198 
ADDRESS. 
/ 
sulphur  may  become  contaminated  with  twice  its  weight  of  plas- 
ter of  Paris  ;  calomel,  by  careless  washing,  may  contain  corro- 
sive sublimate  ;  glycerin  may  be  affected  by  sensible  portions 
of  lead,  and  vegetable  extracts  by  copper,  from  the  use  of  ill- 
conditioned  apparatus. 
Gentlemen,  the  lessons  you  have  learned  in  the  laboratory 
and  at  the  lecture  room  have  taught  you  to  avoid  these  errors, 
and  they  should  not  be  forgotten,  but  by  practice  and  study 
should  be  rendered  more  and  more  effective. 
If  the  selection  of  drugs  and  the  preparation  of  medicines 
involves  so  many  requisites,  the  dispensing  of  these  to  the  sick, 
by  the  prescription  of  the  physician,  calls  for  a  higher  qualifica- 
tion and  a  wider  experience.  Whatever  knowledge  he  may  have 
gained,  to  whatever  extent  his  ingenuity  may  have  been  stimu- 
lated, however  much  his  patience  and  care  may  have  been  cul- 
tivated, the  conscientious  apothecary  finds  ample  scope  for  their 
exercise  and  employment  in  this  division  of  his  daily  engage- 
ments. If  he  would  avoid  error,  the  dispenser  must  do  nothing 
without  the  consent  of  his  will ;  he  must  be  conscious  of  every 
act  that  he  performs,  and  shun  mental  preoccupation  as  he  would 
the  fabled  influence  of  the  poison  upas,  as  it  is  the  true  source  of 
of  most  of  the  fatal  mistakes,  strictly  due  to  the  apothecary, 
which  the  annals  of  Pharmacy  occasionally  record.  In  reading 
a  prescription  the  dispenser  has  not  only  to  understand  what  is 
written,  but  he  should  feel  satisfied  that  what  it  calls  for  is  in- 
tended by  the  physician.  Although,  legally,  the  recipe  of  a 
physician  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  to  dispense  any  poison  or 
composition,  yet  the  pharmaceutist,  when  duly  impressed  with 
the  responsibility  of  his  office,  feels  morally  bound  to  extend  a 
rational  judgment  in  reference  to  the  prescription  he  dispenses, 
as  well  in  justice  to  the  prescriber,  as  to  the  patient  and  himself. 
The  exercise  of  this  watchful  supervision  requires  the  greatest 
delicacy  and  discretion,  when  it  leads  the  apothecary  to  believe 
he  has  detected  an  error.  It  is  a  matter  solely  between  the 
physician  and  himself.  He  may  find,  on  inquiry,  that  some 
peculiar  condition  of  the  patient  required  the  unusual  dose,  and 
that  his  own  judgment  was  wrong.  Hence  nothing  short  of  a 
feeling  of  duty,  based  on  the  utmost  certainty,  should  cause  him 
to  doubt  the  literal  meaning  of  a  physician's  prescription,  ex- 
cept in  cases  of  omission. 
