We do not know that there is anything specially characteristic in copy furnished by the medical faculty, unless it be that their relations of “cases,” both in medicine and surgery, abound, no doubt necessarily, in “words of learned length”; which, being unfamiliar to the laity, should be written with conscionable care; every letter performing its proper function, and duly articulated to its neighbors. But the scientific terms of their art, as written by most physicians, are, to the average printer, as illegible as the Greek from which a portion of such terms is derived. Recipes are seldom got typographically correct, until they have passed through three or four revisions. Even apothecaries, it is said, sometimes put up morphine instead of magnesia; in which case, unless the revising is done in a hurry with the stomach-pump, a jury may have something to say about the “illegibility of the writing.” When troublesome consequences arise from misapprehension of a Latin word, or of its meaning, we hear much said in favor of writing recipes in English.
But, whatever may be said to the contrary, there are weighty, and, we think, irrefutable arguments for continuing the use of Latin and Greek terms in medical writings,—even in recipes. Since it should be so, and certainly is so, we insist here, as elsewhere, that all technical terms, proper names, or any words on which the context can throw but little, if any, light, should be written not with ordinary, but with cardinary care,—which new word we hazard, that our meaning may make a deeper impression. {p28}
In passing, we may remark that the mode of indicating names of remedies comes under the head of “Style” (see Chapter III.), and varies in different offices. Names of medicines are often abbreviated, and set in italics; and when a generic word is used, it should be capitalized; as, “Dr. I. administered Rhus tox.” In homeopathic works, the number expressing a dilution or trituration is placed in superiors at the right; as, “Ordered Cuprum metallicum100.”
A few suggestions to those who write any kind of copy for the press, will close this part of our subject.
Write on only one side of the paper.
If you wish to make an addition to a page, do not write it on the back of the sheet; cut the leaf, and paste the new matter in, just where it belongs, being careful not to cover up so much as a single letter in doing so: we have known lines to be omitted by the compositor, in consequence of careless pasting. The leaf having thus been lengthened, you may, for the sake of convenience, fold the lower edge forward upon the writing. This minute direction may seem idle; but when a portion of the leaf has been folded backward, out of sight, the folded part may very likely escape notice, and, to insert it, many pages of matter may afterward require to be overrun: we have known such cases.
Abbreviate those words only, which you wish the printer to abbreviate.
Never erase with a lead pencil; for an erasure with lead leaves it questionable whether or not the marked {p29} word is to go in. Use ink, drawing the pen horizontally through the words or lines to be omitted; and be careful that the marking leave off on exactly the right word. If you afterward regret the cancellation, you may write “stet” in the margin, and place dots under the canceled words; but as “stet” may not be noticed, in the presence of obvious erasures, the better way will be to re-write the passage, and paste it in the place you wish it to occupy.
Take time to write plainly and legibly. In writing for the press, the old adage holds good,—“The more haste, the worse speed”; and for every hour you save by writing hurriedly, you will be called upon to pay for several hours’ labor in making corrections. Write joinhand: mistakes often arise from a long word being broken up, as it were, into two or three words.