The pocket pharmacy, with therapeutic index; a résumé of the clinical applications of remedies adapted to the pocket-case, for the treatment of emergencies and acute diseases

Preface To Second Edition

In preparing the copy for a new edition some minor corrections have been made and a new section added, on Nuclein, a remedy which will be found serviceable to the physician in general practice in a wide range of cases. No changes have been made in the original teachings, since clinical experience fully confirms their practical value. Indeed, the entire work is based upon bedside observation, although, unfortunately, through a slight ambiguity in the text, the inference was drawn that the recommendations were based entirely on speculative investigations.

In most instances reviewers dealt kindly with the book, due appreciation for which is hereby acknowledged, but some of the criticisms would have been amusing had they not been ridiculous. One writer said there were too many indications for well-known remedies, although reference to Bartholow, Brunton, and Ringer will show others not included in these notes. Several regarded the doses advised as too small, while a limited number condemned them as too large. The truth is that the doses — i. e., tablets — were adapted to meet the probable demands of the physician upon his pocket pharmacy in the treatment of emergencies and acute diseases at all seasons of the year and for all classes of patients. Where one tablet is regarded as too small, two or more can be administered, or the intervals shortened, and the tablets carrying too large a dose can readily be dissolved in water and given in the form of a solution.

To the general practitioner of long experience the recommendations will be accepted as good suggestions, but judging from the many complimentary letters sent me, I am convinced that the little volume has been found to possess intrinsic clinical merits of utility, and, in addition, a special value for its influence in developing the lines of a modern therapy, notably with reference to the restoration of cell function as a factor in scientific medicine.

Another criticism related to the uncertainty of tablet triturates, but this will scarcely hold now that tablets are almost universally employed and opposition to their use has subsided. Hence, the

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manufacturing chemists of the country are making an effort to extend their lines in this direction, by offering to supply physicians with a complete outfit. This plan, however, is strikingly systematized with a view to the introduction of highpriced remedies and special combinations, in order to secure profits not possible in handling the inexpensive products here advocated.

The author begs here to acknowledge many evidences of appreciation shown by his medical confreres, and to assure them of his continued interest in the modern trend of scientific medicine; and, believing that the art medendi can be still farther advanced, his present intention is to devote several years to study and physiological research.

Contents

PAGE

Preface 3

Introduction 7