Lessons on prescriptions and the art of prescribing / by W. Handsel Griffiths.

  • Griffiths, W. Handsel (William Handsel), 1846-1877.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Lessons on prescriptions and the art of prescribing / by W. Handsel Griffiths. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/168 (page 7)
    wsa««ri‘:*; pre- plete ^J^ops'scfaZ/tbenilesof • f li2ve sufficientlj indicated the ’ these laws, to master a loss to e.\press yotirsdres in e accepted rules of Latin construe- The Superscription requires no other comment than that which we have already accorded to it, but I have to call your attention to some important points in connection with the Inscription. The ingredients of a typical prescription are sup- posed to have a representative of the following— {a) The Basis, or active ingredient. (b) The Adjuvant, or the auxiliary. {c) .The Corrective. (d) The Vehicie. I cannot adduce a better example of the fore- going principles than a commonly-used modification of the Pharmacopoeial “ black draught,” thus— Superscription . Insc7'iption. . . Subscription . . 'Magnesii siilphatis, uncias quatuor—Basis. TinctursE sennas, uncias duas cum semisse— Adjuvant. . Tincturse cardamomi conipositse, drachmas duodecim—■ Corrective. Extract! glycyrrhizae liquid!, unciam. Infusi sennee, ad uncias viginti quatuor— V. Vehicle. Misce, fiat mistura. Signature .... f capiat asger cochlearia duo magna bis \ terve in hora, donee adsit catharsis. Patients Name. Physician's Initials, Date. Now you are not to suppose that every prescription must of necessity have an adjuvant and a corrective as well as a basis and a vehicle. It was the habit of our ancestors to prescribe a multitude of substances with a heroic disregard of compatibility, whether chemical, physical, or therapeutical, in the hope, it is surmised, that some one of the multifarious ingre- dients would hit off the disease, whatever that might