The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-04-30

FTew fhs Asw ferh oES H s, sd04
Increasing Use Of Druss IN TAis Perw
Instead Of Ceupoundiss ~
Prescription.
A comparatively recent invention, vastly
extended in its application within three or
four years, has wrought curious change
in the practics OF medicine. Country ply
scians 100 years ago. when there were
few druggists outside of considerable towns,
carried in their saddle bags or medicine
chests o variety OF drugs, pills,
powders, - ~ potions, lotions and
what not. NV 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 to the methods OF their
predecessors. Physicians everywhere now
write fewer prescriptions than they wrote
ten years ago, or even two years
ago. and ~ the use of medicine
In the ~ W. form of tablets Is ex-
tending - every day.
1t Is only ten or fifteen years since coni-
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 y thousands of COM
pound S. rzz Any physician may
now have - almost any prescrip-
ton of his own made up into tablets. Tho
usual requirement II that at least 5000 tab
lets shall be ordered. Many well-known
prescriptions of famous physicians have al-
ready attained wide celebrity In the medi.
cal world through their use In tablet form.
Iundreds OF liquid prescriptions
re thus used by ~ saturat-
ing inert material IEV withr the
mixture, Just as -. homooi i,athic
remedies are prepared In the form Of sugar
pellets.ss The tablet factories are constantly
experimenting with view 70 reducing fur
ther druas and prescriptions TO tablet form.
They are feady to vary known prescriptions
In accordance with the fancy
OF individual physicians.
and to combine one VAW or more
prescriptions In sirgie tab
let The general use OF tablets instead OF
prescriptions has greatlv Smplihed the
practice Of medicine. The physician. in
stead Of writing prescription and instruct
ing his patient to have IL compounded by
druggist, leaves the necessary number OF tab
lets, with instructions as TO the
time and manner of A~ takin g.
Nearly every physician VSA is pro-
vided with some such tablets,
and many use them in great quantities.
Tons of drugs are now put up in this form.
IL is the wholesale method OF modern life
applied TO the preparation OF medicines.
Apothecaries have felt the effects OF the
sen;ng In the number Of pre.
scriptions 10 be v1l11 c compounded.
For the patient il - has chcapcned
the cost of doctoring. for the physician
obtains thu. tablets at so low rate that
he usually makes no charge for those sup
piled TO his patients. New as
the use = RI ! of tablets is. the form
of the ~ 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 for
making them originally
was, and MAM perhaps still Is. con-
trolled by VmV 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 Of physicians, the
tablets very D slowly made their
wsy. because ~ 81 the patentees were
OF widely - known in the med
ical profession. Then they associated them
selvesf with famous drug house. and the
tablets soon began to 60.
Only. the simpler urugs and remedies put
mp in tablet form are accessible to the
general public. The compounds are not
even known by name outside
the medical profession. . A S
they are not patent medi-
cines they are - not advertised In
other than medical newspapers. They come
to physicians with label that proclaims the
ingredients and their proportions. Physi-
clans have the good reputc 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 hecaries ~ and buy their
drugs in large - quantities di.
rectly from manufacturers.
INTERESTING 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-
versationaly 1t is spoken of among them
selves as the . X. & S. Compo." II you
=: %::, $ y Sass :, f sss S; yss ss
some on q Of the - forms of the
"R. & s." prescription. Its use has been
growing more general for hundred years,
and has been vastly increased of late by
slight improvements found to be important
in effects. The prescription, especially in
rural districts. is usually prepared in huid
form, sometimes in powders but of late it
has been found possible to prepare II In tab
lets, the form now 50 popular with physi-
clans for all standard me H.
&C.: ;:;: :.:i 4 ssy: =:
forms of this preparation that a single
manufacturing chemist in New York City
made and sold $4,000 pounds Of these
tablets in the year Iso3-and this, be it
borne in mind, was to physicians alone, or
TO fill orders from dealers from whom ply
sicians obtain their supplies. Every physi-
clan Of eminence has his "R. & S."
formula. varying more or less from the
or;oinaI hut euhefantiaiiv tbe carne-that