end, and at least one of the drawers should be set apart for tools of general utility, as hatchet, hammer, saw, plane, chisel, etc. The other drawers may contain corks, bladder, twine, spatulas, scoops, glass

tubing, cork-cutters, etc., and other articles employed in flask operations, small distillations, etc., since this counter will be used for purposes of this kind. Fig. 386 is the counter, with a sheet-lead top, used for chemical work, testing, etc. It should be on the south side, so that the

northern light shall fall directly on it. A small sink at one end will be

a convenience. Appropriate drawers, chemical apparatus are also provided.

slides, and a closet for holding Fig. 387 represents the phar

maceutical counter, with the percolating stand (see Fig. 332) above it two large closets to hold the percolators when not in use, and six drawers, with slides, will complete the arrangement of this counter.

The Cellar. This usually-neglected locality should receive as much attention as the more favored portions of the store: it should be placed in charge of one or more of the assistants, and the responsibility for keeping it in good order definitely fixed. Good light is generally difficult to obtain, and care is necessary in the use of gas-lights, lanterns, etc. The floor should be of cement, stone, or brick, and, above all, the cellar should be thoroughly drained. Good facilities for lowering and hauling heavy boxes, barrels, and packages should be provided, whilst the stock of prescription-bottles should be kept in covered bins arranged on deep shelves, the doors being hinged from below, and each bin being distinctly labelled with the size of the bottles contained in it. In most stores the heating apparatus, whether it be a furnace or a portable heater, is located in the cellar; and the position of the heater in the cellar will largely determine the proper arrangement of the stock which is kept there. Undoubtedly the most useful feature about the cellar of a pharmacy is the fact that it affords a suitable place for keeping surplus stock, heavy or bulky articles, and those which are perishable if exposed to heat, light, or the too dry atmosphere of the upper rooms.

The stock of mineral waters, or of liquids which are capable of freezing, should be kept near enough to the heater to prevent an accident arising from too low a temperature in winter, whilst ointments, cerates, volatile oils, ethereal and alcoholic liquids, etc., should be placed in the cooler portions of the cellar. If a fire-proof vault made of stone or brick can be provided, it will be found a great convenience for keeping the latter class of preparations. The capacities of the cellar should be made an object of study, and a particularly cool spot should be selected in which to keep the ointments. If this should happen to be in an inconvenient place, or too far away from the steps leading from the store, one of the stock closets in the store may be converted into a dumb-waiter and lowered into a pit dug in the cellar: when an ointment is needed, the dumb-waiter can be easily hauled up, secured, and, after the object is accomplished, lowered into the cooler atmosphere.

The carboys containing acids, etc., are generally regarded as cumbersome and unwieldy objects: they may be stored on skids in the least valuable portion of the cellar. The method of pouring from a carboy is by the use of Stevenson's carboy-rocker (see page 473).

The custom of dispensing carbonated beverages has an advantage which is frequently overlooked,-namely, the fact that the fountains are efficient fire-extinguishers. A line of gas-pipe extending the whole length of the cellar, with suitable outlets, would not be an expensive investment, and yet in case of fire in the cellar it would be easy to form an attachment with a fountain of "soda-water" and thus convey a stream to the locality of the fire. The small portable steel fountains now in use would in many cases do away with the necessity for the length of gas-pipe, for they could be dragged to the fire, and their contents would prove very effective if used in time.

One rule should be rigidly insisted upon in the care of the stock in

the cellar, and that is that when a box of empty bottles or mineral water, or any boxed package, is opened, the contents should be distributed to the bins or places assigned for them, and the empty box and litter immediately removed.

Dampness and mould, which are generally so destructive to the stock kept in the cellar, may be avoided by ventilation. A change of air can always be secured by opening windows in the opposite ends of the cellar, and the musty odors so frequently noticed will rapidly disappear if attention is paid to ventilation.

FIG. 388.

The stock of liquids is usually kept in demijohns and large greenglass bottles: these should be arranged on shelves, the larger packages on the lower shelves. The wooden-covered glass demijohns and tinnediron cans, known as transportation cans and demijohns, are very useful in this connection (see Fig. 388). Great care must be taken, however, in the use of tinned-iron cans for pharmaceutical liquids: it is not safe to store acid, alkaline, or corrosive liquids in them, nor those containing tannin, on account of their injurious action on the tinned iron. The safest plan is to limit the use of cans to oils, glycerin, fatty bodies, and syrups, which contain nothing capable of acting on the tinned iron. The large containers should be labelled in two ways: the officinal name should be stencilled plainly upon the wooden side which is most prominent, and in addition there should be a tag properly labelled and tied to the handle; upon the reverse side of this tag the date showing when the contents were made, with any other useful notes or data, should be placed. The half-gallon and smaller stock-bottles should be labelled distinctly with large letters: a serviceable label is made by using heavy manilla paper, and instead of an ordinary pen a camel's-hair brush or a piece of pine wood whittled to a flat, stub point like a German-text pen, dipped into black asphalt varnish, may be used to make the letters.

