PRESCOTT. 374 PRESCRIPTION. allowance and viewed as literature its ugh rank set-ins assured. His style is dignilied refined, and always eminently readable, and his histories have truly become household classics. There is a Life bv George Ticknor (Boston, 18G4; revised, London." 18V5). The best edition of Prescott is that by Kirk in 10 vols. (Philadelphia, 18/0-j4). PRESCRIPTION (Lat. prcvscriptio, from m-w>:cnhcrc. to i)rcscribe, from pne, 'ffoe + scrihrrr, to write). A formula by which the pl»t-sician directs the compounding and dispcns- ing of medicines. Prescriptions were formerly written enti.elv in Latin, the common scientitic lan"uage: but at the present time and in this country the tendency is to restrict the employ- ment of Latin to the names of the ingredients of the formula. Knglish being used for the ilirec- tions Since the botanical or chemical names are the only ones bv which vegetable or mineral drugs can be definitely known. Latin is retained for this part of the medical formula. The for- mal prescription consists of four parts: (1) The superscription comprises the name of the patient, date, and the sign R. The latter is an abbrevia- tion of the Latin word reeipe (take). (2) The inseriplion or body of the fonmila consists of the names and quantities of the drugs to be com- pounded. The names of the ingredients, as be- fore stated, are written in abbreviated Latin, and the quantities set down in apothecaries' measure or according to the metric system. (3) The subscription is made up of directions to the apothecary. (4) The signiitiire (Lat. signcttir, let it be labeled ) consists of directions to the pa- tient: dose, time, and method of taking. This is followed by the physician's signature or initials The body of a prescription may be composedof one or many ingredients, arranged in a specific manner, anil each having a definite purpose to fulfill. The most important of these is the base or substance from which the chief therapeutic action is expected. This may be assisted in its operation bv another ingredient, the ailjitvant, and corrected or modified by a third called the corrifjent. Lastly, for the sake of convenience of administration, to secure a definite quantity or consistency, to increase solubility and obtain uni- form subdivisions into proper doses, certain sub- stances having little therapeutic virtue in them- selves, and variously known as the rchicle, diluent, excipient, or menstruum, are added. See Bartholow, Materia Medica and Therapeutics (New York, 190.3). PRESCRIPTION. In Roman legal proce- dure, a prescription was a plea which the pnetor placed at the beginning of the in- struction (formula) which he sent to the referee ijudej-), in order that it might be examined be- fore all other disputed issues. The 'prescription of Ions time' was one of the most imiwrtant of the Roman prescriptions: and in mediicval pro- cedure the word prescription was used only to designate such a plea. In the broadest sense, prescription means the legalizing of an existing state of things in consequence of lapse of time — the establishment of legal rights by the prolonged exercise of corresponding powers, and the extinc- tion of rights by prolonged failure to use the powers which they are supposed to confer. In early law the field of prescription is practically unlimited. In highly developed law no substan- tive rights are acquired or lost by prescription. except rights in things. Remedial rights, or rights of action, however, are regularly lost by non-user. . . , . • .j.- , Civilians divide prescription into acquisitive, by which rights are created, and 'extinctive,' by which they are destroyed. For the prescription of actions, the English law employs the terra limitation. See Limitation of Actions. Roman Law. Prescription of Rights in Things. According to the Twelve Tables, mova- bles (except stolen things) were acquired 'by use iusucapio) in one year, immovables in two. In the later Republic the pra>tors and [irovincial gov- ernors developed for provincial real estate a 'prescription of long time.' Justini.an fused the two institutions, limiting the term usucapion to movables and prescription to immovables. Under the rules which he laid down, the person who ac- quired possession (q.v.) in good faith, and who maintained uninterrupted possession for a cer- tain period became owner. The period, in the case of movables, was three years; in the case of immovables, if the owner lived in the same province, it yas ten years; if he lived in another province, it was twenty years. Rubhc and eccle- siastical property was excluded from this ordi- nary prescription; also all property of which the owiier had been dispossessed by theft or violence, although it had subsequently come into the hands of an honest possessor. Justinian further enacted that when the own- er's action of recovery was extinguished by pre- scription, the possessor, if he had acquired pos- session in good faith, should become owner. Prop- erty excluded from the ordinary prescription was in most instances capable of being acquired by this prccscriptio longissimi tcmporis (thirty or forty years). , -r, i Prescription of Actions. At early Roman law ri"hts of action, as such, were perpetual: they ceased to exist only when the substantive riglit was lost (as by usucapion). The equitable ac- tions given bv the pra-tors. however, were hni- ited: and Imperial legislation finally limited all actions. The periods varied from six months to forty years; the ordinary period was thirty years. ... ■ 'Acquisitive prescription and the prescription of actions were regularly suspended in the case of persons unable to exercise their rights, e.g. persons under household authority and infants. Immemorial Prescription. A survival from early law when jirescription had a wider range, is found in the rule that any state of things which has existed so long that no memory remains of its origin is presumed to have been legally estab- lished. The Roman jurists, however, invoked this rule only to protect public use of private property— e.g. rights of way and artificial water- com-ses— and to ]irevent interference with ancient dikes and channels regulating the flow of sur- face water. . . , . Modern Civil Codes. Prescription has lost much of its importance by reason of changes in the law of property (q.v.). The general reten- tion or adoption of the old German rule that honest acquisition of movables gives title has lelt no room for prescription of movables except as regards lost or stolen things. In these cases the honest possessor apparently becomes owner when the former owner's action of recovery is extin- guished, which occurs in periods varying from two to ten years. As regards real property, the
