Am  Jour.  Phaem.  } 
Nov.  1,  1873.  j 
New  Kind  of  Plaster. 
493 
ency ;  or  in  the  event  of  non-compliance  with  the  indications,  fail  in 
the  attempt,  and,  without  really  good  cause,  sacrifice  his  reputation. 
When  the  prescription  is  impossible,  according  to  its  letter,  a  con" 
scientious  pharmacist  will  always  reserve  to  himself  the  necessary 
license  to  construe  and  execute  it  according  to  the  spirit,  as  prompted 
by  the  occasion,  an  action  justified  by  common  reason,  and  conceded 
by  the  interests  of  both  professions ;  and  hence  an  operator  deficient 
in  this  amount  of  judgment  and  application  is  unqualified  to  serve  at 
the  dispensing  counter. 
The  physician  desiring  a  certain  combination,  writes  for  a  number 
of  ingredients,  in  the  proportion  desired  ;  but  being  himself  no  phar- 
macist, therefore  utterly  unskilled  in  this  art,  and  consequently  ex- 
pects that  the  operator,  with  the  proper  capacity,  will  elaborate  the 
requested,  according  to  the  art  of  pharmacy,  and  the  essence  of  the 
order. 
This,  however,  does  not  imply  uncalled-for  substitutions  or  merce- 
nary interference  with  the  quantities  of  expensive  ingredients,  neither 
does  it  confer  the  privilege  of  dispensing  pills  for  powders,  or  liquid 
mixtures  in  the  place,  of  these,  nor  does  it  justify  the  dispensing  of  a 
greater  quantity  of  medicine  than  the  physician  directs. 
Uttedy  impossible  combinations  or  dangerous  mixtures  or  doses 
are  of  course,  from  prima  facie  evidence,  referred  to  their  author  for 
correction  or  revision.  A  thoroughly  competent  pharmacist  will 
never  constitute  himself  the  umpire  in  regard  to  the  pathological 
merits  of  any  case  as  appears  from  a  prescription  ;  a  doubt  in  this 
regard  does  not  find  elucidation  within  the  confines  of  the  pharmacal 
art. 
Now,  however,  if  it  is  ordered  to  apply  to  the  square  inch  of  sur- 
face of  a  plaster  of  some  particular  kind,  previously  spread,  an  addi- 
tional quantity  of  5  to  10  grains  each  of  some  solid  extract  and  some 
fixed  or  volatile  oil,  then  it  requires  the  intervention  of  another 
agency  which  will  harmonize  these  extremely  heterogeneous  ele- 
ments. The  solid  extract  must  necessarily  first  be  softened  with  a 
small  proportion  of  water ;  it  will  even  then  adhere  only  with  diffi- 
culty to  the  plaster,  but  much  more  so  after  the  addition  of  the  oily 
substance,  which  produces  a  mixture  that  in  most  cases  instantly  sep- 
arates when  in  a  state  of  rest,  and  possesses  no  adhesiveness  what- 
ever. More  oil  or  more  extract  would  avail  nothing,  neither  would 
a  more  solid  fatty  ingredient  be  of  much  consequence,  but  the  incor- 
