The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-05-04
MEDTCTvE IN TABLEYS. !.
From ne AeaO York SKH rfeByaayy :. fa,x
Increasing use Of Drugs In This Fcr9
Instead Of Compoundins by
pfeecripflou

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Increasing Use Of Drugs In This Fors
Instead Of Compo nndina by
Prescription.
A comparatively recent invention, vastly
extended in its application within three or
four years, has wrought a curious change
in the practice OF medicine. Country phy-
sicians 100 yeats ago, when there were
few druggists outside OF considerable towns.
carried in their saddle bags or medicins
chests az ~,.-.uu. variety of drugs, pills.
powders, ~ - "A potions, lotions and
what not. lrNf Such physicians made
up their - own prescriptions and
furnished their patients with medicines The
use OF medicines in the form OF tablets
tends more and more toward return Of
modern physicians 90 the methods OF their
predecessors. Physicians everywhere now
write fewer prescriptions than they wrote
ten years ss-xs. ago, or even two years
ago. and fH 20 the use Of medicine
In the 49, forri Of tablets Is ex-
tending every day. F
1t is only ten or fifteen years since COM
pressed tablets of chlorate Of potash began
to be used. Other simple drugs were then
put up in tablet form, and gradually the va
riety OF drugs and prescriptions thus pre-
pared was extended until now
IL includes ~ - "a thousands of COM
p d s. Ty Any physician may
now nave @ almost any prescriD.
ton OF his own made up into tablets. The
usual requirement Is that at least 900 tab.
lets shall be ordered. Many welI-known
prescriptions OF famous physicians have all
ready attained wide celebrity in the medi.
cal world through their use in tablet form.
s's5S:' e 'ss: S s.sd lI9 ~ !'sis.R'''.
ing inert material v 49, withe the
mixture, Just as ~ homoeo, ,athic
remedies are prepared in the form of sugar
pellets.P The tablet factories are constantly
experimenting with a view to reducing fur
ther drugs and prescriptions 10 tablet form.
They are ready to vary known prescriptions
in accordance with [ h e fancy
of individual AVM physicians.
,,rsit,1o,IonD and to combine e one orr Or more ore
let. The general use of tablets instead Of
prescriptions has greatly simpliiied the
practice of medicine. The physician. in
stead Of writing prescription and instruct
ing his patient TO have it compounded by a
druggist, leaves the necessary number OF tab
lets with instructions -. as TO the
time n manner of ~ "A taking.
Nearly every physician 1Z is pro-
vded with some such tablets.
and many use them In great quantities.
Tons of drugs are now put up in this form.
1t is the wholesale method OF modern life
applied to the preparation of medicines.
Apothecaries have felt the effects of the
change in practice ~<w through the les
senng n the f*&A number Of pre-
scriptions TO be y com pounded.
For the patient it &~> has cheapened
the cost of doctoring, for the physician
obtains the tablets at so low q rate thar
he usually makes no charge for those sup
piled TO his patients. New as
the use A. "a of tablets is, the form
of the 80 tablet has been
greatly improved since their in
PRODUCTION into medical practice. Tablets
are smaller and more compressed than they
were few years ago. The machinery foe
m king - them originally
was, and fMAyM perhaps still Is, con.
trolIed by NMI a single whole
sale drug house of this city.
but there are many manufacturers OF tab
lets here and elsewhere. When the pat
entees first began to call their products TO
the attention ~s of physicians, the
tablets very ~ "a slowly made their
way.because NJ 80 the patentees we're
n O widely known in the med
ical profession Then they associated them
selves~vith famous drug house, and the
tablets soon began to 20.
Only the simpler diags and remedies put
up in tablet form are accessible to the
general public. The compounds are not
even known by name Outgide
,Ssr ,Ss @ssiss sss Il It'd profession. s A, 4:
cines they are ----> not advertised i'm
other than medical newspapers. They come
to physicians with label that proclaims the
ingredients and their proportions. Physi-
clans have the good repute of the manu-
facturer as guarantee that tablets are made
Of pure drugs and carefully compounded.
The best tablet manufacturers
employ skilled ~ ~ and careful
apot he carries and buy their
drugs in large ~2--. quantities di.
rectly from manufacturers.
SECRET HISTORY OF AN OLD
TIME REMEDY.
A certain well-known preparation Is So
largely prescribed by physicians that its use
by them may be said to be universal. Con-
il is spoken of among them
selves as the K. & S. Compo." If you
ire i'll and call the - doctor. no
matter what else M a you get, YOU
ire m derate ly certain 10 get
some one of the ~ forms of the
X. & s.. prescription. Its use has been
srowing more general for hundred years,
md has been vastly increased Of late by
Light Improvements found TO be important
n effects. The prescription, especially in
ural districts, is usually prepared in fluid