382 
Editorial, 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
\     Aug.  1,  1872. 
The  Indiscriminate  Sale  of  Poisons  is  justly  criticised  in  au  editorial  of  the 
Atlanta  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal  for  June.  The  legal  regulations  of  the 
traffic  in  these  articles  are  sufficiently  stringent  in  many  States  to  be  regarded 
as  salutary  safeguards;  and  wherever  such  restrictions  have  not  been  enacted, 
the  reputable  pharmacist,  of  his  own  accord,  adopts  suitable  provisions  to  guard 
against  criminal  negligence  or  design.  He  who  omits  those  precautions  which 
direct  the  attention  of  the  purchaser  or  the  patient  to  the  dangerous  qualities 
of  poisonous  articles,  does  not  fulfill  conscientiously  the  duties  incumbent  upon 
the  pharmacist.  We  agree  with  the  Atlanta  Jonrnal  that  "  it  will  have  a  salu- 
tary effect,  if.  instead  of  making  the  blame  of  general  application,  coroners' ju- 
ries fix  the  culpability  on  the  offending  druggist  in  particular."  The  offence  of 
an  individual  is  not  chargeable  to  an  entire  class  of  persons  who  follow  their 
chosen  calling,  fully  impressed  with  the  weighty  responsibility  attached  thereto. 
The  Atlanta  Journal,  however,  is  not  disposed  to  censure  pharmacists  alone 
for  the  carelessness  with  which  poisons  are  sold  by  some;  it  very  justly  remarks: 
"  But  the  apothecaries  must  not  be  made  to  take  all  the  blame  in  this  mat- 
ter. Physicians  are  not  altogether  above  reproach,  and  much  of  the  looseness 
of  poison-dispensing  is  fairly  chargeable  to  them.  It  is  the  frequent  habit  with 
many  practitioners,  especially  in  their  visits  to  families  with  whom  they  enjoy  a 
certain  degree  of  professional  intimacy,  to  speak  of  drugs  and  to  order  them  with 
a  heedless  freedom  which  deprives  the  poisonous  articles  of  their  deleterious 
character  in  the  minds  of  the  consumers.  Especially  is  this  the  case  with  the 
preparations  of  opium.  If  a  child  is  in  pain,  the  general  direction  'to  give  it 
five  or  ten  drops  of  paregoric  '  is  deemed  enough  without  a  prescription.  If  an 
opiate  fomentation  is  required,  the  advice  is  to  '  get  a  couple  of  ounces  of  lau- 
danum at  the  druggist's'  for  the  purpose.  This  heedlessness  is  easily  acquired, 
but  it  is  none  the  less  blameworthy.  It  reacts  on  those  who  use  the  diugs,  to 
throw  them  off  their  guard  ;  and  on  those  who  sell  them,  to  give  them  a  ready 
excuse  for  similar  heedlessness  in  dispensing.  At  best,  physicians'  prescrip- 
tions are,  as  a  rule,  sufficiently  loose  in  their  construction,  and  a  regular  course 
of  practical  instruction  in  this  subordinate  but  important  department  of  the 
medical  art  would  be  an  acceptable  innovation.  But,  meantime,  for  those  to- 
whom  the  medicamenta  are  familiar  therapeutic  instruments,  in  their  daily  prac- 
tical duty,  the  lesson  cannot  be  learned  too  soon,  that  the  written  prescription, 
even  kept  in  duplicate,  is  not  labor  lost,  no  matter  how  trivial  the  order  ;  that 
every  such  prescription  is  a  voucher  for  the  physician,  for  the  patient  and  for 
the  druggist;  and  that  it  is  the  pledge  of  accuracy  which  may  greatly  aid  to 
correct  the  evils  of  indiscriminate  dispensing." 
Censurable  as  some  physicians  are  in  this  respect,  some  have  acquired  an- 
other habit,  which  is  at  least  equally  fraught  with  danger  ;  we  refer  to  the  en- 
tire absence  of  all  directions  upon  some  prescriptions.  It  is  obvious  that  the 
most  serious  results  may  follow  the  mistaking  of  one  medicine  for  another  when 
both  are  merely  labelled:  "  Use  as  directed."  We  know  of  an  instance  even 
where  a  physician  regarded  himself  grievously  offended,  because  a  pharmacist 
had  labelled  a  vial,  41  For  external  use  only,"  which  contained  20  grains  nitrate 
of  silver  in  1  ounce  of  water,  prescribed  by  the  doctor  without  any  directions 
whatever. 
We  are  far  from  attributing  the  shortcomings  of  some  physicians  to  the  med- 
ical profession  in  general,  and  we  know  that  on  inquiry  it  will  be  found  that 
