406 
Editorial. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t       Aug.,  1878. 
EDITORIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
An  Apothecary's  Mistake.— During  the  latter  part  of  June  a  suit  for  damages 
has  been  decided  at  the  County  Court  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  which  is  of  considerable 
interest  to  the  pharmacists  of  the  United  States.  We  have  been  favored  by  the 
Syracuse  Sunday  Times  with  the  following  fac-simile  of  the  line,  as  contained  in  the 
prescription,  and  which  we  are  assured  is  a  very  fair,  though  perhaps  not  absolutely 
perfect,  representation  of  the  original : 
The  case  itself,  and  the  various  questions  that  were  involved  in  it,  were  presented 
at  a  meeting  of  the  physicians  of  Syracuse,  held  July  7,  at  which  Dr.  Cook  was 
called  to  the  chair.  The  following  report  of  the  transactions  at  this  meeting  is 
taken  from  the  Standard,  of  Syracuse,  for  July  8.  The  proceedings  were  opened 
with  the  following  statements  made  by  Dr.  Didama  : 
The  Case. — On  the  28th  of  last  November,  Adelbert  Eno  came  to  my  office  for 
examination  and  treatment.  He  was  thin  in  flesh,  of  a  pale,  sickly  appearance;  his 
voice  was  hoarse  and  husky;  he  seemed  weak  and  debilitated.  I  learned  that  he 
had  a  chronic  cough  with  hectic  fever  and  night  sweats.  On  examination  I  decided 
that  the  disease  was  chronic  bronchitis,  tending  to  and  already  on  the  border  land 
of  phthisis.  I  prescribed  cod-liver  oil  emulsion  to  improve  his  general  condition,  a 
good  noonday  dose  of  quinine  to  throttle  the  fever  which  was  consuming  his 
strength  and  blood,  and  a  solution  of  atropia  with  elixir  vitriol  to  arrest  the  drench- 
ing night  sweats.    This  was  the  form  of  the  atropia  solution  : 
Sol.  atropia  (2  gr.  to  oz.),  drachm  1  ;  acid,  sulph.  aromat ,  drachms  4;  syrup,  ad 
oz.  2.     M.  S.    Teaspoonful  at  bed  time. 
The  note  in  parenthesis  was  for  the  guidance  of  the  druggist,  Mr  Eaton.  I 
knew  that  Mr.  E  was  a  careful  and  intelligent  pharmacist,  but  as  there  is  no  stand- 
ard solution  of  atropia,  I  indicated  the  one  which  I  am  in  the  habit  of  prescribing. 
Some  time  during  the  following  night  I  had  an  urgent  call  to  visit  Mr.  Eno.  Know- 
ing that  an  ordinary  dose  of  atropia  could  work  no  harm,  and  feeling  a  wicked  need 
of  rest  after  a  hard  day's  work,  I  contented  myself  with  sending  a  powder  of  mor- 
phine, and  promised  to  call  in  the  morning. 
During  the  forenoon  of  the  29th  I  called  and  learned  that  Mr.  Eno  had  taken 
about  half  a  teaspoonful  of  the  solution,  that  he  had  been  delirious  throughout  the 
night,  trying  to  get  out  of  bed,  coughing,  complaining  of  burning  in  the  throat,  and 
the  usual  symptoms  of  an  overdose  of  atropia.  I  was  informed  that  Dr.  Hubbell 
had  been  called;  that  he  had  examined  the  atropia  solution  and  judged  it  to  be 
some  form  of  iron  ;  that  he  gave  belladonna  as  an  antidote.  I  found  the  patient 
on  the  bed.  He  was  rational  and  intelligent.  He  complained  of  a  burning  sensa- 
tion in  his  throat  and  an  inability  to  see  distinctly.  He  said  he  was  glad  he  did  not 
take  a  full  dose,  if  he  had  he  believed  it  would  have  killed  him.  His  pupils  were 
largely  dilated,  pulse  small  and  quicker  than  it  was  the  day  before,  tongue  parched 
and  fevered,  extremities  cool,  appearance  of  fatigue  and  exhaustion.  I  judged  that 
an  overdose  of  atropia  had  been  taken,  but  I  comforted  the  friends  with  the  assur- 
ance that  the  worst  was  over,  that  no  permanent  mischief  would  result  either  from 
the  dose  he  had  taken  at  first  or  from  the  homoeopathic  belladonna  solution  given 
by  Dr  Hubbell.    I  prescribed  no  antidote,  for  it  was  clear  that  none  was  needed 
