THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL. 
SECOND SERIES. 
VOL. XI.—No. II.—AUGUST, 1869. 
THE DESIGNATION- OF MEDICINES AND THE USE OF 
SEC11ET REMEDIES. 
To supply the remedy which the physician has prescribed is the responsible 
duty of the pharmacist,'—a duty the performance of which, in accordance 
with the intention of the prescriber, sometimes involves questions that are not 
easily solved. One source of difficulty in cases of this description is the use of 
indefinite terms to designate medicines. If a physician orders syrup of hypo- 
phospldte of iron and lime, or syrup of phosphate oj iron , quinine , and strychnia , 
how is the medicine to be prepared ? Do those terms bear such a definite sig¬ 
nification as to leave no doubt of the physician’s intention ? Medicines are fre¬ 
quently ordered in prescriptions which, like those just named, are not officially 
recognized, and some doubt may exist with reference to their composition and 
strength. It should always be the object of the dispenser to ascertain and to 
carry out what was intended by the physician ; and in furtherance of this object 
it is desirable that there should be some simple rules to be observed alike by pre¬ 
scriber and dispenser in the use and interpretation of names applied to medi¬ 
cines that are not officinal. Thus, for instance, if a medicine has been intro¬ 
duced under a particular name in connection with which it was first made 
public, this name should be considered to apply to that rather than to any other 
similar medicine wffiich might be afterwards introduced under the same name, 
unless there should be some strong ground for doing otherwise, and such ground 
there might be in the existence of a general and decided preference among me¬ 
dical men for some other than the first medicine introduced under the name 
used. 
Now, referring to a case respecting which there has recently been some cor¬ 
respondence in the medical journals, there is no doubt, we believe, that the name 
chlorodyne was first applied by Dr. Collis Browne to the medicine prepared 
and sold under that name by Mr. Davenport; and we are not aware, although 
medicines differing from this in composition are sold under the same name, that 
preference is given to any of those over the original one^ while the latter is that 
by the use of wffiich the reputation of chlorodyne ha§ been established. If, 
therefore, chlorodyne is prescribed without anythin^ ^ Indicate which sort is in¬ 
tended, it seems right to use Davenport’s. This would be acting in accordance 
w’ith the rule we have referred to, and it W'juld aUs accord, we believe, with 
the practice in the best dispensing establishments. 
But Davenport’s chlorodyne is a secret as well as a proprietary medicine, 
while some of the other medicines sold under the sau lenftjne are of known com¬ 
position ; and it may be doubted whether we ought to encourage the use of a 
nostrum the composition of which is not known a similar remedy is 
YOL. XI. E 
