ALCOHOLIC PROPRIETARY OR 'PATENT' MEDICINES.
America has been called the Paradise of Quacks, and with good reason.
For years patent medicine manufacturers had such complete control of the
American press, both secular and religious, that it was almost
impossible to reach the public with information as to the real nature of
these concoctions. Consequently the people accepted with amazing
credulity the startling claims to miraculous cures of various pills and
potions as set forth under glaring headlines in the daily papers. The
publicity of the last few years has hurt the traffic seriously, but it
still has a great hold upon the ignorant and credulous part of the
population, and there is still a very large number of these preparations
upon the market. Many persons think that the Pure Food Law guarantees
every drug preparation now sold to be perfectly safe for use. This is a
great error. The guarantee means simply that the manufacturer guarantees
that his preparation is as he states upon the label; the government
guarantees nothing concerning the matter. That the guarantee of the
manufacturer is not always truthful has been shown by analyses of some
preparations made by state and national chemists. All the advantage that
the public has through the Pure Food Law, so far as drug preparations
are concerned, is that the percentage of alcohol must be printed upon
the label, and the presence of certain dangerous drugs, such as
morphine, cocaine, and acetanilid must be indicated. Thus persons
intelligent as to the nature of these drugs will avoid medicines which
the label says contains them. The ignorant are not protected. It was
difficult to secure even this small restriction upon the sale of
proprietary medicines because of the opposition of a large number of
newspaper publishers who were sharing the ill-gotten gains of the
medical fakirs.
A careful compilation of manufacturers' announcements list 1,806
so-called patent medicines sold in open markets, in which alcohol, opium
or other toxic drugs form constituent parts. 675 of the preparations are
known as "bitters," stomachics, or cordials, and alcohol enters into
their composition in quantities varying from fifteen to fifty per cent.;
390 are recommended for coughs and colds, nearly all of which contain
opium. Sixty remedies are sold for the relief of pain, and no other
purpose. 120 are for nervous troubles, and of this number, sixty-five
have entering into their composition coca leaves, or kola nut, or both,
or are represented by their respective active principles, cocaine or
caffeine. 129 are offered for headaches, and kindred ailments, and
usually with a guarantee to give immediate relief. In these are
generally compounded phenacetine, caffeine, antipyrine, acetanilid, or
morphine, diluted with soda, or sugar of milk. Dysentery, diarrhoea,
cholera morbus, cramp in bowels, etc., have 185 quick reliefs or
"cures" to their credit, nearly all of which contain opium, many of them
in addition, alcohol, ginger, capsicum or myrrh in various combinations,
and there are numerous cases on record where children and adults have
been narcotized by their excessive use. Some manufacturers print on the
labels covering these goods, words of caution limiting the amount to be
taken. Forty-eight compounds for asthma contain caffeine and morphine.
Sufferers from toothache have their choice from thirty-eight remedies,
and thirty-six soothing, or teething, syrups are provided for infants.
Many people have ignorantly and innocently formed an alcohol, morphine,
or cocaine habit through the use of patent medicines. Many deaths have
occurred from headache powders of which acetanilid is the chief
ingredient. Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, says
of these headache powders:--
"A woman has a headache and she uses one of these remedies. It
relieves the pain. When she has another attack she uses it again
and again with the same result. After a while she finds the
usual amount of the remedy does not cure the pain. She uses two
portions, and so the habit is formed until absolute danger is
confronted. For one thing must not be forgotten: these remedies
are powerful, for if they were not they would be of no effect.
They are in certain doses deadly; they depress the nervous
system; they disturb the digestion; they interfere with natural
sleep; they require to be used in increasingly larger quantities
as the system becomes accustomed to their use; they are almost
without exception excreted by the kidneys, thus adding an
additional burden to organs already badly overworked. They
produce a habit of gaining relief which becomes an obsession and
incapable of being resisted."
It may be asked, "How is it if these mixtures are harmful only, that so
many people profess to have received benefit from them?" There are
different reasons for this.
1. The nature of such drugs as alcohol, opium and cocaine is to benumb
sensation, so that pain is stilled, and the pain, or functional
disturbance forgotten for the time, because the nerves are drugged into
insensibility. The person _feels_ better while under the influence of
the drug, so thinks it is benefiting him.
