Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1851-03-06

= MEDICAL .B'L o NDERs. etmes
imedieal blnndefs turn out well for both
! physician and patient. as insthe ease oi
!. Jour friend John Smith. After e6nvi.
vial meeting, DR. S. vas sent for sby'a
Young lady who was ;iend of "A sly
lglass. Upon being left alone with his
fair patient, he felt her pulse. bun owing
10 his poiaiions,f found. himself quite in
capable Of counting unconseiously
muttering TO himself, as he held her
wrist, +sdrunk. very drunk" Il SO
alarmed the young lady, that she fell
upon her kneeS, and 1mpiorsd the doc
tors secrecy asto her fraiity. -s1f1nc2
b yTul 5di saz'y Exchange paper.
gnwers %Medical biunaeisS Of no
more ssrisu;; nature than the one recor-
ded above, they vpuldhe matters only
for, Us to make merry over; but unfor-
tuRatelY they sometimes rssultin death,
and this is a serious matter. We have
compounded over ten thousand prescrip-
EtIonsl in our day, At the very Feast cal-
"
cuiation, and during this time some Gu
frious incidents must have fallen under
our observation We have, received
prescriptions which cos,aiped SulPhate
of Morphine. fer .Sulp ate Of sQuinine,
and Strychnine for Morphine. We
once receiSedra prescription which con-
tanned Pmssic acid for Citric acid; an
other in which the physician had pre-
.scribed Oil of Tansey for Essence Of
Tansey; and another where Tincture
Opium was written for Tincture of Opt
um Camphorated lParogoric.l And so
on, perhaps. TO the amount Of nearly an
hundred. In one case the physician
had written acetate Of Strychnine for
acetate of Morphine. We returned the
prescription TO him, having written on
the baEk oft, "an error, please correct" J"
The little girl took the prescription back
TO the doctor (who is now one Of the
principal physicians in Cincinnali) but
Einstead Of examining the prescription,
he scolded her, and told her to 60 TO
some other drug store, as the person
who had refused to put it up was "too
Ignorant to understand it." The little
girl took it as directed-it was put up as
written, and in an hour after that, the
little girl'sFnother was a corpse, poi
soned by1Strychnine. oi To e.i 200
% The above instances are given that
the public may be awakened to the fact
of the vital importance Of those who
put up prescriptions being thoroughly
educated TO their profession. In nine
teen apothecary stores in twenty, those
who sell in them are .realIy Y incapable Of
properly attending 10 their business,
through ignorance OF a just knowledge |
OF Chemistry and Pharmacy; and still
they are allowed to traffic with human |
life, as if it were of no more conse-
quence than dollars and cents.
And physicians too-who have gone
INTO the practice of medicine as a mat
ter of speculation, without having spent
a year Of their lives in study-without
the proof Of their industry and caPaci |
ty in the form Of diploma from some
regularly chartered institution-should
be looked to by the public, and put
down by the law. We like the laws of
Europe upon this subject, and, like
those people, we will find ourselves ne
cessitated TO enact similar ones, in or
der TO protect ourselves from the impo-
sition and ignorance of set Of men.
who have no hesitation TO kill, should
the business pay. ..r...-....
We hope our legislature Will enact
laws sufficiently stringent to prevent
physicians from pracdcing, or apothe-
carries from compounding prescriptions,
unless they shall have graduated at
some regularly chartered institution.
By this means an immense amount
of human life will be saved, and these
professions will take an honorable stand,
which they never can till these laws are
enacted. At present the practice Of
medicine, and the compromising of med
icine, are carried on principally by per-
sons wholly incompetent for the busi-
ness But being more reckless and
daring than the educated man, they
force him IRON the profession, and will
continue TO do so. as long as the laws
allow them to prowl upon society.-I
Prof. Saunders, Of Memphis Express I
There have been many conflicting
reports concerning the identity Of
the mar who killed the celebrated
Texan Ranger, Capt. Walker. A
lo,o,,,Ia,,,,,, q I,bo v.,at IN Mexico al