PART I.

GENERAL REMARKS ON PRESCRIPTIONS.

CHAP. I.-DEFINITIONS.

IN medicine the term prescription (præscriptio, from præ before, and scribo I write; ordonnance, French; Verordnung, Germ. ; àvaypapǹ*) 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 (receptar; 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 formulæ are given for the preparation of medicines only.

Formulæ are of two kinds, extemporaneous or

Foesius, Economia Hippocratis.

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

B

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

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), &c. These constituted the inscription (inscriptio).

The symbol R or abbreviated word Rec. (Recipe, take thou) usually commences every formula.† In French formulæ the letter P., or the word Prenez (take thou), is generally employed.

The directions to the apothecary as to the form, manner of preparation, and method of use, consti

In France the term ordonnance is applied to a magistral formula, and the term formule to an officinal one. † See Chapter VI. for some remarks on this abbreviation.

tute the subscription (subscriptio): for example, "misce; fiat bolus."

The directions to the patient constitute the signature (signatura). For example, "signetur: the purgative draught to be taken in the morning fasting." The constituent parts of a compound formula are four, viz. :

1st. The basis, or principal medicine in the composition.

2dly. The adjuvans, or the part which promotes or assists the action of the basis.

3dly. The corrigens, or the part which corrects some objectionable quality of the other ingredients. 4thly. The constituens, or the part which gives a proper form to the whole. This is sometimes called the excipiens or vehicula.

These four parts are, in the language of Asclepiades, curare (1), cito (2), tuto (3), et jucunde (4), that is to cure quickly, safely, and pleasantly.

CHAP. II.-HISTORICAL NOTICE.

The most ancient recipes on record are those mentioned in the Pentateuch for the preparation of an odoriferous ointment and confection.* date is 1491 B. C.

* Exodus, ch. xxv. v. 23-25 and 34-35.

Their

Above two thousand years ago lived the inventors of the celebrated antidotes or counter-poisons.

The work of Scribonius Largus*, who lived about the middle of the first century of the Christian era, is a collection of recipes taken from various authors. It is the oldest pharmacopoeia extant; but its style is very inelegant.

CHAP. III.-LANGUAGE USED IN PRESCRIPTIONS.

In Great Britain, as well as in Germany†, prescriptions are usually written in the Latin language. In France, and some other countries, the mother tongue is employed.

There are several reasons for preferring the Latin to the vernacular language in prescriptions. "If not spoken, it is written and understood throughout the civilized world, and that cannot be said of any other language. An invalid travelling through many parts of Europe might die before a prescription written in English could be interpreted." Moreover, Latin

*Compositiones Medice. Joannes Rhodius recensuit, notis illustravit, Lexicon Scribonianum adjecit. Patavii, 1655, 4to.

† See the Handbuch der Arzneiverordnungslehre von Dr. Philipp Phoebus. 3tte. verbess. Ausg. ler. Th. S. 99. Stolberg am Herz. 1839.

Paris's Pharmacologia, 9th ed. p. 105, 1843.

professional terms are concise and definite. Furthermore, the Latin names for drugs and chemicals are the same, or nearly so, all over Europe; whereas the vernacular names differ for each nation,-nay, sometimes for each province. Lastly, it is sometimes necessary or advisable to conceal from a patient the precise nature of the remedies which are employed.

In writing Latin prescriptions the student should endeavour to imitate the style of Celsus, "our greatest and almost only authority in every thing relating to medical Latinity." For no physician would think of writing a prescription in English terms derived from Shakspeare, Milton, Johnson, Scott, or Byron; nor a prescription in Latin terms drawn from the works of Roman poets or historians. The correct use of medical terms can only be obtained in the works of standard medical authors.

All the Medical Colleges formerly published their pharmacopoeias in the Latin language. But the French Codex*, and the American †,

* Codex, Pharmacopée Française rédigée par ordre du Gouvernement par une Commission composée de MM. les Professeurs de la Faculté de Médecine et de l'Ecole spéciale de Pharmacie de Paris. Paris, 1837. 8vo.

†The Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America. By Authority of the National Medical Convention held at Washington, A.D. 1840. 8vo.