Am.  Jour,  Pharm.  ) 
July  1,1872.  j 
Editorial. 
333 
mit  the  crime  of  abortion  by  statements  of  their  harmlessness,  coupled  with  the 
caution  not  to  take  them  during  pregnancy.  If  the  law  is  properly  enforced, 
it  will  doubtless  save  the  lives  of  many  an  innocent  unborn  that  would  have 
been  murdered  by  these  vile  preparations,  which  were  never  found  in  a  respect- 
able pharmacy. 
Collusions  between  Physicians  and  Apothecaries  are  possible  in  all  com- 
munities ;  but  to  the  honor  of  both  professions  we  believe  that  they  are  of  com- 
paratively rare  occurrence,  at  least  in  their  more  vulgar  grades,  the  lowest  one 
of  which  we  regard  the  practice  of  writing  prescriptions  in  a  manner  that  they 
can  be  understood  only  by  those  apothecaries  with  whom  the  little  arrangement 
has  been  made.  This  is  done  sometimes  in  obscure  and  unintelligible  charac- 
ters ;  at  other  times  by  the  employment  of  more  or  less  barbarous  terms,  or  by 
the  agreement  upon  certain  formulas  which  are  prescribed  by  names,  perhaps 
correct  enough  as  far  as  the  preparation  is  concerned,  but  giving  no  clue  of  all 
the  constituents,  their  nature  or  proportion. 
We  refer  to  this  species  of  fraud  upon  two  honorable  professions  and  the  suf- 
fering public,  in  consequence  of  a  communication,  by  Mr.  Adolph  Mueller,  of 
Highland,  111.,  having  been  handed  to  the  Editor  by  the  Executive  Committee 
of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  to  whom  it  was  referred  by  the 
Association  at  its  last  meeting  in  St.  Louis,  want  of  time  preventing  its  consid- 
eration. Mr.  Mueller  sent  copies  of  several  prescriptions,  one  of  which  reads 
thus  : 
R.    01.  sol.  acid,  carb.,       .       .       .       .  gij. 
and  then  asks  the  following  questions  : 
1.  Is  it  not  obligatory  on  the  practising  physician  to  use  in  his  prescriptions 
a  scientific  language,  intelligent  to  any  educated  pharmacist? 
2.  Is  it  admissible  that  prescriptions  are  written  in  secret  characters,  so  as 
to  be  understood  by  those  only  who  are  in  possession  of  the  corresponding  key  ? 
3.  Does  not  such  a  practice  endanger  the  lives  of  the  patients,  and  would  it 
not,  if  generally  adopted,  be  detrimental  to  the  public  welfare  ? 
4.  Is  not,  therefore,  such  a  practice  to  be  regarded  as  "malpractice,"  unwor- 
thy the  professional  physician  and  pharmacist  ? 
5.  Is  there  no  legal  way  to  prohibit  such  a  practice  on  the  part  of  unscrupu- 
lous physicians  and  pharmacists  ? 
We  leave  it  to  our  readers  to  answer  these  questions.  An  honorable  man 
will  not  stoop  to  such  means  to  increase  his  profits  ;  if  found  out,  the  offender 
will  not  be  tolerated,  we  think,  in  the  various  medical  and  pharmaceutical  so- 
cieties— the  codes  of  ethics  of  all  containing  provisions  against  such  actions. 
We  have  very  little  faith  in  the  influence  of  legal  restrictions  upon  such  arti- 
fices, believing  that  the  tactics  would  be  changed  so  as  not  to  come  into  direct 
conflict  with  the  law;  we  expect  by  far  better  results  from  raising  the  profes- 
sional standard  of  both  professions,  and  therefore  look  with  confidence  towards 
improvement  also  in  this  respect,  as  one  of  the  results  which  is  likely  to  follow 
the  conscientious  administration  of  the  pharmaceutical  laws  enacted  in  various 
parts  of  the  country. 
