[A personal prescription book]

The Danish Collection of the History of Pharmacy includes a unique record: Mrs. I.J. Valentiner's prescription book. The slim volume dates from the period 1906-1917 and contains a collection of 45 prescriptions for Mrs. Valentiner, whose husband was a land agent on a large estate, Frederikslund, on the island of Funen. Mrs. Valentiner's brother, Axel Bentsen, a physician in Northern Jutland during this period, wrote most of the prescriptions. Many of the prescriptions are dated within a few days of each other. The likely explanation is a practical one. When visiting his sister, Axel Bentsen probably provided her and her family with prescriptions for a broad spectrum of medicines such as analgesics, cough mixtures, laxatives and ointments, should they be needed. The record shows that various pharmacies were involved in making up 24 of the prescriptions in Mrs. Valentiner's prescription book until 1926, and the book was thus in use for 20 years.