Specification of Edmund Adolphus Kirby : dispensing medicines.

  • Kirby, Edmund Adolphus.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Edmund Adolphus Kirby : dispensing medicines. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Kirbys Improved System of Dispensing Medicines, nient is to to be used in a fluid form add the requisite quantity of water. If a portion only of the contents of an envelope should be required it may be divided with a penknife or other similar instrument (if in a powdered state) or dissolved in a definite quantity of water and a half, a quarter, or other required proportion of the solution taken. For example, to make a mixture 5 for fever T take (say) one globule* containing one grain of tartarized antimony, and six globules containing each five grains of bicarbonate of potash, and dissolve them in four or six ounces of water, and determine the dose according to the age and condition of the patient. Again for external use I make an eye lotion in the following manner:—One globule of sulphate of zinc con- 10 taining two grains, and one globule of liquid extract of opium containing five grains, and dissolve in water to the required strength. Any other combina- % tions or prescriptions may be made up in a similar manner at a moments notice, and administered at once to the patient, either internally or externally, according to the effect desired to be produced. 15 The second part of my Invention has been designed principally with a view to carrying out the improved system above described, and to supply medical men with a portable and ready means of dispensing the medicines which they prescribe during their visits to their patients, and at their own homes, and to afford a convenient mode of carrying with them, besides medicines, certain 20 clinical and other instruments which are necessary and constantly required at the bedside in the investigation or treatment of disease or injuries, together with convenient writing materials for taking notes or writing prescriptions. The Invention is also designed and adapted to the requirements of travellers, colonists, and others resident at a distance from medical men and chemists, 25 and it is suitable for domestic use and all the purposes for w^hich a medicine chest and instrument case are employed, both by professional men and others. The novelty of this part of the Invention consists principally in the general construction and arrangement of the case, by which the uses and conveniences 30 of several cases are combined in one with compactness and economy of space, the whole being very portable, light, and elegant in appearance, and com¬ bining in one case the following articles, namely:—A pocket instrument case, a catheter case, an enema apparatus case, and a urinometer case, together with writing materials and a supply of medicaments and drugs (in 35 certain definite quantities, as above described), and other conveniences neces¬ sary for dispensing purposes; thus comprising in a single portable case those clinical instruments which are necessary for the correct diagnosis of disease and the remedies which are required for their relief or cure, together with