The science and art of prescribing / by E.H. Colbeck and Arnold Chaplin.

Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The science and art of prescribing / by E.H. Colbeck and Arnold Chaplin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    results by different modes of action. Thus purga- tion may be eflfected by increasing peristalsis, by increasing intestinal secretion, by increasing the flow of bile, and so forth. Drugs operating in each of these directions are frequently and very pro- perly prescribed together. The treatment of dila- tation of the heart by the simultaneous exhibition of cardiac tonics and vaso-dilators is another in- stance of the co-operative action of drugs. Com- binations of diuretics, diaphoretics, stomachics, &c., are frequently ordered on similar grounds. The co-operative action of drugs possessing dis- similar activities is of course frequently required in order to simultaneously produce different effects. Combinations of this kind are frequently ordered for the relief of symptoms, but unless the funda- mental necessity of treating the causes of disease be clearly kept in mind, this method of prescribing is open to serious abuse. 3. THE FORMATION OF A NEW REMEDY. Combinations of drugs which react chemically on one another can be made to subserve the forma- tion of a new remedy. For instance, the combination of sulphate of iron and carbonate of potash, which is the formula ordered in the well-known phar- maceutical preparation mistura ferri composita, results in the formation of carbonate of iron and sulphate of potash. The combination of an acid and an alkali which is so commonly ordered in an effervescing condition is another illustration of the formation of a new remedy as the result of chemical reaction. 4. THE PRODUCTION OF AN APPROPRIATE FORM. Not the least of the advantages afforded by a
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