The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-05-18

Increasing Use sf Druss IN TAis peru
Instead Of Cempesndinu ~
Rreaeripslsn. 81

Instead Of Cempeunsins ~
Rreseripsisn.
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 years ago, when tls<c wGs
few druggists outside Of considerable TOWNS.
carried In their saddle bags or medicine
chests <r@ss variety OF drugs, pills,
powders, - "a potions. lotions and
what not. ShZ 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 a return Of
modern physicians TO the methods Of their
predecessors. Physicians everywhere now
write fewer prescriptions than they wrote
ago. and ~ M the use OF medicine
in-th he ~ w. form Of tablets is ex-
tending z1> every day.
II 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
| includes IN thousands of COM
y % u ;. NJ w. ANY physician may
now have aH almost any prescrip-
ton OF his own made up into tablets. Tho
usual requirement is that at least 5000 tab.
lets shall be ordered. Many well-known
prescriptions of famous physicians have al.
ready attained a wide celebrity in the medI.
cal world through their use in tablet form.
s. 6 ~: used y M.M sss.sss.Ss::
mixture, Just as ~xzz homeo, ,,athic
remedies are prepared in the form OF sugar
pellets.s y The tablet factories are constantly
experimenting with view to reducing fur
ther drugs and prescriptions to tablet form.
They are ready TO vary known prescriptions
IN accordance with - he fancy
::..:;, 4. !: !; ;;s,;; !, :;,; ::,: 4;
let. The general use of tablets instead of
prescriptions has grea,v smplifed the
practice of medicine. The physician. i'm
stead of writing prescription and instruct-
ing his patient to have 1t compounded by =
druggist, leaves the necessary number oftab-
lets :. with instructions as 10 the
time a. d manner of ~ taking.
Nearly every physician w. is pro-
yided 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 - through the les
sening n the FYoA number of pre-
scriptions to be ytSR1 compounded.
For the patient it 9 has cheapcncd
the cost of doctoring, for the physician
obtains the tablets at SO low rate that
he usually makes no charge for those sup
piled to his patients. New as
the use Az "a of tablets is, the form
Of the IN 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 for
making -x.. them originally
was, aro RsM perhaps still Is, con-
trolled by V@V a single whole
sale drug SAsD house OF this city,
but there are many manufacturers CT tab
lets here and elsewhere. When the pat
cntees FIRST began to cali their products to
the attention - Of physicians, the
tablets very 4 "A slowly made their
way, because " the patentees we're
not widely known in the med
ical profession Then they assoc lated them
selves~vi,h famous drug house, and Tho
ta5iers soon began TO go.
Only the siplr,er y. ~ 5i.d fe.siNu'ea put
up IN tablet form are accessible to the
general public. The compounds are not
even known by ~.--, name outside
the m die al ~ n "a profession. = A .
they are not SoI patent medi-
cines they are not advertised in
other than medical newspapers. They come
tophysicians 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 "a "a and careful
apot he carries NJ f1[9 and buy their
drugs in large ~1xED quantities die
rectly from manufacturers.
INTERESTING SECRET HISTORY OF AN OLD.
TIME REMEDY.
A certain well-known preparation is 50
largely prescribed by physicians that its use
by them may be said to be universal. Con-
versationally it is spoken of among them
selves as the " X. & 5. Compo." If you
are i'll and call the - doctor, no
% are m o derateIy era ely I'D certain cert int, to get get
some one of the forms OF the
:" X. & 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 m
rural districts. Is usually prepared in fluid
form, sometimes in powders but of late it
has been found possible to prepare it in tab
lets. the form now SO popular with physi-
clans for all standard m d l.
cines. 60 enormous ~ I'm s the
d EN- an d, FIR o m VIZ physi-
clans SOLELY forthe various