Merck's 1899 Manual of the Materia Medica

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

41697

Title

Merck's 1899 Manual of the Materia Medica

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

Merck's 1899 Manual of the Materia Medica serves as an essential pocket reference for physicians, offering a comprehensive guide to chemicals and drugs used in modern medical practice. Designed to aid memory and decision-making, this volume provides detailed descriptions, dosages, and therapeutic indications for a vast array of remedies, ensuring practitioners can prescribe effectively and safely.

Summary up to 500 words

Published by Merck & Co. in 1899, *Merck's Manual of the Materia Medica* was conceived as an essential ready-reference tool designed to counteract the treacherous nature of memory among busy physicians. The text addresses the specific challenge faced by practitioners who, despite being well-informed, often struggle to recall the full array of available remedies when treating cases that deviate from the usual run. To serve as a 'firm and faithful help' in the daily round of duty, the manual compiles essential data found in ponderous dispensatories alongside the latest scientific records of the time. The volume is structured into three distinct parts to facilitate rapid consultation. Part I presents an alphabetic survey of the entire Materia Medica in current use by American physicians. This section details botanical drugs, chemicals, and official galenic preparations, providing information on their physical forms, solubilities, physiological effects, and specific dosages. It explicitly excludes obsolete remedies, unaccredited new drugs, and preparations intended for self-medication by the lay public. Part II shifts focus to therapeutic indications, arranging remedies alphabetically under titles of various pathologic conditions. Here, the manual summarizes principal treatment means drawn from standard works and clinical investigations, offering brief forms of the best available therapies for diseases ranging from tuberculosis and diabetes to neuralgia and various infections. Part III provides a classification of medicaments according to their physiologic actions, allowing for an easy survey of how different substances function within the body. Beyond the core medical data, the book includes a comprehensive section on foods and dietetic preparations, frequently prescribed for infants, the sick, or convalescents. It also features a list of abbreviations for common medical terms and a record of awards received by Merck products, underscoring the company's commitment to purity and service. The manual further details the capabilities of Merck's Analytic Laboratories, offering cost estimates for examinations of water, milk, blood, and urine for diagnostic purposes. By consolidating names, synonyms, modes of administration, incompatibles, and antidotes into a compact pocket book, the text aims to refresh a physician's memory instantly, enabling them to prescribe exactly what their judgment dictates for the occasion. The authors express a confident hope that, as the book is tested in actual practice, it will grow in the esteem of the medical profession.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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Categories

• Science
• Medicine