4  70  Prescriptions.  { AMhlT?;im™ 
But  there  is  a  third  party  in  this  case — the  patient;  and  by  uni- 
versal custom,  sanctioned  by  law  wherever  the  statutes  touch  the  sub- 
ject, he  is  entitled  to  a  copy  of  the  document.  The  original  should 
remain  in  the  hands  of  the  pharmacist,  for  reasons  which  need  not 
here  be  given. 
The  second  point  concerns  what  is  called  the  renewal  of  prescrip- 
tions, or,  more  properly,  dispensing  the  same  medicines  repeatedly  on 
the  same  recipe.  This  very  common  practice  has  been  extensively 
denounced  by  physicians,  on  various  grounds,  but  with  a  curious  and 
complete  disregard  of  the  party  most  directly  interested — the  cus- 
tomer. Their  usual  line  of  argument  on  this  subject,  if  carried  out 
to  its  legitimate  conclusion,  would  forbid  the  sale  or  use  of  any  med- 
icines unless  by  the  express  direction  of  a  doctor.  They  say,  with 
perfect  truth,  that  much  harm  is  done  by  ignorant  prescribing,  and 
by  unqualified  persons  dosing  themselves  and  others  with  medicines 
whose  powers  they  do  not  understand.  Therefore  the  government, 
or  the  druggist,  or  somebody,  should  henceforth  decree  that  this  be 
done  no  more.  They  do  not  apply  or  state  it  so  broadly  as  this ;  but 
the  principle  is  evidently  the  same,  whether  the  medicine  were  orig- 
inally prescribed  by  a  physician  or  not ;  so  that  it  is  here  stated  in 
ts  broadest  form,  in  which  shape  it  is  a  clear  reductio  ad  absurdum- 
The  evident  answer,  if  any  answer  is  needed,  would  be,  that  in  thi& 
country  every  one  is  presumed  to  be  able  to  judge  for  himself,  and 
must  be  allowed  to  take  his  own  risk,  if  he  will.  Any  interference 
on  the  part  of  the  druggist  would  naturally  be  resented  as  an  imper- 
tinence, and  be  met  by  the  just  remark  that  it  was  none  of  his  bus- 
iness. 
In  the  more  special  case  immediately  under  our  notice,  the  redu- 
plication of  the  prescription  cannot  be  prevented,  even  if  both  phy- 
sician and  druggist  should  try  to  do  so.  The  patient  is  entitled  to  a 
copy,  and  can,  of  course,  have  the  same  medicine  put  up  from  that, 
or  from  a  copy  of  that.  Even  physicians  will  hardly  claim  that  no 
druggist  should  ever  put  up  any  medicine  that  any  physician  had  ever 
prescribed  ! 
There  is  another  complaint  often  made  by  physicians,  which  is,  in 
some  respects,  the  reverse  of  this,  viz.,  that  prescriptions  are  often? 
"stolen"  from  them  by  druggists  and  others,  and  used  to  their  dis- 
advantage, by  curing  their  patients  without  their  help.  In  the  for- 
mer case,  the  ostensible  ground  of  complaint  was  that  the  recipe 