2. There are people who imagine they have diseases which they do not
have; since trained physicians occasionally err in diagnosis, it is not
strange if the laity should do likewise. Such persons are always ready
to aver that a certain medicine "cured" them.
A ludicrous example of this is a woman out West, whose picture graces
the advertisements of a certain nostrum, accompanied by a testimonial
that said nostrum cured her of a "polypus"! Upon being written to as to
how such a preparation could effect such a cure, she answered that,
after giving the testimonial, she found that she had not had a polypus!
3. Some of the cures attributed to drugs, are doubtless due to Nature.
It is estimated that from 30 to 90 per cent. of ailments are cured by
Nature, unassisted, and often in spite of, the drugs swallowed. Many of
the books advertising these remedies (?) give excellent rules of health,
which, if followed, would restore persons to vigor more speedily
without the accompanying medicine, than they can be restored while the
system has the poisonous drugs to throw off. It may be reasonably
assumed that a goodly number of recoveries ascribed to drug treatments
are due, in reality, to the resisting force of a good constitution, or
to obedience to the laws of health given in the circular.
4. It is not uncommon for people suffering from certain diseases to have
temporary remissions in the course of the disease. No doubt, some of the
cases reported as cures are such spontaneous remissions, which are
followed, after the testimonials have been written, by relapse. The
majority of people are ignorant of the natural course of diseases--of
what happens when no treatment is taken. They do not know that a great
many affections are characterized by periods of apparent recovery. For
instance in some varieties of paralysis, as well as in consumption, the
sufferer may to appearance recover completely for a few months or
longer; if a remedy was being used at the time, it would naturally get
the credit of causing the favorable change.
However, all of the glowing testimonials of wonderful benefits accruing
from patent medicines are not what they seem to be. Dr. J. H. Kellogg
says in his _Monitor of Health_:--
"The average manufacturer of patent medicines regularly employs
a person of some literary attainment whose duty it is to invent
vigorous testimonials of sufferings relieved by Dr. Charlatan's
universal panacea. In many instances persons are hired to give
testimonials, and answer letters of inquiry in such a way as to
encourage business. The shameless dishonesty and ingenious
villainy exhibited are beyond description."
Recently an advertisement of one of these nostrums stated in the
headlines that said nostrum was used in the Frances Willard Temperance
Hospital, Chicago. The testimonial appended purported to be from a nurse
in that hospital, _but the testimonial did not state, as did the
headlines_, that the preparation was ever used in that hospital. The
president of the hospital board of trustees states that the nurse
positively denies having given any testimonial to the company thus
advertising. She did give one to another patent medicine concern, but
not to this, and never said either was used in the hospital, nor have
they been. Suit could be brought for damages, but unfortunately the
patent medicine people have unlimited money, and the hospital has not.
Early in the present year there appeared in many daily papers a large
advertising picture of a man whose name was appended as a professional
nurse of a western city.
The following testimonial accompanied the picture:--
"Mr. ---- of ----, who is a professional nurse of experience,
writes,--'My friend is improving, thanks to ----, and you. I am
called on to nurse the sick of all classes. I recommend ---- to
such an extent that I am nicknamed ---- (giving name of nostrum)
by nearly everybody.'"
As the writer of this book was acquainted with a physician residing in
the small city mentioned in the advertisement, she wrote to him,
requesting that he investigate this testimonial.
He replied that he found the chief part of the advertisement, namely,
that Mr. ---- was a professional nurse, false; "First, by his own
statement as he told me this morning that he never claimed to be a
professional nurse. And my personal acquaintance with him, as well as
that of a number of other physicians in our little city, and reliable
men and women of this community who are acquainted with him, all testify
to the same thing, namely; that he is not a professional nurse, neither
is he a nurse, or even a reliable man. He is an innocent, ignorant man,
very close to the pauper class. He told me when I read the commendation
to which his name is affixed, that it was all true except the
professional nurse part, and that was entirely false, as stated above."
As the picture was of a fine-looking, intelligent-appearing man it
probably was as _genuine_ as the testimonial.
The following was clipped from a copy of _Merck's Report_, April, 1899,
a druggists' paper published in New York city:--
MANY DRUGGISTS INDIGNANT.
