The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1907-10-10
are PHYSICIANS PRESCRIPTIONS
NoSTRUMS?


prietarv medicines and nostrums, 1t
may seem l!:tle short of a crime to
hint even that physicians prescrip-
tions are in any manner related TO
nostrums; nevertheless, an impartial
examination of all the facts in the
case leads irresistibly to 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-prepared proprietary remedy is
superior to the aver..ge specially-pre-
pared physicians prescription.
What is a uostrum? According to
the Standard Dictionary a nostrum is
"a medicine the composition of which
is kept secret" Now, when physi-
clan compounds and dispenses with
his own hands remedy for the treat
ment of disease-and it is authorita-
lively stated that probably GO per
cent. of all physicians prescriptions
in this country are so dispensed-the
names and quantities of the ingre-
dlents which constitute the remedy
are not made known to the patient.
Hence, since its composition is kept n
secret by the physician, the remedy or
prescription is unquestionably, in the
true meaning of the word, a Simon
pure nostrum. Furthermore, the pre-
scription compounded by the average
physician is more than likely to be
perfect jumble-replete with thera-
peutic, physiologic and chemical in
compatibilities and bearing all the ear
marks of pharmaceutical incompe--
tency; for it is now generally admitted
that unless a physician has made a
special study of pharmacy and passed
some time in drug store for the pur-
pose of gaining a practical knowledge
of modern pharmaceutical methods,
he is not fitted to compound remedies
for his patients. Moreover, a physi-
clan who compounds his own prescrip-
tions not only deprives the pharmacist
of his just emoluments, but he endan-
gers the lives of patients; for 1t is
only by the detection and elimination
of errors in prescriptions by clever,
competent prescriptionists that the
safety VI tltt pNbiAN NeNll Nv NlANNAHt'iiJ
shielded from the criminal blunders
of ignorant physicians.
Nor can it be said that the average
| physician is any more competent to
| formulate a prescription than he is to
compound it. When memorized or di-
| rectly copied from book of "favorite
prescriptions by famous physicians"
| hnnIy rnnIino |
J journal, the prescription may be all
| that it should be. It is only 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 physi'
cian for we find DR.. James Burnett
lecturer on Practical Materia Medica
and Pharmacy, Edinburgh, lamentins
in the Medical Magazine the passing
of the prescription and bemoaning the
fact that seldom does he find "flna
| man" able to devise a prescription
even in good contracted Latin"
And what, it may be asked, is the
status of the written prescription-thC
prescription that is compounded anC
dispensed by the Pharmacists it
too, nostrum? 1t may be contendeC
that the patient, with the writer
formula in his possession, may learI
the character of the remedy pre-
scribed SO, possibly, he might if h'
Understood Latin and were a physician
or a pharmacist. but as he usually pos
sesses no professional training anC
cannot read Latin, the prescription il
practically a dead secret to him
Furthermore, the average prescription
is so badly written and so greatly
abbreviated that even the pharmacist
skilled as he usually is in decipherinl
medical hieroglyphs, is constant!
obliged TO interview prescribers t
find out what actually has been pre-
scribed. 1t may also be contended
that inasmuch as the formula is known
TO both physician and pharmacist th'
| prescription cannot therefore be Sc
cret. But with equal truth it might b'
contended that the formula of any SO
called nostrum is not a secret since i
is known to both proprietor and manu-
facturer; for it must not be forgotten
that, according to reliable authority
95 per cent. of the proprietors of sc
called patent medicines prepared ii
this country have their remedies mad
for them by large, reputable manufac
turing pharmacists. But even shoult
a patient be able to recognize tn
names of the ingredients mentioned il
formula he would only know hal
the story. 1t is seldom, for instance
that alcohol is specifically mentione
in a prescription, for it is usual
masked in the form of tinctures an
fluid extracts, as are great man
other substances. 1t is evident, there
fore, that the ordinary formulated pre-
scription is, TO the average patient, III
tie less than a secret remedy or nos
trum.
On the other hand. the formulae o
nearly all the proprietary medicine
that are exploited exclusively to tn
medical nrOfessiOn as well as thOs