^^""ApririSr""'}        Precautio7is  in  Dispensing  Poisons.  179 
nervous  people  would  not  take  the  medicine  ordered  for  them.  The 
practice  of  prescribing  such  substances  as  these  in  a  concentrated  form 
such  as  tincture  of  aconite,  Fowler's  solution,  solution  of  the  iodides  of 
arsenic  and  mercury,  has  been  frequently  followed  by  fatal  doses,  such 
as  a  teaspoonful  or  more  being  taken  by  the  patient  in  mistake  for 
other  liquids. 
It  has  been  proposed  by  some  persons,  unacquainted  with  either  the 
pharmaceutical  or  medical  profession,  that  all  bottles  and  drawers 
should  be  labeled  in  English,  as  a  means  for  preventing  mistakes.  I 
will  venture  to  assert  that  no  one  with  long  experience  in  either  pro- 
fession can  be  found  who  believes  that  this  would  be  the  sliglitest 
safeguard ;  on  the  contrary,  I  believe  that  the  danger  of  mistakes 
being  made  would  be  increased  thereby,  as  there  is  greater  similarity 
•of  terms,  or  in  sounds  of  names,  in  English  than  in  Latin.  Black 
•drop  and  black  draught,  for  instance,  ladanum  and  laudanum,  chamo- 
mile, calomel,  calamine,  calamus,  Jamestown  weed  and  gentian,  the 
former  being  frequently  pronounced  jimsen,  can  be  named  as  having 
some  similarity ;  also,  May  weed  and  May  apple,  antimonious  tartrate 
of  potassa  and  acid  tartrate  of  potassa,  and  many  other  articles.  Not 
only  would  there  be  danger  from  this  cause,  but  from  another, 
namely,  the  overconfidence  in  their  own  capabilities  and  discretion, 
which  leads  some  individuals  without  adequate  experience  and  knowl- 
edge to  assume  responsibilities  not  belonging  to  them,  from  which 
oause  more  mistakes  have  been  made  than  from  any  other.  No  one 
whose  mental  faculties  are  so  small  as  not  to  be  able  to  become  as 
familiar  with  the  Latin  used  in  naming  drugs  as  though  written  in 
English  should  undertake  to  study  the  chemical  and  therapeutical  cha- 
racteristics and  doses  of  medicines  used  with  the  view  of  prescribing 
or  dispensing  the  same,  as  such  intellects  would  not  be  capable  of 
retaining  sufficient  information  to  enable  them  to  do  so  with  pro- 
priety. 
The  practice  of  dispensing  medicines  of  a  poisonous  character  in 
peculiar  bottles,  such  as  the  corrugated,  sanded  and  stellated  styles,  or 
bottles  covered  with  diamond-shaped  points,  is  to  a  certain  extent  a 
good  one,  if  generally  adopted ;  but  until  some  law  is  passed  compel- 
ling their  use  I  think  their  employment  may  be  open  to  objection  on 
account  of  some  druggists  using  such  bottles  and  others  not  using 
those  so  marked,  and  because  customers  who  had  become  accustomed 
to  the  use  of  these  peculiar  bottles  for  poisons  only  might  fall  into  the 
