PART II.-PRESCRIPTIONS IN AN ABBREVIATED FORM.

PART I.

GENERAL REMARKS ON PRESCRIPTIONS.

CHAP. I.-DEFINITIONS.

IN medicine the term prescription (prescriptio, from præ before, and scribo I write; ordonnance, French; Verordnung, Germ.; avay gapn*) is usually applied to the written directions of a physician or surgeon for the preparation and use of remedies.

The terms formula (the diminutive of forma, a form; formule, French; Vorschrift, Formel, Germ.,) and receipt (recepta ;† recette, French; Recept, Germ.,) or recipe (from recipe, take thou,) have a more limited acceptation, and are applied to the directions given for the preparation and use of pharmaceutical remedies or medicines.

A physician prescribes blood-letting, bathing, exercise, &c., as well as medicines; but he uses formula for the preparation of medicines only.

Foesius, Economia Hippocratis.

+ Recepta is a barbarous term. Dufresne also mentions, as a synonymous, though still more barbarous, word, recetta.

Formula are of two kinds,-extemporaneous or magistral, and officinal. Extemporaneous formula (formula magistrales) are so called because they are constructed by the practitioner on the instant, "ex tempore." Officinal formula (formula officinales) & are those published in pharmacopoeias, or by some other authority.* Officinal preparations are presumed to be kept ready for use.

Formula are either simple or compound. A simple formula (formula simplex) consists of only one officinal (either simple or compound) preparation. A compound formula (formula composita) consists of two or more officinal preparations.

The principal medicine in a formula is called the (1) basis; that which promotes or assists the action of the basis is termed the (2) auxiliary (adjuvans;) that which corrects some objectionable quality of the other ingredients is named the (3) corrective (corrigens;) and lastly, that which gives a proper form to the whole is denominated the (4) vehicle (constituens, excipiens, vel vehicula.) These four parts of a formula are intended to accomplish the object of Asclepiades-", curare cito, tuto et jucunde;" in other words, to enable the basis to cure (1) quickly (2,) safely (3,) and pleasantly (4.)

CHAP. II.-HISTORICAL NOTICE.

THE most ancient recipes on record are those mentioned in the Pentateuch for the preparation of an * In France, the term ordonnance is applied to a magistral for

mula, and the term formule to an officinal one.

u,) usually ch prescripike thou,) is

loyed (maf consideingredients of writing

he ingredi

stinct line.

t, then the
ective, and

he following

.egible.

hat which is

neering of an

bius.)

sible, must be

he possibility of

fully made. signated by their

s the barbarous 1 to the scier

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Londinensis, in qua Medicamenta antiqua et nova usitatissima collecta, opera Medicorum Collegii Londinensis, Lond. 1618. The last edition was published in 1851.

CHAP. III. OF THE PARTS OF A PRESCRIPTION.*

THE parts of a prescription or formula are the heading, the designation of the ingredients to be used, the directions to the compounder, and the directions to the patient. At the bottom of the prescription are placed, on the left hand, the name of the patient and the date (in separate lines;) and, on the right hand, the signature of the prescriber.

In ancient times every prescription or formula had, at its commencement, certain characters, abbreviations, or sentences of a superstitious or pious nature: such as (the sign of the Cross;) a and w (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, Christ being designated the "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending," Rev. i. 8;) C. D. (cum Deo;) J. D. (juvante Deo;) L. D. (laus Deo ;) N. D. (nomine Dei;) J. These constituted the invocation J. (juvante Jesu,) &c.

or, as it was called, the inscription (inscriptio.)

1. The heading (præpositio.)-The symbol R, or

*For further details on the subject of this chapter, the reader is referred to H. D. Gaubii Libellus de Methodo concinnandi For mula Medicamentorum, Lugd. Batav. 1739; ed. 3tia, 1767. An English translation of this work was published under the title of A Complete Extemporaneous Dispensatory; or, the Method of Prescribing, Compounding, and Exhibiting Extemporaneous Medicines, 2d edit. 1742.-See also Paris's Pharmacologia, 9th ed. 1843; and Phoebus's Handbuch der Arzneiverordnungslehre, 3tte Ausg. 1839.