EDITORIAL. 
379 
Dr.  Coates  flowed  from  the  interview.  But  some  time  after,  a  similar  joint 
commission  of  the  County  Medical  Society,  (the  body  represented  by  Dr, 
Coates,)  and  of  the  College  of  Pharmacy,  did  issue  a  joint  report,  ad- 
dressed first  to  physicians,  and  then  to  apothecaries,  chiefly  in  regard  to 
the  writing  and  dispensing  of  prescriptions,  and  certain  ethical  rules  which 
should  be  observed  in  the  professional  intercourse  of  physicians  and  phar- 
maceutists. That  report,  it  is  true,  was  chiefly  written  by  the  apothecaries, 
but  it  was  revised  by  the  physicians,  and  by  them  finally  copied  for  pre- 
sentation to  the  respective  bodies  represented.  The  report  was  printed  in 
volume  24,  page  27,  of  the  Journal  from  that  manuscript.  With  what  justice 
then  does  Dr,  Coates  remark  in  regard  to  these  recommendations,  "  How 
far  will  physicians  comply  with  the  demands,  not  recommendations,  of  a 
College  of  Medicine — No  !  of  Pharmacy?  "  In  our  opinion,  these  recommen- 
dations did  much  good  in  this  community  at  the  time,  among  those  who 
received  them  in  the  candid  spirit  in  which  they  were  offered,  as  a  remedy, 
however  faulty,  for  evils  that  were  acknowledged  to  exist,  and  we  would 
gladly  see  them  republished  now. 
Very  ridiculous,  as  well  as  very  annoying  incidents  and  mistakes  have 
no  doubt  occurred  in  the  long  experience  of  Dr.  Coates,with  the  apothecaries 
of  Philadelphia,  That  in  reference  to  the  cineritious  oxide  of  mercury, 
would,  perhaps,  if  criticized,  react  unfavorably  to  the  author's  chemical  re- 
collection. We  have,  however,  no  inclination  to  reprint  these  instances  of 
ignorance,  or  carelessness,  or  want  of  judgment,  and  among  the  tens  of 
thousands  of  prescriptions  annually  dispensed  in  this  city,  it  were,  indeed, 
remarkable  if  some  even  worse  than  these  did  not  occur.  Yet,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  agency  of  these  same  apothecaries  in  protecting  physicans  from 
their  own  faux  pas,  we  should  gladly  have  seen  acknowledged.  Ludicrous  as 
may  be  some  of  the  errors  of  apothecaries,  and  serious  as  may  be  others, 
their  exaggerated  counterpart  in  the  written  prescriptions  of  physicians  can 
be  shown,  in  the  experience  of  many  pharmaceutists,  by  reference  to  the 
prescription  file  or  record  book.  We  are  among  those  who  believe  that  the 
apothecary  is  in  duty  bound  to  exercise  a  watchful  care  over  the  perscrip- 
tions  he  dispenses,  in  view  of  the  many  circumstances  which  tend  to  cause 
physicians  to  err  in  writing  their  prescriptions  ;  and  we  do  not  agree  with 
those  who  hold  that  the  prescription  is  always  a  sufficient  warrant  to  blindly 
dispense  it  according  to  the  letter.  In  this  sense,  as  well  as  in  the  Scriptur- 
al, sometimes  "  the  letter  killeth." 
As  regards  writing  the  names  of  substances  prescribed,  in  English,  we 
heartily  agree  with  Dr.  Coates  in  condemning  it  as  unwise  and  uncalled 
for,  deeming  the  use  of  the  officinal  Latin  names  far  less  liable  to  cause 
errors  than  their  often  numerous  synonymes  in  English.  But  we  think  the 
direction  intended  for  the  patient,  when  appended  to  the  prescription, 
should  be  written  in  English  without  abbreviation,  word  for  word  as  it  is 
to  appear  on  the  label.  The  good  sense  of  the  physician  will  at  once  en- 
dorse the  propriety  of  making  the  direction  as  brief  as  a  clear  expression 
