844 
NOTES  ON  PRESCRIBING. 
Although  hardly  coming  under  this  section,  and  rather  deserv- 
ing to  be  ranged  under  the  head  of  ill- contrived  formula,  may  be 
instanced  the  following  : 
R  Unguenti  hydrarg.  nitratis  ^iij. 
"       cetacei  |j. 
Liquoris  potassse  gij* 
Linimenti  saponis  ad  ,^vi. 
Misce.  Sit  linimentum  capiti  omni  nocte  infricandum. 
B  Confectionis  opii  ^ij. 
Olei  terebinthinse  ^iss. 
Sp.  ammonias  aromat.  oiij. 
66    camphor ae  siij. 
Fiat  linimentum. 
R  Potassii  iodidi  Si. 
Morphias  acetatis  gr.  x. 
Aceti  colchici  3iv. 
Olei  sulphurati  §i. 
Misce.   Fiat  linimentum. 
The  next  subject  on  which  I  must  beg  leave  to  offer  a  few  re- 
marks is  the 
Undue  concentration  of  Medicines, 
There  is  no  practice  in  the  modern  method  of  prescribing 
more  fraught  with  inconvenience  to  the  pharmaceutist,  and  risk 
to  the  patient,  than  that  of  ordering  medicines  in  an  excessively 
concentrated  form.  The  object  for  doing  so  is  in  most  cases 
that  the  patient  may  obtain  a  large  supply  of  medicine  at  a  small 
outlay ;  in  others,  because  medicine  in  a  concentrated  form  is 
more  convenient  for  being  carried  from  place  to  place.  That 
the  prescriber  should  have  a  due  regard  for  the  pocket  of  his  pa- 
tient, and  wish  to  diminish  as  much  as  possible  the  expenses 
attendant  on  sickness,  is  doubtless  commendable.  But  when 
this  is  done  at  the  expense  of  safety  and  of  efficacy,  it  becomes 
an  abuse  which  demands  rectification. 
All  druggists  know  that  forty  or  fifty  years  ago  liquid  medi- 
cines for  internal  use  were  very  commonly  prescribed  in  the  form 
of  draughts,  or  doses  each  contained  in  a  single  bottle ; — that 
these  have  been  gradually  superseded  by  mixtures,  containing 
