Sum. Sum. Summitates, the summits or tops. Sume, sumat, sumatur, sumantur, sumendus, take thou, let him take, let be taken, to be taken. S. V. Spiritus vinosus, ardent spirit of any strength. S. V. R. Spiritus vini rectificatus, rectified spirit of wine. S. V. T. Spiritus vini tenuis, proof spirit. Tabel. lozenge. Tabella (dim. of tabula, a table), a Temp. dext. Tempori dextro, to the right temple*. T. 0. Tinctura opii, tincture of opium; generally confounded with laudanum, which is properly the wine of opium. T. O. C. Tinctura opii camphorata, paregoric elixirt. It is now called Tinct. camphoræ composita. *Tempora, the temples, although generally used in the plural, yet is sometimes found in the singular. † Dr. M. Good, in his History of Medicine, published in the year 1795, relates the following story :-" A physician prescribed for the son of a poor woman, labouring under dyspnoea, the following draught, to be given at bed-time : B Syr. papav. alb. zj. Aq. destill. 3v. M. Unfortunately the person to whom this prescription was brought, not being acquainted with the new name for Trit. Tritura, triturate. Troc. Trochisci, troches or lozenges. Ult. præscr. dered. V. O. S. yolk of an egg. Vom. urg. Ultimo præscriptus, the last or Vitello ovi solutus, dissolved in the Vomitione urgente, the vomiting being troublesome. V. S. B. Venæsectio brachii, bleeding in the arm. Zz. Zingiber, ginger. CHAP. VI.-ON THE SYMBOLS or SIGNS USED IN PRESCRIPTIONS. FORMERLY the signs or symbols employed in chemistry and pharmacy as substitutes for words, were numerous. At the present time they are very few. The following alone deserve notice : B Recipe, take. Ancient authors use this sign paregoric elixir, and not attending to the C. (camphorata) made it with 3ij. Tincturæ opii; and, though he advised the woman to give the child only half the draught, it proved sufficiently strong to destroy life before the evening of the following day. , being the old heathen invocation to Jupiter, seeking his blessing upon the formula, equivalent to the usual invocation of the poets and of Mahomedan authors, or the Laus Deo with which bookkeepers and merchants' clerks formerly began their books of accounts and invoices, a practice now almost extinct. "It is at present so disguised by the addition of the down-stroke, which converts it into the letter B, that, were it not for its cloven foot, we might be led to question the fact of its superstitious origin."-(Paris's Pharmacologia.) (See Chap. I. p. 2). m. Minimum, the 60th part of a fluidrachm. Gtt. Gutta, drops. 9. Scrupulus vel Scrupulum. A scruple, equal to 20 grains troy. 3*. Drachma, a drachm, equal to three scruples; or, in liquids, the 8th part of an ounce measure. "I wish some other character could be substituted either for the OUNCE or the DRACHM; for the two characters being so extremely alike, I am well persuaded many very bad mistakes occur; the DRACHм being nearly a figure of three (3), requires nothing but one small angle over it (7) to make it an ounce (3); thus the mistake is easily made in the hurry of writing, by the prescriber, or in the making up, by the compounder. So sensible of the possibility, or rather so well acquainted with the certainty, of fatal mistakes having happened from this similarity of figure in the marks of the drachm and the ounce, was that excellent and incorruptible patriot, Dr. Charles Lucas (of Dublin), that the very first 3. Uncia, an ounce troy; or, in liquids, the 16th part of a wine pint, or the 20th part of the imperial pint. b. Libra, a pound weight. Fl. Fluid. Used as a prefix to certain measures to distinguish them from weights; thus 3., fluiduncia; and fl3., fluidrachma. Ss. Semis, half. Used as an affix to weights and measures; as 3ss., semiuncia; 3ss., semidrachma ; Əss. semiscrupulum. Gr. Granum or Grana. A grain; grains. Gr. vi. Grana sex, six grains. Gr. v. Grana quinque, five grains. Gr. iv. Grana quatuor, four grains. Bill he brought into Parliament, after he had been returned a member for the city of Dublin, was a Bill to compel the Physicians of Ireland to discontinue the using of characters in their prescriptions, and to write the words at full length-Uncias tres, drachmas duas, scrupulum unum cum semisse."-(Chamberlain's Tyrocinium Medicum, 2d edit. 1819.) |