Liquids

Syrups. These are concentrated sugar solutions containing effective medicines.

Fluid extracts. Plant drug constituents may be concentrated by extraction with alcohol or mixtures of alcohol and water. Such highly concentrated solutions are administered in small dosage.

Tinctures. These are medical substances dissolved in alcohol but they are less concentrated than fluid extracts.

Mixtures. The pharmacist uses the word mixture to mean water suspensions of insoluble solids.

Ex.1 Correct the statements if they are not correct.

There are two categories of the drugs.

Everyone can swallow tablets.

It is up to the patient to decide upon the form of the drug to be taken.

Powders are made of tablets.

Pills are always hand-made.

The oldtime pharmacist did not know how to make pills.

Suppositories have a base which melts at room temperature.

Ointments are intended for internal use.

Tinctures are more concentrated than extracts.

Ex.2 Make up questions to the sentences.

Fluid extracts are administered in small dosage.

Pills are often machine-made.

These tablets are coated with sugar.

It is up to smb. to do smth. – Это дело кого-либо (делать что-либо)

Itis up to the students to choose the headgirl or headboy. It was up to me to decide upon the route of the trip. It is up to you to find a way out from the situation. It was up to him to begin this discussion.

New words:

To order – заказывать

Chemist’s department – отдел готовых форм

Label - этикетка

Unfavourable – нежелательный, неблагоприятный

To buy (bought, bought) - покупать

Text " At a Chemist's "

As you know on receiving a prescription from a doctor or on following a home treatment all of us need medicines which are ordered or bought at a chemist's.

There are usually two departments in a large chemist's. At the chemist's department one can have the medicine immediately, other drugs have to be ordered at the prescription department.

At any chemist's all the drugs are kept in drug cabinets (шкафы), refrigerators or a special safe. Every small bottle, a tube or a box of medicine has a label on it. White labels indicate drugs for internal use, yellow ones indicate drugs for external use and blue ones indicate drugs used for injections. The dose to be taken and the directions for the administration are also indicated on a label. Indicating the dose and the name of any medicine is necessary for chemists, nurses, doctors and patients themselves. It prevents confusing (to confuse - путать) different drugs, some of which are poisonous. Their overdosage may cause unfavourable reactions and sometimes even death.

At a chemist's one can buy different drugs for intramuscular and intravenous injections, for oral administration and for external use.

Before using the medicine the patient must know well that he is taking the proper drug and in the necessary dosage.

Answer:

What departments are there at a large chemist’s?

At what department are medicines ordered?

Where are all the medicines kept?

What labels are there on the bottles, boxes, tubes?

Why are the labels of different colors?

What kind of medicines must be kept in a safe?

Ex.1 Read the passages and answer the questions:

A) Yesterday my mother went to the chemist's in Kirov street and bought a small box of medicine with a blue label on it.

Yesterday my friend was at the chemist's and ordered the medicine at the prescription department. In an hour he received a small bottle with a white label on it.

Which of them had the medicine for injections?

B) Last month my sister was admitted to the in-patient department of our city hospital because she was ill with an acute form of pneumonia. She was treated with intramuscular injections of antibiotics.

Last month I fell ill with pneumonia. We called in a doctor who prescribed to me home treatment. Every day the nurse came to give me intramuscular injections of antibiotics.

Which of them had to order the medicine at the chemist's?

Drugs.

The metric system is used when ordering and prescribing drugs. The metric unit of weight is the gram and this is divided into thousandths called milligrams.

The unit of volume is liter which is subdivided into milliliters. The standard medicine teaspoonful holds 5 ml.

Various reference books (справочники) are available to help practitioners keep up to date (быть в курсе) with new drugs, the trade names (торговые знаки) of drugs, dosages and precautions with particular drugs.

Drugs may be administered externally and internally.

Drugs are classified into groups which have a specific action, such as antibacterial drugs, which are used for the treatment of infections, or local anaesthetics, which relieve pain. Some drugs belong to more than one group; for example, lignocaine, which is a local and surface anaesthetic. Let’s take antibacterial drugs as an example. They are administered internally to kill bacteria.

Antibiotics are drugs derived (derive – происходить) from microorganisms; for example, penicillin, tetracycline and erythromycin. Many people are allergic to penicillin and its derivatives. If such people are given any of these drugs they are liable to develop a dangerous reaction. Patients must always be asked beforehand (заранее) if they are allergic to penicillin or any other drugs.