Elements of pharmacy, materia medica, and therapeutics / by William Whitla.

Whitla, William, 1851-1933.

Date:: 1898

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of pharmacy, materia medica, and therapeutics / by William Whitla. Source: Wellcome Collection.

12/660

The aim of this little work is to give to the student of medicine such information in a concise form as he generally has to sift out of two or more of the larger manuals. So many valuable volumes have been written on Materia Medica and Therapeutics as to leave little necessity for another ; but it is not the intention of the writer to presume that this work will take the place of any of them, the question of space necessitating the knowledge being given to the reader often in a very fragmentary condition. The arrangement of the subject, which has been sanctioned by custom, has been departed from, the work being divided into distinct and separate sections, and the drugs arranged' alpha- betically. The writer found that most students, in grappling with Materia Medica, generally read the Therapeutics of each remedy once or twice over, while its preparations had to be committed to memory. Thus, a process of confused selection always distracted, and prevented that clear view of each detail so necessary to ensure a thorough grasp of every branch of the subject. Many students, too, have already mastered the chemistry of each drug in the laboratory, and hence to such, an arrangement like the one adopted will probably be beneficial; whilst to those who have not, the condensed bird's-eye view of the subject may be appreciated. The writer is satisfied that this plan is open to serious objection, as is the most generally followed one, but he hopes that it may assist the already over- taxed student, who often fails to get any idea of the subject at all if the matter be not placed in a condensed form within his reach. Actuated by the feeling that Pharmacy is one of the most important sections of Materia Medica, he has laboured to put this