A guide to therapeutics / by Robert Farquharson.

  • Farquharson, Robert, 1836-1918.
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A guide to therapeutics / by Robert Farquharson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    scammonicB (of scammony) scrupulum (a scruple), &c. Other directions are laid down in books which deal with this ques- tion, and much valuable information is contained in Pereira's ■ Selecta e Prsescriptis ' and the clear and instructive little work of Dr. Griffith, of Dublin; but it is hardly necessary to re- produce these here, as students beginning their medical curri- culum are presumably sufficiently well grounded in classics to enable them to understand the very moderate amount of Latin required for their use in prescribing. As a rule, most medical men write their directions nowadays in English ; and this has not only the advantage of limiting the chance of mistake, but it does away with much of that mystery which beyond anything else has tended to keep back the progress of our art. In these enlightened times, when even more than a smattering of physic is commonly possessed by the laity, we do not find our patients quietly consenting to be kept in the dark as to what medicines they are taking. Rather do we find them showing a keen interest in our prescriptions, anxious to inquire, and argue, and, if possible, understand all about the line of treatment we have determined to pursue. The cases are very rare in which it is necessary to conceal from them the presence of any particular drug in their mix- ture, and Latin directions are therefore not only unnecessary, but pedantic in the highest degree. It is still, however, the custom at examining boards to ask the candidates to write and to read prescriptions fully constructed according to this custom, and in the prescriptions which I shall frequently add to our descriptions of the various drugs I shall invari- ably give the directions in Latin of the usual form. It only remains for us, then, to add the signs and symbols in general use, which are as follows :— gr., granum T), scrupulum (scruple) 5, drachma (drachm) J, unica (ounce troy) = a grain. = 20 grains. = 3 scruples or 60 grains. = 480 grains.