370  Pharmacopceial  Nomenclature.  {AmjuJner'i9i9arm' 
prescription  for  medicines  urgently  required.  In  those  days  the 
Belgian  pharmacists  attended  to  this  work,  and  they  found  that  in 
addition  to  carbolic  acid,  iodoform,  formaldehyde,  gauze  and  cotton 
wool,  the  following  requirement  figured  on  the  prescription :  "  Hy- 
drargyrum chloratum  50  Ag,  10  Stuck."  The  pharmacist  who 
made  up  the  prescription  took  this  to  indicate  corrosive  sublimate, 
in  the  first  place,  as  all  the  articles  enumerated  were  for  the  treat- 
ment of  wounds,  and,  secondly,  because  calomel,  in  Belgium,  is 
not  prescribed  in  tablet  form.  To  make  quite  sure,  he  consulted 
some  colleagues,  and  then  put  up  the  corrosive  sublimate  tablets  m 
an  octagno'al  brown  bottle,  with  the  words :  "  Usage  Externe," 
"Uitwendig  Gebruik,"  printed  in  the  glass,  and  on  the  label  he 
wrote :  "  Hydrargyrum  chloratum — sublime  corrosif ,"  adding  a  label 
with  a  skull  and  cross  bones,  and  another  with  the  words :  "  Poison, 
Vergift."  In  spite  of  all  these  precautions  the  hospital  attendant, 
seeing  the  name  "  Hydrargyrum  chloratum,"  which  to  him  meant 
calomel,  administered  a  tablet  to  a  patient,  with  the  result  that 
he  was  poisoned.  M.  V.  Duliere,  the  chief  inspector  of  Belgian 
pharmacies,  who  relates  this  incident  in  the  Journal  de  Pharmacie 
de  Belgique  (No.  13,  1919),  says  that  the  pharmacist  had  to  appear 
before  a  court-marial  on  the  charge  of  attempting  to  cause  the  death 
of  German  citizens.  The  German  authorities,  happily,  consulted 
M.  Duliere,  whose  explanations  regarding  the  differences  in  nomen- 
clature, the  special  circumstances  of  the  case,  and  also  the  pre- 
cautions taken  by  the  pharmacist  in  putting  up  the  dangerous  drug, 
convinced  the  examining  officer,  and  the  accusation  against  the  Bel- 
gian pharmacist  was  dropped.  M.  Duliere  mentions  this  incident 
to  draw  attention  to  the  dangers  arising  from  the  present  variations 
in  nomenclature. 
