REPORT RELATIVE TO PHYSICIANS' PRESCRIPTIONS. 
29 
called for, and attended with some risk ; it is far safer to write 
them in English, and without abbreviation or the use of figures, un- 
less these are well and distinctly formed. 
B. In Respect to the Apothecary. 
1st. The apothecary should hesitate to dispense a prescription, 
the handwriting of which is so imperfect as to render the writer's 
meaning doubtful — especially if it involves agents of a poisonous 
or irritating character — unless he is able, from collateral circum- 
stances, to satisfy himself of the intent of the prescriber. In such 
a case he should delay the delivery of the medicine to the patient 
until he can see the physician, and in doing so he should avoid 
committing the latter by agreeing to send the medicine when it is 
ready. 
2d. The apothecary is justified in the same means of delay, if he, 
after deliberate consideration, believes that the physician has inad- 
vertently made a mistake in the quantity or dose of the article or 
articles prescribed ; always keeping in view the physician's repu- 
tation as well as his own. Every respectful application, in such 
cases, to a physician, should he met in good faith and with kind 
feeling, even though no error should prove to exist. 
3d. In his demeanor and language, the apothecary should cau- 
tiously avoid compromising the physician, unless it be unavoidable, 
in which case honesty is the best policy, and the patient or his 
messenger should be told that it will be necessary to have an in- 
terview with the physician previously to compounding his prescrip- 
tion. 
4th. The apothecary is not justifiable in making inquiries relative 
to the patient or his disease, or remarks relative to the character or 
properties of the medicines prescribed, that are uncalled for, or 
likely to convey a wrong impression, through an ignorant messen- 
ger, to the patient, excepting it be done in a case where he has 
doubts in regard to the prescription, and wishes to satisfy himself, 
and here he should act with great discreetness. 
5th. When an apothecary is asked his opinion of a physician's 
prescription in a manner that indicates want of faith in the pre- 
scriber, he should waive the question, unless by a direct answer 
he should be able to restore that confidence. When asked the na- 
ture of the ingredients he should be guided in his answer by circum- 
stances, avoiding to give the desired information, when he believes 
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