The tracks of a spider whose legs had been dipped in ink
Doctors’ handwriting has long had a poor reputation, and I was amused to find this specimen, sent in to The Chemist and Druggist by an appalled pharmacist in June 1874.
The Chemist and Druggist 15 June 1874
A couple of months later, the magazine reported that the Scientific American had reproduced the prescription, commenting that it:
might indicate the vagaries of Planchette [i.e. spirit writing] or the tracks of a spider whose legs had been dipped in ink.
The annoyance to the dispenser was bad enough, but the Scientific American also pointed out the potential danger to the patient of an incorrectly compounded medicine, and urged druggists to make a point of returning illegible prescriptions to their perpetrator.
However, Alexander Cleghorn, a chemist from Cupar in Fife, had already tried this to no avail. He had to admit defeat in deciphering the following, but promised the patient he would write to the doctor for clarification.
Prescription sent in by Alexander Cleghorn, The Chemist and Druggist 15 August 1874
One can only imagine the force of the facepalm when he was ‘favoured with an elucidation of which the following is a facsimile’:
The prescriber clarifies what he meant. The Chemist and Druggist 15 August 1874
Tags: 1870s, 19th century, drugs, handwriting, pharmacy, Victorian
Categories:
Other things of interest, Uncategorized
This entry was posted
on Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Other things of interest, Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You might also like
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Ambition Pills
The Worm Has Returned
The Worm-Doctor of Shoreditch
Whitehead’s Essence of Mustard
Caroline Rance's debut historical novel, Kill-Grief, set in an 18th-century hospital, is out now.
Interesting story. But, I wonder if the poor maligned Dr did not suffer from arthritis or the after-effects of a stroke?
Mind you, that is what pharmacists probably think when they try to decipher my handwriting.
Those examples are far worse than what I usually run into. On the first one I could make out the RX, oz and what possibly might be the name James Cole. Thank God for the telephone.