■July 13, 1872.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
29 
SATURDAY JULY 13, 1S72. 
Communications for this Journal, and books for review, etc., 
should be addressed to the Editor, 17, Bloomsbury Square. 
Instructions from Members and Associates respecting the 
transmission of the Journal should be sent to Elias Brem- 
ridge, Secretary, 17, Bloomsbury Square, JF.C. 
Advertisements to Messrs. Churchill, New Burlington 
Street, London, JF. Envelopes indorsed u Pharm. Journ 
THE FREAKS OF THE FACULTY AND TEE 
DUTIES OF DISPENSERS. 
The subject from wliicli our text is taken is for¬ 
cibly and unhappily illustrated on page 11 of the 
last number of the Journal, under the heading 
41 Death from an overdose of Morphia.” It will be 
remembered that this death originated in a misun¬ 
derstanding as to the meaning of a prescription ; the 
prescriber intending one grain of acetate of morphia 
to be made into six pills, instead of which the dis¬ 
penser supplied six pills, each containing one grain 
of that salt. A correct copy of the prescription is 
printed at the foot of the page, :,: and we place it be¬ 
fore our readers as a document well worthy of at¬ 
tentive consideration. Is this prescription clearly, 
comprehensibly, conventionally or carelessly written ? 
YVe submit that it is not perfectly clear, inasmuch as 
candour compels us to confess that a very literal 
(though not very pharmaceutical) individual might 
(and did) read grain, instead of sixth-grain, doses. 
It is, however, according to our own belief compre¬ 
hensible to a mind properly imbued with a know - 
ledge of drugs and of the British Pharmacopoeia, it 
is certainly conventional in form and expression, and 
we cannot declare that it is carelessly written. 
But, to begin with the prescriber’s part of the busi¬ 
ness, there v T as a -want of strict accuracy in the 
whole proceeding. It is a very common freak of the 
faculty to rush into a chemist s shop, commit a pre¬ 
scription to paper, and supplement it by a string of 
-verbal directions which the dispenser, also in hot 
haste, anxiously endeavours to commit to paper, and 
■does it as best he may. The man certified to kill is 
gone, and the man certified to compound is left, and 
it is much to the credit of the latter that he does not 
•oftener unwittingly appear in the witness-box in a 
■case of (so-called) misadventure. ^ erbal directions 
of any sort or kind, in the prescribing of drugs, 
should be neither given nor taken. But the dis¬ 
penser’s part of this lamentable business is not by 
any means free from blame. It is his duty to know 
the British Pharmacopoeia from beginning to end. 
He is reported to have possessed this knowledge, 
# “R. Acet. Morph, gr. j. 
F. pil. vj. 
One directly, and repeated every four hours if pain or 
sickness require.” 
but w r e are fairly privileged to doubt it, when he is 
found compounding a dose that is known to be, under 
general circumstances, far more poisonous than the 
well-known “ ounce” of Laurel Water. Mr. Disraeli 
once told us that it w r as impossible to account for 
the marvellous eccentricities of stupidity, but it 
would appear, now and again, equally impossible to 
account for the eccentricities of thought. For, indeed, 
it requires no sophistry to show that (on the suppo¬ 
sition that he knew his alkaloids and the rest of the 
Pharmacopoeia) either the chemist w r as incapable of 
applying knowledge to proper purposes, or in too 
great a hurry to do so. The particulars connected 
with this sad occurrence give us an opportunity of 
reiterating the conviction that medical men should 
never give, and chemists should never receive, 
verbal directions in connection with the dispensing 
of medicines. 
PHARMACEUTICAL EDUCATION. 
We desire to call the special attention of our 
readers to the letter of Mr. G. F. Schacht at p 30. 
The request there made that every member of the 
pharmaceutical body who has any suggestion to 
offer concerning the proposed scheme for the assist¬ 
ance of provincial pharmaceutical education should 
communicate it to these columns, or directly to the 
Committee charged with the subject, is one that w T e 
hope will be freely responded to. As an instalment 
to the discussion which we suggested last w r eek, w r e 
have been favoured with the following proposed re¬ 
solutions from Mr. Frazer, of Glasgow, who describes 
the circumstances under which they were drawn up 
in a letter printed at p 39. 
PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS ON THE BEST MODE OP AIDING 
PROVINCIAL EDUCATION. 
“That in consideration of the proved inadequacy of 
the machinery at present existing in the provinces for 
promoting such a Pharmaceutical education in them as 
will qualify our students and assistants for passing the 
various examinations, now required by law, before they 
can become Associates or Members of our Society; and, 
in consideration of the proved impossibility of finding 
any one system of educational appliances that will meet 
the exigencies of widely differing populations, and be¬ 
lieving that the Members of our Society resident in the 
provinces are themselves the parties likely to be best 
qualified to determine how to take the utmost advantage 
of any scientific schools or institutes already existing in 
their respective neighbourhoods, or, w 7 here such are 
wanting, to initiate such schools or lectures as will best 
meet their special necessities, this Council* shall aw r ard 
a grant of money to the extent of one-third or of one half 
ofthe required expenditure to any enrolled or duly re¬ 
cognized association in aid of any portion of theii 
scheme which shall have a distinct scientific educational 
object, and that whether in providing a library, a 
museum, or lecture-room, or in payment of the fees of 
the teachers or lecturers employed by the said associa¬ 
tions. 
“ And, further, with a view 7 to making the grants not 
only more liberally than hitherto, but more systemati¬ 
cally than they can otherwise be made, as well as to 
* Here I quote from Mr. Schacht s closing paragraph. 
