Thomson's Conspectus of the British pharmacopoeias.

  • Anthony Todd Thomson
Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thomson's Conspectus of the British pharmacopoeias. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    226/248 page 198
    APPENDIX. No. III. ART OF PRESCRIBING MEDICINES. In prescribing a medicine, the following circumstances should always be kept in view: — Age, Sex, Temperament, Habit, Climate, the Con- dition of the Stomach, and Idiosyncrasy. Age. For an Adult, suppose the dose to be one or 1 drachm. Under 1 year, will require only 1 -12th 5 grains. 2 l-8th 7| grains. 3 l-fith 10 grains. 4 l-4th 15 grains. 7 I-3d 1 scruple. 14 half half-drachm. 20 2-3ds 2 scruples. Above 21 The full dose... one 1 drachm. 65 The inverse gradation of the above. Opiates affect children more powerfully than adults; but children bear larger doses of calomel than adults. Skx. Women require smaller doses than men: they are more rapidly affected by purgatives than men ; and the condition of the uterine system must never be overlooked. Temperament. Stimulants and purgatives more readily affect the san- guine than the phlegmatic ; and consequently the former require smaller doses. They require also more caution in the quantity of blood to be abstracted. Habits. The knowledge of habits is essential; for persons in the ha- bitual use of stimulants and narcotics require larger doses to affect them when labouring under disease, whilst those who have habituated thamselves to the use of saline purgatives are more easily affected by these remedies. Persons, however, who have habituated themselves to the use of opium do not require larger doses than usual of other nar- cotics. Climate. Medicines act differently on the same individual in summer and in winter, and in different climates. Narcotics act more power- fully in hot than in cold climates; hence smaller doses are required in the former: but the reverse is the case with respect to calomel. Condition of the Stomach, and Idiosyncrasy. The least active remedies operate very violently on some individuals, owing to a pecu- liarity of stomach, or rather habit of body, unconnected with tempera- ment. This state can be discovered only by accident or time; but when it is known, it should always be attended to by the practitioner. In prescribing, the practitioner should always so regulate the intervals between the doses, that the next dose may be taken before the effect produced by the first is altogether effaced , for, by not attending to this circumstance, the cure is always commencing, but never pro- ceeding. It should, however, also be kept in mind, that some medi- cines, such as the mercurial salts, arsenic, &c, are apt to accumulate
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