The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-04-02
MEDICINE IN TABLETS.
Fyom tic Nssg York San Of Ee5yAa,y :, fSol
Increasing Use Of Drugs I'm This Form
Instead Of Compounding by
Preecription.

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 III ~ form OF tablets is ex-
tending ~1 every day.
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
1t Includes DA thousands of COM
Pound 2 Any,, Any physician grs lra.sra, may
ton of his own made up into tablets. The
usual requirement Is that at least s 1000 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.
hundreds OF liquid - prescriptions
re thus used by MAA saturat-
ing inert material VrV withT the
mixture, Just as HOMEOPATHIC
remedies are prepared in the form OF sugar
pellets. 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
:! ID !: s!5s's: a! CD ssy;;':;::
prescriptions in a single tab
let. The general use Of tablets instead of
prescriptions has greatlv simpfed the
practice Of medicine. The physician, in
stead of writing prescription and instruct
ing his patient TO have il compounded by a
Il, the ,l,or offa
lets with instructions - as to the
time an ID manner of AZ IN taking.
Nearly every physician is pro
yided with some such e tablets,
and many use them in great quantities.
Tons of drugs are now put up in this form.
II is the wholesale method of modern life
applied to the preparation of medicines.
Apothecaries have felt the effects of the
change practice ~uz~.. through the les
sening in the MTTA number of pre-
For the patient it > has cheapened
the cost Of doctoring. for the physician
obtains the tablets at so low a rate that
he usually makes no charge for those sup
piled to his patients. New as
the use z N - of tablets is, the form
OF the ~ - tablet has been
gr. atty improved since their in
PRODUCTION into medical practice. Tablets
are smaller and more compressed than they
were a few years ago. The machinery for
making them originally
was, and AAM perhaps still is, con-
trolled by VEZ 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 IN slowly made their
way, because the patentees were
not widely - known in the med
ical profession. Then they associated them
selvesAwith famous drug house. and the
tablets soon began to 60.
Only the simpler drugs and remedies put
up In tablet form are accessible to the
general public. The compounds are not
even known by ~ name outside
the the mssies ned "a, profession. ,!a, AS
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
apoi heeaTies and buy their
drugs in large 49, q 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-
versationally it is spoken of among them
selves as the /" X. & s. Compo." If you
are i'll and call the doctor, no
matter what else Al IN you get, you
are m moderately N certain to get
some on 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 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. So enormous ANis the
d emand, FIR IN VU0physi-
clans solely, forthe ~ various
forms OF this preparation that single
manufacturing chemist in New York City
made and sold $4,000 pounds of these
tablets in the year Iso3-and this, be 1t
borne in mind, was to physicians alone, or
20 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
original, but substantially the same--that
is, depending upon the bases indicated by
the letters X. & S.
RlPANs TABULEs.
The Ripans Tabules Represent the la,sst
and most improved form of this prepara-
ton. The separate letters composing the
word R-I-P-A-N-s are the initials Of the six
ingredients. Any doctor knows.what they
are. The A and N represent the principal
change. and have <rxrp been found of
a dyspepsia &~S remedy, and
has once experienced the beneficial results
OF these tabules in case of biliousness,.
headache or any disorder Of the stomach,
liver or bowels. will ever afterward consent
20 be without a supply near az hand A