A guide to therapeutics / by Robert Farquharson.

  • Farquharson, Robert, 1836-1918.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A guide to therapeutics / by Robert Farquharson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    either case. In tlie wards, of course, lie sees mucli more pre- scribing, but is perhaps not often called npon to do it for him- self, so that, when he settles down on his own account, it wdll be some time before he can handle medicines with that ease, confidence, and certainty which can alone conduce to the com- fort of his patients and his own ultimate success. Now it cannot be out of place to urge upon him here the great importance of fre(piently exercising himself in this art. Let him put problems to himself, let him run his eye through his text-books, and en- deavour to order the various drugs in varied combination ; when he meets with the recommendation to treat a certain disease in a cei-tain way, let him there and then expand these more or less vague directions into the form of a prescription; and so at last due blending of ingredients, with the avoidance of incompatibles and the concealment of nauseous properties, will come to him with perfect ease and efficiency. 1. The first thing to be considered in writing a prescription is the object for which we order this certain combination of drugs, which symptoms in our patient's case do we wish to alter or modify, what is to be our principal ingredient, and in what quantity. This being duly settled in our minds, we I'eflect whether it is l^etter to give this particular article hj itself, or to combine it with other substances, which may pos- sibly assist or mitigate its action, or may at all events conceal its more or less nauseous taste. Now it is a very commonly given recommendation that in our prescrij^tions we should aim at simplicity as much as possible, and this certainly holds good within certain limits. The old-fashioned custom used to be to string together a long list of ill-understood substances in the hope that some one or other of them might hit the right nail on the head, and even now traces of this polypharmacy linger about medical practice. When, however, we are tolerably certain of the action of our drug, and more especially when we are making scientific observations on its mode of action, it is often of great importance that we should not obscure its effects by the addition of any other active substances, but order it