin, published in 1894, 

 a summary of which appears on page 20, made a deep impression 

 on the medical mind, and undoubtedly did much to bring about a 

 more conservative use of these drugs, particularly so far as dosage 

 is concerned. The committee concluded from its investigation that 

 the ill effects which had been ascribed to these remedies were very 

 largely the direct result of injudicious and excessive dosage, and in 

 harmony with this conclusion they suggested that they should be 

 used with greater caution in the future. Since that time the doses 

 employed have been smaller than before, and it has been noted that 

 coincidentally with this change the number of accidents resulting 

 from the ingestion of these remedies has fallen off to a remarkable 

 extent. A point of interest in connection with the subject of dosage 

 and frequency of administration was brought out in a recent trial, 

 which involved the misbranding of a certain headache remedy con- 

 taining among other ingredients acetanilid and antipyrin. The evi- 

 dence presented showed that the directions for use accompanying 

 many of these acetanilid preparations are not sufficiently definite to 

 safeguard the consumer against a too frequent repetition of the dose, 

 and, in fact, that many of them advised a repetition of the dose until 

 the desired result should be obtained. An examination of a number 

 of prescriptions for adults on file in various pharmacies in Wu>h- 

 ington, D. C., brought into court as evidence, supplied the following 

 information on these points: (1) The average dose of acetanilid pre- 

 scribed was 2.43 grains, and of phenacetin 1.92 grains; (2) the 

 average interval between doses was, in case of the two remedies, 

 3.03 hours. 



