Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1901 — Latin and Prescriptions. [ARTICLE]

Latin and Prescriptions.

Latin is more precise than English. Being a dead language, it is not subject to constant change as the English. The Latin name is usually descriptive of some prominent feature In the object, and so is more easily remembered. For these three reasons, scientific names are usually in Greek or Latin, and the drugs have the same names in the pharmacopeia as in the sciences, that describe them. Most of the drugs have no English names, Latin is the International language of scholars. It is best for unscientific persons not to know the names of drugs similar in so many respects and deadly in others.