The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-30
TOO MANY DRUG STORES.
a Physicians Comments on Druggists
Mistakes.
From the Nelo York Tribune.

From the Net0 York Tribune
such an occurrence as that in Brooklyn
recently." said a well-known physician.
sought 70 teach lesson to both doctors and
druggists. l allude to the alleged mistake
OF a druggists clerk and the death OF
patient, as is supposed, from poisoning. II
is undobtedly ue that thsre is a great deal
Of carelessness in the compromising Of pre-
scriptions. In one of the best drug stores
that l am familiar with there is q regular
system which makes mistakes practically I'M
possible. Two clerks are EMPLOYED in the
prescription department. and they have
nothing else TO do. One acts as a check
upon the other. When a prescripti n is
handed in, one of them gets down from the
shelves, all at once, all the drugs called for,
the other calling them off from the prescrip-
ton and checking each one. Then, after the
proper quantities have been weighed or
measured out, No. puts the various bot
ties, etc, back in their places, while No. !
checks them off on the prescription.
But we have in all our cities multitude
Of small drug stores. and such a system
would be too expensive TO be adopted in all
OF them. Now, just see how the liability to
mistakes arises. The proprietor, say, is the
only person in the store ehind the counter,
mean-and he is engaged in preparing a
prescription. A customer enters to buy a
glass OF soda water. or a cigar, or postage
stamp, or a cake Of soap, or any one of the
multitude of articles known as druggists
sundries. II some one does not come
out instantly to attend to his
wants he stamps out emphaticly or raps
on the counter with the coin which be holds
in his hand. This, of course, is calculated
to make the druggist nervous-a thing
which should always be avoided when such
delicate work as he is engaged in Is in
progress-and, fearing to lose q sale of
something important, he drops his prescrip-
ton and comes forward TO attend to the
customer. When he goes back to the pre-
scrtption there is IA likelihood unless he is
wonderfully careful and msthodical man,
that he may have forgotten the Lass in
gredient put in. So, TO make certain, he
puts in some more; or else he may overlook
something entirely.S
II have known this thing to happen more
than once-many times, in fact-and have
come to believe in the German method of
dealing with drug stores. They do not, in
their cities, permit a man to open such a
store on any corner where he may choose to
locate. They only allow one drug store to
certain number of inhabitants, and the
people are compelled to go to it, even at
some little inconvenience to themselves, in
order to get what they desire. Then, too,
the druggist has to be chemist,
and nothing else. He is not per-
mitted to sell soap, perfumery, hair
brushes and toilet articles generally, not to
mention stationary, valentines aad things
OF that kind, which are staple articles in
American drug stores. He deals in drugs,
and drugs only, and persons who want
these other things never think of going to
drug store for them. Consequently the
druggists attention is never distracted
from the business to which he is supposed
to give his attention. There could be a
| good deal said in favor of establishing such
a system here. though don't expect to see
it done in my lifetime.
Now, as for the doctors. 1t is unques-
| tlonably true that their handwriting Is
often not what it ought to Gbe Most pre-
scriptlons are written with pencil, and not
often does physician sit down at a table to
do his writing. Generally ne scratches off
prescription on his knee. And, writing
the same thing hundreds of times, he is very
apt to write carelessly, so that If the pre-
scription goes to druggist who is not
familiar with his chirography it NAV be
mlsread. Several times l have been
called to the telephone by druggists
VINO were In doubt as to what meant by
certain scrawl, and who wisely preferred
| to go TO that trouble in order to prevent the
chance of an error. In the case of Brook
| Ign prescription, the chance OF a mistake
depended upon a single letter-in the differ
| ence between hYOSciaHin and huos-
ctdmid.' 1t hardly seemed fair to me. by
the wav, that the original should nave been
allowed TO remain in the hands of the
| accused clerks lawyer since. as it was rob-
aoly written with a pencil, it could so
easily have been tempered with, to the
| injury of the DhYsiciann