Container for

stock liquids.

CHAPTER LXIV.

PRESCRIPTIONS.

THE word prescription is derived from the Latin word præscriptio (pra, "before," and scribo, "I write"). It may be defined as the formula which a physician writes, specifying the substances he intends to be administered to a patient.

The Latin language is preferred here in writing prescriptions, as it is also in Great Britain, Germany, and other European countries. The advantages of the use of Latin in designating the ingredients of the prescription are obvious: 1. It is the language of science, and is understood, to a greater or less extent, throughout the civilized world; in addition, it is a dead language, and therefore not subject to the changes that are common to all living forms of speech. 2. The Latin names for medicines are distinctive, and very nearly the same in all countries. 3. It is frequently necessary, and always advisable, to withhold from a patient the names and properties of the medicinal agents administered: this can usually be effected by the use of the Latin technical terms.

The Parts of a Prescription.-For the purpose of examination or study a model prescription may be divided into six parts: 1. The superscription, or heading. 2. The name of the patient. 3. The inscription, or the names and quantities of the ingredients. 4. The subscription, or the directions to the compounder. 5. The signa (mark), or the directions for the patient. 6. The name or initials of the physician, with the date.

1. The Superscription, or Heading. This invariably consists, in Latin prescriptions, of the symbol R, which is an abbreviation of the word recipe "take"), the imperative of the Latin verb recipio. In French prescriptions the letter P, the initial letter of the word prenez ("take"), is used.

The use of the inclined stroke upon the tail of the B is traced to a custom, common in the ancient days of superstition, of placing at the top of the prescription an abbreviation, called an invocation, which represented a prayer to a favorite deity. The sign of Jupiter (4), the chief mythological divinity of the ancient Romans, was usually employed. This was gradually replaced by the letter R; but the last stroke of the symbol of the all-powerful Jove has not yet been surrendered, and it remains as an ornament to the superscription to the present day.

2. The Name of the Patient.-This is frequently omitted from the prescription through inattention. It should always be placed at the top of the prescription, and should be transferred to the label by the com

pounder. Serious accidents have sometimes occurred through neglect of this direction, as when an adult dose of a medicine has been given to a child, owing to the similarity of the appearance of an adult's and a child's medicine, and the name of the patient not appearing on either label.

3. The Inscription, or the Names and Quantities of the Ingredients. This part of the prescription is undoubtedly the most important of all, and requires the greatest amount of care. The officinal names (see page 28) of the ingredients should always be used for designating those which are officinal. A model prescription, if it is of the compound class, is presumed to embrace the following: 1. The basis, or chief active ingredient. 2. The adjuvant, or aid to the basis, to assist its action. 3. The corrective, which is intended to qualify the action of the basis and adjuvant. 4. The vehicle, the ingredient which serves to "carry all," or hold them together, dilute them, and give to the whole the proper consistence, form, and color. This is sometimes called the diluent.

The ingredients are sometimes written down by the physician in the order given above; but this rule is frequently deviated from, and they follow in the order of their importance. This is a matter of small moment to the pharmacist, however, for he always has to consider solubility, compatibility, and other necessary considerations which determine the order, if the prescription is to be compounded properly.

Many prescriptions contain but one or two ingredients, there being no especial need of a corrective, vehicle, or diluent, the tendency of modern therapeutics being against polypharmacy and in the direction of simple and concentrated remedies, or those having positive effects. There are many advantages to be derived, however, from the combination of ingredients, even when these have similar medicinal action.

The name of each ingredient, and the quantity attached to it, should occupy but one line, and great care should be observed in abbreviating, to see that the abbreviation is distinctive and not liable to be mistaken for an article not intended by the writer. The cabalistic characters in present use, designating the quantities in a Latin prescription, must be very plainly written, if serious errors are to be avoided.

The method of ascertaining the quantities of each of the ingredients generally followed by physicians, is first to write down the names of the ingredients in the proper order, each on a separate line, without affixing the quantities; then having decided upon the total number of doses that are to be given, or the total number of pills, lozenges, capsules, suppositories, etc., by multiplying this by the amount proper to give for the single dose the quantity of the ingredient is obtained. METHOD OF ALLOTTING QUANTITIES.