5oo 
Dispensing  Prescriptions. 
{Am.  Jour.  Pharrru. 
Oct.,  1877. 
The  whole  form  is  simple,  takes  but  little  time  and  insures  accuracy. 
It  is  particularly  useful  where  there  are  several  clerks  in  a  store,  as  it 
traces  to  the  proper  one  any  error  in  the  instructions  given  by  the  cus- 
tomer to  the  clerk  who  receives  it,  also  any  error  in  compounding  it. 
Frequently  prescriptions  are  sent  by  servants  or  youthful  messengers 
to  the  drug  store  to  be  prepared  and  taken  to  the  patient.  It  often 
happens  that  two  or  more  such  individuals  are  waiting  at  the  same  time,, 
and  sometimes  do  not  give  sufficient  consideration  to  the  importance  of 
giving  attention  to  any  questions  asked  them.  An  example  :  You  have 
a  prescription  finished  and  ready  to  hand  to  one  of  the  customers  wait- 
ing. You  ask  one  "are  you  waiting  for  Mr.  Johnson's  prescripiion  ?"' 
Answer,  "yes."  You  very  naturally  give  the  prescription,  thinking  it 
is  correct,  and  the  customer  leaves  your  store  when  you  come  to 
hand  customer  No.  2  his  prescription,  you  find  a  mistake  has  occurred 
by  customer  No.  1  thoughtlessly  answering  yes,  instead  of  no,  having: 
in  mind  the  thought  that  he  or  she  was  waiting  for  some  medicine  and 
this  must  be  it.    The  writer  has  known  of  several  such  cases. 
How  can  this  kind  of  mistakes  be  avoided  ?  Ask  the  customer,, 
whose  medicine  are  you  waiting  for?  This  occasions  reflection  (trifling 
though  it  bej,  on  the  part  of  the  customer,  whom  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  will  invariably  give  the  correct  name  to  such  a  question. 
Every  apothecary  is  familiar  with  the  extra  labels  frequently  put  on 
prescription  bottles,  such  as  "  for  external  use  only,"  "  shake  before 
using,"  "  poison,"  etc.  There  are  cases  occurring  every  now  and 
then  for  which  none  of  these  will  answer,  viz.  : 
R    Tr.  Aconite  Rad.,  ..... 
Sig.    5  to  10  drops  as  directed. 
You  hesitate  to  put  a  poison  label  on  this  lest  you  unnecessarily 
alarm  the  patient,  as  it  is  very  apt  to  do  in  many  cases  of  nervous 
affections,  who  may  think  either  the  physician  or  druggist  has  made  a 
mistake,  as  the  doctor  did  not  say  anything  about  it  being  poison. 
Still  a  faithful  apothecary  does  not  wish  to  send  it  out  without  some 
mark  to  attract  attention,  so  that  in  the  accumulation  of  family  medi- 
cine bottles  this  one  may  not  be  picked  up  and  used  hastily  for  some 
other  that  might  result  to  the  injury  of  some  one. 
A  "  use  with  care  "  label  frequently  answers  the  purpose. 
Then  again,  there  are  a  class  of  prescriptions  that  contain  poisonous 
doses  if  taken  into  the  stomach  by  the  ordinary  tea  or  tablespoonful. 
