From: James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Date: Wed Dec 08 1999 - 23:28:24 MST
On Wed, 08 Dec 1999, Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> James Rogers wrote:
> > Ritalin is not amphetamine, and I don't think anyone was asking if it was.
>
> Actually, the post I was answering *was* asking if Ritalin was "identical"
> to an old drug called Ritalina which was amphetamine.
>
> Why not just look up the original post on the archives to see what it asked?
I did. Here it is:
----------------------------------------------------
<quote>In the olden days a drug called "Ritalina" existed which contained
amphetamines. Would the "Ritalin" be identical to "Ritalina"?</quote>
----------------------------------------------------
Amphetamines (with an "s") commonly refers to the entire class of
amphetamine-like drugs, of which "Ritalin" is one. The quote did not say
that "Ritalina" contained amphetamine (the chemical). Therefore, it is
plausible that "Ritalin" and "Ritalina" are in fact identical as both
appear to contain amphetamines (the class).
This mostly a confusion resulting from a class and an instance having the
same name. A reference to amphetamine, as opposed to an amphetamine
(member of the set), would presumably have been written without the "s".
In any case, I don't see what the fuss is over.
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com
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