B58 
PROVINCIAL TRANSACTIONS. 
LIVERPOOL CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
Sixth General Meeting, held December 19th, 18G7; the President in the chair. 
The President informed the members of the death of Mr. Mawson that day, in con¬ 
sequence of an explosion of nitro-glycerine at Newcastle, and expressed his regret at 
the loss of such an active and influential chemist. 
The following donations to the Library were acknowledged :— 
Culpeper’s Plerbal, by Mr. Webster ; Liverpool Surgical and Medical Reports, No. 1, 
by the Editors; New York Druggists’ Circular ; The Chemist and Druggist; Proceed¬ 
ings of the Liverpool Polytechnic Society. 
The President moved a vote of thanks to the donors, which was unanimously 
carried. 
Mr. Abraham exhibited some sulphur pastilles, and referred to the “ Great Sulphur 
Cure,” consisting in the administration of sulphurous acid. 
Mr. George Webster then read a short paper on “ Illegibly Written Prescriptions.” 
The author said that it was a cause of great complaint to him and his fellow-assistants, 
as it was an uncalled for addition to their anxious and daily duties. In the composition 
of any medicine, either for internal or external use, strict attention and caution is re¬ 
quired, that the ingredients be mixed rightly and in due proportion, so that they may 
not deprive the patient of that benefit which he ought to receive, and which the medi¬ 
cal man hopes he may obtain, and this result is endangered when the prescription is not 
legibly written. A still more serious consideration is, that in the case of a patient suf¬ 
fering from a serious illness requiring immediate attention, loss of time ensues, owing 
to the difficulty of deciphering the prescription, especially if the writer has to be 
referred to, in order to make out the meaning. In many cases it entirely depends on 
the dispenser’s knowledge of the medicines and their action and doses, according to the 
age, temperament, and disease of the patient, whether serious effects shall result. Con¬ 
sidering the vast number of us, and the quantities of prescriptions dispensed, it reflects 
great credit, both on masters and assistants, that there are so few cases of careless dis¬ 
pensing under such difficulties. Medical men have attained a high standard of educa¬ 
tion and abilities, and a little thought on their part would prevent this unnecessary evil. 
There may be a good excuse in some cases for bad writing, but it is rarely so, and in 
serious cases, at least, the writing ought to be plain. If the elder members of the trade 
brought this matter before medical men, I doubt not that it would have its due effect, 
and be a benefit to patients, and a decided advantage to dispensers. 
Mr. Symes, whilst agreeing with the writer, had found, that in a short time one got 
acquainted with a doctor’s handwriting, and that by comparing one part of a prescription 
with another, the meaning might generally be made out. Mr. Symes called attention 
to the fact, that liq. sodae chloratse, as usually supplied by wholesale houses, does not 
answer the Pharmacopoeia tests ; he had met with samples varying in sp. g. from P04-2 
to 1*080, but none IT03, as they should have been, some gave a large precipitate with 
oxalate of ammonia, indicating the presence of lime, and showing that they had not 
been prepared by the Pharmacopoeia process. 
Mr. Symes then took exception to some of the Pharmacopoeia processes and prepara¬ 
tions. He thought that the various processes for the manufacture of pharmaceutical 
preparations should be divested of all complications which do not add to the merits of 
the products ; that they should, as far as practicable, be rendered in a manner suitable 
for the pharmaceutist to prepare them himself with the usual arrangements and appa¬ 
ratus which any well-conducted pharmacies possess. He had just given one illustration 
of the necessity for this, if strength and purity were to be regarded. Acetum cantha- 
ridis, B. P., was, in his opinion, no way superior to that prepared by the P. L. method, 
and certainly the process was more complicated. A good share of the effect which the 
preparation produced had been attributed by Dr. Redwood to the acid itself, and he 
