70 INTRODUCTION TO PHARMACOLOGY 



water whicli appear to be the cause of disease, whether infectious or 

 not, or the restriction or change of diet in certain cases. 



Clinical Manifestations. The treatment must often be regu- 

 lated according to the clinical manifestations, and falls back upon the 

 symptomatic administration of drugs, but does not mean symp- 

 tomatic treatment in the true sense of the word. The therapeutist 

 must be a good observer and use drugs only when necessity arises. 

 He must use good drugs, know when to use them, how to use them 

 and last, but not least, when not to use them. He must realize that 

 any drug which has the power to benefit the patient if used in the 

 right condition has just as much power to injure it when used in the 

 wrong condition. He should be careful not to ascribe all the im- 

 provement of a patient as due to the action of drugs but to give nature 

 some credit for it. 



USE OF DRUGS IN DISEASE 



!For the scientific treatment of disease, it is necessary for the 

 therapeutist to have an accurate knowledge of the action of drugs, 

 "know what action he desires and use great care in making his selec- 

 tion. A drug should not be prescribed until it is knovm just what 

 action is desired and unless there is a distinct indication for it. The 

 old habit of giving " shot gun " or " blunderbuss prescriptions " has 

 no place in modern therapeutics, but has been replaced by those 

 containing one or two drugs whose action is known. 



With the advancement of medicine the stock or semi-proprietary 

 prescriptions for certain diseases, or the use of certain drugs in cer- 

 tain diseases, with the exception of a few specifics, has fallen into 

 disuse. Stock prescriptions are convenient and often all that is 

 required, but in serious conditions, and with the modern methods of 

 diagnosis, it is better to treat each case individually, and to treat 

 the complications as they arise. 



It is evident, therefore, that a complete knowledge of pharma- 

 cology or the action of drugs is necessary. 



What Should We Learn About Drugs? It is a problem to 

 determine just what should be learned about drugs, because the sub- 

 ject of materia medica is so extensive. There are many things im- 

 possible and unnecessary to learn. Thus it is not necessary to learn 

 the pharmacopceial definition, place of growth, manner of collection 

 and preparation, physical properties except of the more important 

 ones, microscopic anatomy, melting points, adulterations, tests, etc. 

 These are all valuable data for the pharmacists and chemists upon 

 whom we must depend for our medicines. 



We should, however, learn, 



1. The official English and Latin name, and common synonyms 



