Here is the prescription given exactly as transmitted by our correspondent:
Sp. sticta | Gtt xv |
Sp. ipecac | Gtt x |
Sp. bryonia | Gtt x |
Sp. macrotys | Ʒi |
Bromoform Bronchial Anodyne | ℥ii |
Syrup Cocillana Comp. q. s. ad | ℥vi |
| Teaspoonful every two or three hours. |
It is evident that the prescriber is an eclectic. As a matter of fact, in a second letter from the physician who forwarded the prescription, we are informed that the prescriber is a graduate of an eclectic institution not a thousand miles from where he practices. The “Sp.” in the prescription does not mean “Spiritus,” but specific tincture. The prescriber is an advocate of specific remedies, one of which should fit the condition, but he is broad-minded enough to call help from the outside, and so adds fifteen other remedies to the specific selected, including alcohol. The inability of one mind to remember all the ingredients of so complex a mixture will explain the fact that ipecac is duplicated, occurring both as a specific tincture and as an ingredient of Bromoform Bronchial Anodyne. The latter, the manufacturers tell us, contains in one fluidounce:
| Alcohol | 5 | per cent. |
| Bromoform | 8 | drops |
| Ipecac | 1⁄2 | gr. |
| Ammonium bromid | 24 | grs. |
| Benzoin | 1 | gr. |
Syrup Cocillana Comp., one of the “elegant specialties” of Parke Davis & Co., of which they certainly ought to be very proud, contains, we are told, in one fluidounce:
| Alcohol | 5 | per cent. |
| Heroin hydrochlorid | 8⁄24 | gr. |
| Tinct. of euphorbia pilulifera | 120 | min. |
| Syrup of wild lettuce | 120 | min. |
| Tinct. of cocillana | 40 | min. |
| Syrup of squill comp. | 24 | min. |
| Cascarin, P. D. & Co. | 8 | grs. |
| Menthol | 8⁄100 | gr. |
This “elegant specialty” of Parke, Davis & Co. is not only a shotgun prescription, but has as one of its ingredients a mixture itself containing three ingredients, namely: Syrup Squill Comp. (Coxe’s Hive Syrup), making ten in all—a beautiful example of scientific pharmacy.
We wonder if our eclectic brother really appreciated that his prescription, written out, would be as follows:
Sp. sticta | Gtt | xv |
Sp. ipecac | Gtt | x |
Sp. bryonia | Gtt | x |
Sp. macrotys | Ʒi | |
Alcohol | 5 | per cent. |
Bromoform | 8 | drops |
Ipecac | 1⁄2 | gr. |
Ammonium bromid | 24 | grs. |
Benzoin | 1 | gr. |
Alcohol | 5 | per cent. |
Heroin hydrochlorid | 8⁄24 | gr. |
Tinct. of euphorbia pilulifera | 120 | min. |
Syrup of wild lettuce | 120 | min. |
Tinct. of cocillana | 40 | min. |
Fluidextract of squill | 60 | min. |
Fluidextract of senega | 60 | min. |
Antimony and potassium tartate | 1 | gr. |
Cascarin, P. D. & Co. | 8 | grs. |
Menthol | 8⁄100 | gr. |
To use a slang expression, this is certainly going some!—(From The Journal A. M. A., March 18, 1911.)