The morning call., 1892-11-06
PRESCRIPTION WRITING.
Why 1t Cannot Be Done in
English.
THE METRIC SYSTEM.
An Innovation That Will Do More Than
Gould the Abolishing Of Latin to
Prevent Blunders.
Written for THE MonN1Ne CALL.


physician or ge. prescription filed. and
the feeling that the one may be incorrectly
written or the other unreliable Is, to say
the least, An uncomfortable sensation.
Undoubtedly mistakes occur in the max
Ing up of prescriptions, and the fault may
In fact. doeS-often rest with the physician
who writes rather than with the dispenser
who prepares the fatal dose. But the state
ment that "lhe majority OF doctors know
more about whisky than drugs" is palpably
false.
The learning in our medical colleges.
however, is sadly at fault in the instruc-
tion they give or fail TO give the embryo
medieos regarding prescription writing.
The lectures on materla medica usually
gives In the course of the years work,
few formue, brief list OF remedies that
are Incompatible for combination, and eX-
plain the meaning of the authorizations
used, but OF systematic teaching regarding
prescription writing there is none, and if
the young practitioner is ignorant of the
rudiments Of Latin his early prescriptions
are apt to be grammatical cuIiosities.
At first thought it would seem as though
the assertion that physicians should be
compelled by law to write their preserip-
tions in English instead of in Latin sounds
sound reasons why such q change is not
desirable.
The names OF the different remedies In
use are determined by the Pharmacop@ia.
an authoritative work, Of which nearly
every country issues its own. The Pharma-
cOpeia of the United States. known in
the profession as the u. S. Pb.,
was frat promulgated by the authority
of a convention held in Washington in 1920.
and il has since been revised every ten
years. II furnishes list Of articles that
are In general use. sets forth the weights
and measures that are employed In dispen-
sing them, and supplies formula for prep
arations which are kept In the shop as
they are In use among all practitioners.
These preparations are called oficinal
from the Latin word officina, meaning q
shop.
The Pharmacop9ia expresses the names
Of all remedies in Latin, no matter what
country Ii is published in, and thus a uni
form nomenclature is obtained throughout
the world. II this were not the case it
would be next to impossible for prescrip-
zion written in one country TO be flied In
another. As il is now, an American whose
physician orders him to Cannes say, for the
winter. may suddenly find himself threat
ened with au attack OF illness. anticipating
which the doctor has given him prescrip-
ti0n to be used when needed. II that pre-
scTiptlOn is written in English Ii may not be
an easy matter to procure its correct trans
latiOH into French. The names Of plants
differ widely. not merely in different coun-
tries but in different parts of the same
country. There are. for instance five differ
ent medicinal plants called sDake-rOot, all
having different actions and belonging to
different classes of remedies.
The two medicinal plants. gaultheria and
ehlmaphila, differ widely in their effects
ana use, yet throughout this country both
are called wlntergTeen. and therefore only
by their botanical names, which are Latin,
are they to be distinguished. Ii is not even
safe to use chemical names, for these are
subject to frequent changes. as in the very
death-dealing remedy referred to In one of
the fatal prescriptions given in the article
on fatal prescriptions Corrosive sublimate
was formerly considered TO be chloride of
mercury, while now 1t is con sdered a
biehloride and calOmel is the chloride. The
Pharmacopeia does away with all danger Of
mistake by calling one the corrosive and
the other tie mild chloride. and the doctor
who made such an iDeXcusable blunder as
TO write hydr. chlor. cor. by mistake would
have been just as apt 70 write ''corros. SUBJ"
Instead OF calOmei II expressing himself In
English. Moreover, had he made no mis-
take. but written plainly "caIome gr
vii" ten TO one II the patient had not said:
"Oh. doctor, that viii never do! / simply
can't take calomel," and he would have to
resort TO other nomenclature 10 get his rem
sdy taken.
Patients are as full of whims as a poreu-
pine of Quils. They viii solemnly declare
that they cannot take mercury in any form;
that quinine drives them crazy; that nux
will throw them into commissions, or that
some other remedy produces some unto
ward effect, hen the doctor knows that the
remedy he is prescribing Is exactly what is
needed. Sometimes. too. 1t is very neces-
kary that patient should not know what
he is taking. lest he have recourse to that
particular remedy at some other tine and
without orders, TO his own hurt For these
reasons 1t is great convenience to the
doctor that he has pharm ace utical nomen-
ciature at his command with which every
competent drug clerk in the world is
familiar
There is great deal that goes TO the
making of prescription that adds to its
mysterious appearance, but which the
physician finds Invaluable In saving time
and words. The word itself means written
before. Every one who has had many filled
has noticed that they start off with SYM
col. y, which stands for the Latin word
recipe, meaning take"
In early times prescriptions were headed
by plous invOcations TO Jupiter or some
heather deity, but the prayers were gradu-
ally shortened to the Zodiacal sign for
Jupiter. and finally we have even aban-
initial, but with an upright stroke
across its foot. which is all that sur
wives of the old invitation to Jupiter.
French prescriptions usually substitute the
letter Z, the abbreviation for the verb
prenez, take. The names OF the remedies
which the apothecary is commanded to take
are, as said before, written ia Latin, and
no welLregulated prescription should at
tempt TO keep house without four compo-
nents. namely:
The hasis or princtnal antiua ouopf. N he
auxiliary. or adjutant. to aid or promote its
action; the corrective, TO correct or modify
Its action; the vehicle, to give form. taste
or bulk to the Whole.
In the days OF shotgun prescriptions the
doctor who was doubtful as to his diagnosis
used greatly to lengthen this list, some-
times making 1t embrace nearly the whole
pharmacopeia in his anxiety to hit the
maiady. They are wiser now to the extent
Al least OF leaving a good deal to nature
when their knowledge fails them. The real
curative agent is the basis. which Is meant
10 meet tne symptoms the doctor wishes to
control. Sometimes the basis has q sec
ondaIy enect which II is desirable to coun-
teract, or there may be other minor symp-
toms which the basis will not meet. or IL
Tuay act better In conjunction with soma
remedy. Hence the need of auxiliary or cor
Iective. The auxiliary may be different
form or preparation of the same substance
as the base, as when an infusion is strength
ened by the addition of fluid extract. or.
sis in Brown-Sequard's epilepsy mixture.
where two bromides are combined, or 1t may
be substance of the same nature but act
ing with less energy. For instance, bro
mine and choral combined form O more
certain hypnotic than either alone There
are other actions of the auxiliary which
could hardly be made clear to a lay mind.
but which the prescriber must fully under
stand.
The corrective is designed to correct the
operation OF the basis by oDviating any un-
pleasant effects 1t might be likely to occa-
sion and which might prevent It's intended
action, as. for instance. the constipating
effect OF opium may be counteracted by
aioes. and salts are given with senna to