The Vinita weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1905, 1904-09-01
HUMoR OF THE PHARMACY
There Is oftentimes Comedy in Or
dering Prescriptions and Some
Tragic sequels.


From funny to serious and from
merely troublesome to dangerous are
the mistakes made In asking for drugs
Indenniteness OF statement, careless
ness in giving the order, total igner-
ancs of what is wanted. lnaccuraey In
medical terms. sending of children,
sending written orders with all de-
grees OF misspelling, miseonception OF
terms. oftentimes reluctance TO admit
what the purchase is for. are OF such
common occurrence that nine out OF
every ten orders. according to prom
lnent pharmacist. have TO be supple
mented or corrected OF revised. or
guessed at. says the Chicago Tribune
In a collection Of written orders
chiefly marked by illiteraey. something
evidently intended for an effort at pre-
scriptlon form and abbrevlation was
often followed. For instance. liquid
ammonia was written l.. quid am
monia. Mercurial salve was given as
Merry Corrali Sal Certain drugs we're
also particularly prominent as STUN
bling blocks. Corrosive subllmate was
rendered In many ways. among them
keroslne sublime and corrosive supple
ment EPSON salts was Ibsom salt and
Espen's saltz
Eloquent Of too,ache. IL not correct,
was "P--'s thoot wacks,' while
equally suggestive OF the meaning In
tended we're "Helltrup clone. absorb
Inc cotton, "a bellows to inject bed
bug powder" "Brudder sehmldts
drops" and splease send me some salts
to take" Less easy to interpret was
"fall azorth.H the meaning to which the
druggist finally found by repeating Il
fast. which gives the key An attempt
was made at ipecae and boracic acid
which read "Apelcsct" and "bOreeei
asset"
OF the mistakes generally made in
asking for drugs. the confusion o'
powdered llcorice" with compound
iicorlce powder" is OF frequent occur
renee Two mixtures with differen
usss naphtholIne and ehloro naphtho
leum are almost Invariably rsquestss
as something resembling naphtha."
The vaguest idea OF q solution als'
+. prevails. and requests for clear boraei
/. acid. when investigated. are oftei
: made with a view to use as an ey'
wash Indebtedness oftentimes has n
> more serious consequences than hav
!, ing TO refill the order by the clerk VIII
: uegiects the precautionary question:
!, Linseed and aaxseed meal. as distin
! gulshed from linseed and haxseed. ar
i rarely specified until the package ha
been taken home. while the commones
4 Of all purchasers Is the young lady VIII
asks when paying for her glyeerin. 20
/. course you put rose water into !
!, didn't your"
! Empty capsules are oftenest request
: ed as two grain qulnine capsules
a The vague request for chocolate tai
lets. Of which there are over 500 kind
: some of them poisonous. is also ~
y quent order than can be filled only |
!, the discretion OF the druggist
b. The mistakes most guarded again
= are those growing out Of the customi
: attempting TO give the medical forf
s. "Blehiorlde Of Mercury ls a freanel
!. mistake made by those intending
= ask for ealome' o. chloride ~ me
:, curry. a mistake not without danger
:, as the largest eose ever given of Il
former Il one-half grain Anolh
- powerful medicine vas sold recently
hair sash b. a customer aslli
:, for "biearbOnate' instead II +ca
:, Donate Of potash Chlofate n ~
:. ash. 0ns Of The common 81 u ~
"a rhases. is seldom asfed FOR cnrrecfl
- though the mlsiaks is lees likef7 70
+, harm. as the biehlorides ard chloFid
: generally substituted are chtmic7
rathsr than drugs