PART I.

GENERAL REMARKS ON PRESCRIPTIONS.

CHAPTER 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 (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.

* Fœsius, Economia Hippocratis.

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

B

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

Formulæ are of two kinds,-extemporaneous or magistral, and officinal. Extemporaneous formulæ (formulæ magistrales) are so called because they are constructed by the practitioner on the instant,

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ex tempore." Officinal formulæ (formulæ officinales) are those published in pharmacopoeias, or by some other authority.* Officinal preparations are presumed to be kept ready for use.

Formulæ 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)

* In France, the term ordonnance is applied to a magistral formula, and the term formule to an officinal one.

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 odoriferous ointment and confection.* Their date is 1491 years B.C.

About 2000 years ago, formulæ for the preparation of antidotes (àvтídora, antidota) or counterpoisons (antitoxica) were in use among the Greeks.†

*Exodus xxx. 23-25 and 34-35.

+ Antidotes against the bite of poisonous animals were called treacles (Ongiazά, theriaca); whilst those which acted against poisons taken inwardly were termed alexipharmics (λžiάquanα, alexipharmaca). The most celebrated antidote of antiquity was that called mithridate_(μgidάov, mithridatum), after Mithridates VI., King of Pontus (about BC. 132-63). It was modified by Andromachus, physician to Nero (A.D. 54-68), and was then termed theriaca Andromachi. Nicander (who flourished B.C. 185 or 135) wrote two poems about poisons; one called Ongaza, the other termed ̓Αλεξιφάρμακα.

Scribonius Largus, a Roman physician who lived about the middle of the first century after Christ, wrote a work entitled Compositiones Medica, which contains nearly 300 medical formulæ taken from various authors. It is the oldest pharmacopoeia extant; but its style is inelegant.

Galen, who lived A.D. 130-200 or 201, wrote two treatises On the composition of medicines, Пep? Συνθέσεως Φαρμάκων, containing a considerable number of formulæ for the preparation of compound medicines.

Sabur, the son of Sahel (Sábúr Ibn Sahel), the director of the medical school of Iondísábúr (Nishapoor), is said to have published, in the 9th century A.D., the first Arabic dispensatory or Karábádín, but which is not now extant.

The first official British pharmacopoeia was that published by the Royal College of Physicians of London, A.D., 1618. It was entitled Pharmacopaia 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,

For further details on the subject of this chapter, the reader is referred to H. D. Gaubii Libellus de Methodo concinnandi Formulas 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.