STRANGE PRESCRIPTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19892, 10 March 1928, Page 12

STRANGE PRESCRIPTIONS.

THE EYEBROWS OF A RAT.

When welcoming delegates to the New Zealand Pharmaceutical Society's Conference at Nelson this week, the Mayor of Nelson, Mr. W. J. Moffitt, said that quite recently he had come across a book dealing with medical prescriptions of the Middle Ages. Some of them were very remarkable and alarming. One contained the following ingredients: "The body of one toad, the eyebrows of one rat; two Sprigs of nightshade, the juice of a frog, half a bucket of snow boiled down to half-a-pint, etc." The president of the society, Mr. F. Castle, said that it was very interesting to look back on some of the old lengthy prescriptions which were known to chemists as "shot-guns. ", They contained something for everything. The theory of medicino to-day, however, embraced everything in the animal, mineral and vegetable kingdoms, and he could assure tho Mayor that there were still plenty of useful drugs that had not been heard of in Nelson- Chemists were here to help the medical man provide the medicines he prescribed, arid' (they felt that as dispensers, their work was of considerable importance t<j the community/ The New Zealand Pharmaceutical Society, said Mr. Castle, %vas formed in 1879, arid next year they would be' tselebrating its jubilee. Tn 1879 tho Society had 108 members, while to-day there were 700.