The prescriber's name should always be so written as to leave no possible doubt as to identity at any time.

When the prescriber uses his own private blanks carrying his name and address, he can naturally take more liberties than when such is not the case. Where the private printed blanks are used it is the custom to merely sign the surname or even that monstrosity of penmanship, the fancy signature, may be permitted.

Among the reasons for the foregoing might be mentioned that in the case of those agents which can be dispensed only on physicians' prescriptions it is necessary to have the full signature of the physician. This is now required by the Federal Narcotic Law on all prescriptions affected. If the blank does not carry his name and title his signature should always include his medical degree if the drug is one the sale of which is restricted by law. In cases of unusual or uncertain doses it is only justice to the compounder that the prescription be properly signed to constitute an order in the full legal sense. It is not advisable to force the pharmacist to ask the patient who wrote the prescription. The physician may flatter himself that every one knows who B or J is, but the compliment may not be fully merited. The patient may leave the prescription to be called for later or to be sent to his address, and after his departure it may develop that it is necessary to communicate with the prescriber, and the questions who? when? where? are not answered by the paper in hand.