Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-09-05

DRUGelsTr PRECAUTIONS.
Measures which Coed ApesA~csrses
Take 90 Avoid DlaaAers.
TALKS WITH DRUGGISTS AND THEIR crERKs-
SOME PLACES WHERE rorsoNs ARR xxYr
sEPARArE-oukKR MISTAKES OF PHYSICIANS,
&C
The occasional inadvertence OF a drusstst
through which some poisonous drug 10 admin.
istered TO a patient instead Of Q harmless conn
pound prescribed, excites a feeling OF an xiety in
the mind OF every mortal who finds himself
bound for drug store In company with do<..
tors prescription. "The poisoning accident I'm
Hoboken the other day." said a Washington.
pharmacist 20 q STAR reporter yesterday, "has
been a source OF annoyance 10 every druggist
in the country. have had half a dozen people
handing In prescriptions to-day, caution me not
20 poison them. There are probably moro PEG
pie affected by an accident Of that sort than BY
anything else that could happen"
The reporter acting upon the suggestion Wis
tied several OF the leading drug stores the city
with a view OF hearing what precautions were
taken to prevent mistakes In compromising
drugs.
WHAT DRUG CLERK SAID.
at would be almost impossible for us 20
make a mistake" said the chief clerk In
prominent store, as he led the scribe into the
sanctum where all the mysterious compound
ing Is done. There Is our prescription counter.
That double row of little bottles contain drugs
ordinarily used in prescriptions. Many OF
them are very much alike and might be mis-
taken II selected by appearance merely, but
they are all labeled. and moreover, On YOU should
shut your eyes and pick up any bottle there I'm
making up prescription the mistake would
kept on the counter. Ii some one comes In and
asks for quinine, here it rs in this blue bottle
Tlgnt ~ hand. II the clerk wanted 20 put up
nave 70 go to that dark case across the room,
wnere We Keep poisons and he would
here" and he then opened the darkened- glass
doors, revealing shelves covered with hundreds
OF small bottles full OF suspicious-looking pow
ders. In the middle OF the case WAS a little cali.
net OF eight or ten drawers, each with q plain
"In these little drawers IS where "a ken, N.
| morphine and such like poisons. You zee ID IL
about as far removed from the quinine a. Dos
s snoie, ana can be reached only when you are
looking for 1t especially. In this WAY we protect
| our patrons First OF ALL allow none but
competent clerks TO handle presciptions-we
| have two men who do that sort of work-and
| they are required TO be very cautious and 20
| look at the label OF every bottle they take up
linen Liner All the Poisons are taken out OF their
| bottle no serious results would follow. Many
| OF the drugs at the prescription counter would
| make person very sick. but none would put
| him out of the reach OF the doctors. Thus, YOU
see, the dry chemicals are separated and the
poison kept 10 themselves Now for the liquids.
| might be looking in some other direction for
| the moment, and take this bottle, In
| stead OF the one next It, | wouldn't be
| apt TO, but III I should! Well, some one
| WOULD BE MADE SICK:
| that's all. In order 10 get hold of q poison
| should have to go way back 10 the end Of the
store, where each bottle containing poison 10
kept separately in q tin case, plainly labeled.
| We know that all the bottles kept In tin cases
| contain poison, and that none OF those not ID
| secured are dangerous. In this way we are
| secure against serious mistakes. These pre-
| cautions are now taken in most well regulated
drug stores The old fashioned wsy Wa TO
Keep all drugs together, and frequently the
OLD time druggists kept their morphine and
quinine In exactly the same sort of bottles and
| right long side OF each other, SO il was a won-
der If mistakes We're not made. Now they are
bottles, and one Is put away before the other n
| taken down."
do you ever make mistakes growing out Of
the vagueness Of doctors prescriptions9' asked
sometimes we do get hold of prescription
that might mean one or the other OF two very
| different things, but not often, and II is easl v
| determined which is meant The most com.
| mon mistake is for q doctor 10 put down
ingredient when he means another But we
always discover these mistakes and send the
| prescription back TO be corrected. OF course
We don tell the customer that the doctor has
| made mistake, for he would lose confidencs
In him at once. though he might be excellent
delay, and meanwhile have the Correction
| made. No good druggist would put up "A pre-
| scrlption blfndly. We can always tell on the
| instant when physician has made mistake
| In bis prescription The only thing ia, a drug
| gist must understand his business and give his
attention as on to what he Is doing Now after TAX.
| way could make q mistake would be TO
| GIVE AN OVERWEIGHT
Of some poison which is prescribed I'm small
quantities. For instance IL was filling pre-
scription for twenty-four grains OF ouinine and
Il Ill.
pills, If were absent-minded L might use
| twenty-four grains OF morphine and one of
quinine. That would be fatal. But the pro-
| prietor guards against anything of that sort.
| The Quinine would be weighed on these scales
| then, after the bottle was put away, the NOR
phine would be weighed on these small ones.
which could weigh The lightest thing you could
imagine, and there would be another man
called led up to see me weigh 1t, 30 there could 10
| OTHER PHARMAcrsrs
seen by the reporter said they took the precau-
ton to keep the poisons separate from the other
drugs In common use In their prescriptions.
One said he had got in the habit OF smelling
every bottle he took down, besides looking at
| the label, and I'm most cases the characteristics
smell of the drug was sufficient to prove its
identity. At all events the time taken 10 smell
| ii overcame any disposition to act with undue
haste, and no mistake could be made II drug
| takes is the attempt on the part OF pharma-
cists to do too much in a short time. II a man
aSes ON Els an@
| take. One Of the great dangers. he said, was
| that in repeating a prescription the mum Der
| might not be plain, and the druggist
| would be misled. But this DANGER was
| avoided by having the numbers stamped ON,
| together with the name of the person putting
up the prescription. Another druggist said that
many mistakes would be avoided IL people
would not persist in talking 10 the clerk wken
| he was putting up their prescription. He said
| IL was not infrequent that people coming after
Quinine would repeatedly urge the chemist not
| TO give them morphine. An absent-Ininded
likely to get the word morphine in his head
and he would then be sure To put il into the
compound.
MISLEADING PRESCRIPTIONS
Some prescriptions are misleading. For in
stance, the following was sent into an uptown
drug store the other day:
"Hydr. Chlor Amm."
This the pharmacist explained might mean
muriate OF ammonia, or might stand for Ann
mon. Chlor. OF Mercury, which Is very poison
Gus. The dose prescribed showed, however that
the former was intended.
A curious case OF poisoning occurred not long
since in Aiexandrfa which came near proving
fatal A gentleman had q sick baby and gave
IL laudanum. An ordinary dose not having
any effect the dose was Increased until the
amount taken was simply astonishing for
tered with satisfactory results until the medk.
cine gave out and was replenisbed at another
drug store. The same dose given OF the
new supply and nearly killed the child. Then
II was discovered that the frst supply had been
diluted as q means Of profit to the druggist ls