The Forrest City times., 1907-08-23
ARE PHYSICIANS PRESCRIPTIONS
 HosTRUMS!

men are. 10 G4sGl 4I4ALdNt 4LAtAl4 gent. between physicians prescriptions. pro IIietary medicines and Lostrams, II may seem little short Of a crime 10 hint even that physicians prescrip- tions are in any manner related to nostrums; nevertheless, an impartial case leads irresistibly 10 the conclu. sion that every medicinal preparation compounded and dispensed by physi- clan is, in the strict sense of the word, nostrum, and that the average, ready y-prepared proprietary remedy is superior 10 the average specially-pTe- pared physicians prescription.
 What is a ncstrum? According 10 the Standard Dictionary a nostram is "a medicine the composition of which is kept secret Now, when a physi- elan compounds and dispenses with bis own hands a remedy for the treat nent Of disease-and it is author!ta- lively stated that probably 50 per cent. of all physicians prescriptions in this country are SO dispensed-the names and quantities Of the ingre- dients which constitute the remedy are not made known 10 the patient. Hence, since it's composition is kept a secret by the physician, the remedy CT prescription Is unquestionably, in the true meaning Of the word, Simon pure nostrum. Furthermore, the pre- scription compounded by the average physician is more than likely 10 be a perfect jumble-replete with thera- peutic. physiologic and chemical in- compatibilities and bearing all the ear marks Of pharmaceutical ineompe- tency; for t is now generally admitted that unless physician has made a special study Of pharmacy and passed some time in a drug store for the pur- pose of gaining practical knowledge of modern pharmaceutical methods, he is not fitted to compound remedies for his patients Moreover. a physi- elan who compounds his own prescrip- tions not only deprives the pharmacist Of his just emolgments. but he eudan- gers the lives of patients; for il is only by the detection and elimination of errors in prescriptions by clever, competent prescriptionists that the safety ef the public can be effeetuany shielded from the criminal blunders of ignorant physicians.
 Nor can t be said that the average physician is any more competent to formulate prescription than he is to compound it. When memorized or di- rect!y copied from book of "fayorito prescriptions by famous physicians" CT from some textbook or medical journal. the prescription may be all that 1t should be T. ie oHly when the physician is required to originate a formula on the spur of the moment that his incompetency is distinctly evi- dent. Seemingly however, the physi- clans of the United States are little worse than the average British pLysi- clan, for we find Dr James Burnett, lecturer on Practical Materia Medica and Pharmacy. Edinburgh, lamenting in the Medical Magazine the passing of the prescription and bemoaning the fact that seldom does he find final man able 10 devise prescription even in good contracted Latin ?
 And what 1t may be asked. is the status Of the written prescription-the prescription that is compounded and dispensed by the phasmacist-is 1T. too a nosaum2 IL nay be ceatenaed ttat fhe pa, eut. wi,h the written formula in hls posses ion. may learn the character of the remedy pre- ser.bed. So. possibly. he misht f Ee understood Latin and were a physician or pharmacist, tut as he usually pos sesses no Irofes sioral training and cannot read Latin. the prescription is practically dead secret to him. Furthermofe the average prescription is SO badly written and SO greatly abbreviated that even the pharmacist, skilled as he usually is in deciBhefiug medical hierQg gIhs, is constantly obliged to interview pfescfibeFs to find out what actually has been pre- scribed IL may also be coutended, that inasmgch as the formula is known to both physician and pharmacist the prescription cannot therefore be a se- eret. Rut with equal truth 1t might be conteuded that the formula Of any so- called nostrum is not a secret since it is known to both proprietor and manu- facturer. for 1t must not be forgotten that, according 10 reliable authority, g. per cent. of the propr'etors of so- called patent medicines prepared in this country have their remedies made fer them by large. reputable maHufac- turing pharmacists, But even should a patient be able to recognize the names of the ingredients mentioned in a formula he would only know half the stery r Is seldom. fer instance that alcohol is specifically mentioned in a prescription, for i is usually masked il the form ef anetures and fluid extracts. as are great many other substances. t is evident there fore that the ordinary formulated pre- scriraen k 10 the average patient Iit- He less than secret remedy CT nos. tFum.
 On the other hand. lie fermalae ef nearly al he proprietary medicines