He goes armed with the weapons of Life and Death; and if he is so much in the dark that he cannot distinguish the One from the other, or in other words, if he knows not the Nature of his Medicines, he will be as liable to usher Death and Destruction into the world, as the Preservation of Life and Restoration of Health.
But, alas! It is to be regretted that such swarms of Imposters are allowed to run about in the disguise of Regular bred Physicians, committing Slaughter and Depredation amongst their Ignorant Employers: And it is also to be regretted, that no regular System of Pharmacy, has ever been established in this country for a guide to the Apothecaries in the Preparing, and compounding their medicines: that they have been allowed to compound from Age to Age, as many different ways as there are different Methods prescribed in the different Dispensatories now in use: that many Medicines have been compounded and sold under One and the same Name that had different Degrees of Strength; and that from hence the most skillful Physicians have been greatly deceived, not only in the Administration of Proper Doses, but in the Operation and Effects of such Medicines amongst their Patients. This precarious mode of practice, has, perhaps, destroyed the Lives of thousands of the Americans!
Some prudent Practitioners have long been sensible of this Inconveniency, and have therefore compounded their medicines themselves; rather than expose their reputations, and the lives of their Patients by the
