102         Notes  on  Pronunciation  and  Orthography .Y^^-^^]-^'^ 
absorbent,  becomes  moistened  and  produces  a  very  healing,  softening 
mucilage  to  an  inflamed  mucous  membrane.  Care  should  be  taken  to 
have  the  elm  very  fine,  and  use  just  enough  to  prevent  them  from  ad- 
hering to  the  fingers. 
At  the  suggestion  of  A.  W.  Griffith,  M.  D.,  of  this  city,  I  have 
been  using,  for  some  time,  waxed  paper  to  wrap  each  suppository.  It 
answers  admirably  to  prevent  adhesion,  and  keeps  their  shape  in  case 
they  should  become  warmed.  It  is  as  well  to  advise  the  applicant  to 
remove  the  covering  before  applying,  as  I  had  one  case  where  they 
used  the  suppository  without  removing  the  waxed  paper,  and  com- 
plained to  the  physician  at  his  next  visit  "  that  them  things  didn't  do  him. 
no  goodr 
Philadelphia^  February^  1875. 
NOTES  ON  PRONUNCIATION  AND  ORTHOGRAPHY. 
BY  ADOLPH  \y.  MILLER,  M.D.,  PH.D. 
[Read  at  the  Phar?naceutical  Meetings  February  16th.) 
Having  recently  had  a  new  and  very  handsome  edition  of  shop  furni- 
ture labels  ofi'ered  to  me,  which  is  replete  with  such  numerous  and 
varied  grammatical  and  orthographical  errors,  it  occurred  to  me  that  it 
might  be  profitable  to  enumerate  a  few  of  the  deviations  from  polite 
language  which  are  of  daily  occurrence  amongst  pharmacists.  No 
doubt  the  majority  of  well-informed  druggists  are  acquainted  with  the 
points  which  I  am  about  to  present,  yet  in  many  cases  daily  usage  seems 
to  have  accustomed  their  eyes  and  ears  to  these  inelegancies.  With 
perfect  propriety,  the  general  public  looks  up  to  the  apothecary  as  an 
authority  in  pharmaceutical  matters,  and  it  is  therefore  important  for 
him  to  be  himself  correct  and  accurate  in  the  use  of  his  language. 
In  this  connection,  I  cannot  too  severely  condemn  the  new  book  of 
Latin  labels,  which  evidently  has  been  carelessly  prepared,  without 
having  been  revised  and  corrected  by  competent  authorities.  The  ten- 
dency of  having  such  coarse  blunders  constantly  before  the  eyes  of  the 
aspiring  apprentice,  undoubtedly  is  to  engrave  them  on  his  memory,  so 
that  they  can  afterwards  be  eradicated  only  with  great  difficulty.  Occa- 
sional errors  of  spelling  may  be  pardoned  on  the  part  of  ignorant  paint- 
ers, who  prepare  but  a  single  label  at  a  time  ;  but  when  similar  errors 
are  duplicated  perhaps  a  thousandfold  by  the  lithographic  press,  they  are 
certainly  just  so  much  the  more  reprehensible.  I  regard  it,  therefore,, 
as  a  special  discredit  to  our  city — the  cradle  of  American  pharmacy — 
