EDITORIAL. 
471 
reforms  may  flow  from  such  well-timed  and  apposite  council  as  that  given 
by  the  distinguished  President  of  our  State  Medical  Society,  whether 
they  be  immediate  or  remote,  all  will  agree  that  in  the  frequent  ventila 
tion  of  a  great  source  of  wrong-doing,  other  topics  germane  in  character, 
if  not  of  direct  consanguinity,  are  invariably  dragged  into  the  light  of 
observation,  and  placed  beneath  the  eye  of  criticism,  so  as  to  secure 
ultimately  some  minor  good  in  various  directions,  even  though  the  parent 
evil  should  continue  to  resist  the  vigorous  assaults  of  a  scientific  siege. 
It  is  through  this  law  of  association  that  the  attention  of  the  profession 
has  of  late  been  called  to  a  great  and  growing  evil  committed  by  apothe- 
caries, probably  without  intention  of  wrong  doing,  and  yet  militating 
seriously  against  the  rights  of  medical  practitioners,  in  renewing  'prescrip- 
tions without  permission  of  their  authors  first  had  awl  obtained.  The 
subject  has  been  largely  discussed  in  England  ;  and  in  our  own  Academy 
of  Medicine  has  given  occasion  to  the  passage  of  some  very  significant 
resolutions.  But,  as  something  more  than  resolutions  is  needed  to  give 
a  definite  solution  to  the  question,  I  venture  to  offei  the  following  sug- 
gestions as  the  readiest  road  to  a  permanent  remedy. 
The  wrong  alluded  to,  though  practically  committed  by  the  apothecary, 
has  its  foundation  in  a  different  cause  than  the  mere  pharmaceutical  in- 
competency of,  or  the  negligent  disregard  of,  another's  rights  by  the  dis- 
penser of  drugs.  However  true  it  may  be,  it  is  still  painful  to  be  com- 
pelled to  admit  that  the  blame  should  often  be  divided  between  the 
apothecary  and  the  physician  himself.  And,  as  we  pursue  the  inquiry, 
we  shall  see  that  the  remedy  has  always  lain  within  easy  reach  of  the 
medical  practitioner,  who,  having  too  often  been  negligent  of  duty  to 
himself,  expects  another  person,  and  in  a  different  calling,  to  repair  that 
negligence.  Is  this  reasonable  ?  We  think  not.  As  a  presumption  in 
law  founded  upon  the  habitual  conduct  of  rational  beings,  every  man  is 
supposed  to  be  watchful  of  his  own  rights,  whether  those  rights  are 
associated  with  life,  health,  reputation,  or  property.  But  if  he  slumbers 
upon  them,  so  as  to  invite,  if  not  permit,  another  to  encroach  upon  their 
limits,  he  cannot  avoid  dividing  the  responsibility  for  his  own  injury  with 
him  who  may  have  been  the  instrument  for  inflicting  it.  That  this  is  the 
view  which  should  be  taken,  in  most  instances,  of  the  subject-matter  now 
under  discussion,  will  appear  by  a  more  critical  investigation  of  the 
principles  underlying  the  tri-partite  relations  of  physicians,  patient,  and 
apothecary.  If  it  can  be  shown,  as  is  easily  demonstrable,  that  the 
physician,  in  giving  a  prescription,  has  a  duty  to  discharge  to  himself,  as 
well  as  to  the  patient  who  employs  him,  and  that  the  apothecary,  on  his 
part,  can  no  more  re-issue  a  prescription  without  a  renewed  authority 
from  the  physician  originating  it.  than  he  can  give  professional  advice  in 
his  name,  or  use  that  name  in  any  transaction  of  life,  then  the  whole 
question  will  be  resolved  into  a  simple  one  touching  the  proprietary 
right  of  physicians  in  their  own  prescriptions.    And,  first  of  all, 
WHAT  IS  A  PRESCRIPTION  ? 
Counsel  or  advice,  as  given  by  a  physician  or  lawyer,  is,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  political  economists,  an  immaterial  product,  which  is  consumed 
in  its  very  pr  oduction.  Whether  reduced  to  writing  or  not,  it  is  the 
property  of  its  author,  and  its  usufruct  may  be  sold  to  any  one,  though 
the  right  of  property  in  the  thing  itself  is  not  thereby  dissevered  from 
its  original  author.  Now  a  prescription  is  professional  advice  in  the 
nature  of  an  order  for  the  compounding  of  certain  drugs  intended  to  be 
used  under  specific  conditions,  and  those  only,  viz. — First,  as  to  time  ; 
second,  as  to  individuals.    And  in  order  to  guarantee  the  good  faith  of 
