OBITUARY. 
555 
Pj StvycliuijB gr. j 
Acidi pliosphorici diluti 
Sumat n\. V ex aquas cyatho vinario ter die 
Strychnias gr. ij 
Aquas destillatse 5 v 
Solve ope 
Acidi hydrocblorici diluti r^iv 
et adde 
Vini ferri ad 5 X 
Misce. Signa—Take ten minims by measure in water every 
morning before breakfast, and increase the dose every other 
morning by one minim up to 18 or 20 minims. 
Pj Ext. cinchonae liquidi 
Idquoris calcii chloridi aa ^ss 
Fiant guttas. 
P Acidi arseniosi gr. ij 
Syrupi zingiberis 5ij 
Fiat mistura. 
In the five formulae above-quoted, the medicines are ordered to be furnished 
to the patient in (as it seems to me) a form far too ccncentrated. By the first 
of them a bottle containing about 150 doses of the strongest Tincture of Aconite 
is supplied with directions that a dose is to be taken every three hours. In the 
second nearly a hundred doses of Strychnine are ordered to be placed at once 
in the hands of the patient. The third prescribes five weeks’ supply of strych¬ 
nine in a ten-dram mixture, and is also deserving notice for the complicated 
directions to the patient for calculating his dose. The fourth is objectionable 
from the fact that the ingredients are decomposed for want of a suitable ex- 
cipient, the resin of the bark being precipitated on the bottom and sides of the 
bottle, so that it is impossible for the patient to obtain the intended dose. No 
such difficulty would arise if each ingredient were reasonably diluted previous 
to mixing, and the dose apportioned accordingly. The fifth formula is danger¬ 
ous from ordering the arsenic to be treacherously disguised in the form of a very 
palatable syrup, which might in ignorance be taken far too freely. 
The experience of any dispensing pharmaceutist will readily testify that pre¬ 
scriptions such as those here quoted are now-a-days by no means unfrequent. 
That they are highly objectionable all will allow, inasmuch as in many cases 
they do justice neither to the patient, the physician nor the pharmaceutist. 
Those of the last category are reprehensible for the sake of the patient who is 
furnished with a large supply of potent, or it may be even dangerous medicine 
which is to be taken for a lengthened period, almost according to his own plea¬ 
sure and judgment; for the sake of the physician who by such prescriptions 
must often deprive himself of the opportunity of watching the effect of the 
remedies he orders ; and lastly for the sake of the pharmaceutist on wdiom is 
thrown a heavy risk of error and accident, counterbalanced by no proportionate 
increase of profit, but actually accompanied by a much diminished scale of re¬ 
muneration. 
©tituarij. 
Dli. SCOEESBY-JACKSON. 
We have to record the death of this lamented gentleman, who so recently as 
last January was a contributor to these pages. His career, brilliant as it w^as 
