The prescribing of proprietaries, especially proprietary mixtures / Solomon Solis-Cohen.

  • Solis-Cohen, Solomon, 1857-1948.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The prescribing of proprietaries, especially proprietary mixtures / Solomon Solis-Cohen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    2. The easiest way is to write: IT Salicylatecl iron mixture with 10 per cent, increase of iron. 32 c.c. Similarly, if the IT. S. Pharmacopeia should state re- garding Basham’s mixture the range within which the proportions of tincture of chlorid of iron and solution of ammonium acetate could he varied, the prescribe!1 could so order, leaving the pharmacist to adjust the acetic acid to the requirements of the prescription. So, too, the National Formulary could provide that, for example, its elixir of iron, quin in and strychnin phosphate should contain the present standard quan- tities of these three ingredients when the physician makes no specifications of quantities; and, when speci- fied, the exact quantity of any one or all of them that the prescribe!1 writes for. Thus a modified prescription might read: B- Elix. ferri (gr. i), quin. (gr. ss) et strych. phos. (gr. 1/120) [These quantities to dose.] siv Sig.: One teaspoonful in water, t. d. p. c. Or any other variation desired could be indicated sim- ilarly. This would be more work for the prescriber as well as for the dispenser, but it would check the tendency to routine, and thus the resort to proprietaries; for thereby we get away from the ready-made formula which is the real ethical objection to proprietary mix- tures. otherwise unobjectionable; and which affects X. F. preparations equally. If, however, N. F. preparations become adjustable, while proprietaries remain rigid, the superiority of the former is at once evident. There are many other objections to the use of pro- prietary mixtures, the principal three of which may be summarized as follow: 1. They are not subject to standard regulation and may arbitrarily be varied. This is less pertinent now that the pure food and drug act requires a guarantee from the manufacturer, but is still valid to a degree. 2. They profess to some degree of secret excellence, some mysterious method of collocation, or perhaps ol flavoring. Such pretences are usually false, and not to be encouraged when true. 3. Perhaps the most serious objection—and from the viewpoint of pure science it oversteps all others—is that