A PATENT-MEDICINE ADVERTISEMENT CONTAINS UNAUTHORIZED
ENDORSEMENTS.
"Fully a score of East-side druggists are up in arms over the
unauthorized use of their names in a full-page newspaper
advertisement of a widely-known specific. This advertisement
appeared recently in certain New York daily papers, and retail
druggists who have made it a rule of their business never to
recommend any particular proprietary article, found themselves
quoted in unqualified laudation of the article so liberally
advertised. The names and addresses of the druggists were given
in full, and when several of the men quoted conferred together
they found that the most barefaced misrepresentation had been
resorted to.
"One of the pharmacists thus misrepresented, happened to be
Sidney Faber, the secretary of the Board of Pharmacy. He was not
selling this particular specific, and had never said a word for
or against it, nevertheless, six or eight lines of endorsement
of the article were directly attributed to him. He called on
some of his druggist neighbors whose names he saw in the
advertisement, and ascertained that they, too, had been falsely
and unwarrantably quoted. Mr. Faber promptly wrote to the
proprietors of the specific in question, and denounced the
published endorsements bearing his name, as a forgery. His
indignation was by no means appeased when he received a letter
from the proprietary concern, couched in the following language:
'We regret to learn that you have been annoyed by any statements
that have appeared in New York city papers. We will forward your
letter to them.'
"Within the past few days several of the druggists whose names
were used in this advertisement without authority, have been
considering the advisability of taking legal proceedings in
order to ascertain their rights in the matter. It is contrary to
pharmaceutical ethics for a pharmacist to specially endorse any
proprietary article, or patent medicine. Some of the offended
druggists propose to contribute to a fund for the purpose of
publicly, and widely, advertising this unwarranted use of their
names."
When patent medicine advertisers would dare to resort to such a
wholesale fraud as this, what may they be expected to refrain from?
As an illustration of how commendations from notable persons are
sometimes obtained, the following is cited: In the winter of 1899,
appeared an advertising picture of the lovely Christian lady from
Denmark, the Countess Schimmelmann, who was spending some time in
Chicago. Below her picture were the words:--
"Adeline, Countess Schimmelmann, whose portrait is here given,
in a recent letter to the ---- company, (mentioning proprietors
of nostrum) speaks of friends of hers who have been benefited by
---- (mentioning nostrum), and who first advised her to
recommend it to her sick friends.
"The Countess, as is well known, is a prominent member of the
Danish court. Her coming to this country has been much talked
of. Her real object is one of charity. She is stopping in
Chicago, _and from there writes her straightforward endorsement
of_ ---- (mentioning nostrum)."
The italics are the writer's. The picture and the testimonial were cut
from the paper, and sent to the countess, asking if she had so spoken of
this medicine, and, if so, did she, a strong total abstinence woman,
know that this mixture contains a large percentage of alcohol.
She responded as follows:--
"Thank you for asking me about the enclosed. A white-ribbon lady
came and asked me if I would do her the great kindness to
recommend ---- compound (made up of the juice of celery). I said
I could not personally recommend it as I neither use, nor want,
medicine. But some very reliable friends of mine (_temperance
people_, and _true Christians_) told me I would do a good thing
in recommending it as they used it, and found it excellent. Then
I wrote the following: 'I myself cannot recommend ---- compound
as I do not suffer from any of the ailments it is said to be
good for, but reliable friends of mine tell me that it is
excellent, and I would do a good thing in recommending it to my
friends. Adeline, Countess Schimmelmann.'
"I will only consent to the publishing of this letter if you
publish the _whole_ letter, and no extract from it, as the
white-ribbon lady did for the ---- compound."
If a white-ribboner played this mean trick upon this distinguished
Christian worker she is unworthy of membership in the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union. It is more than likely that the "white-ribbon lady,"
was a paid advertising agent of the patent medicine manufacturer, and
wore a white-ribbon to gain the confidence of the Countess.
Whether patent medicine manufacturers know how to doctor all ills to
which human flesh is heir may be doubted, but that their advertising
agents are skilful "doctors" of testimonials is very evident to any one
acquainted with the facts.
The Department of Public Charities of New York city in a "Report on the
use of so-called Proprietary Medicines as Therapeutic Agents," says:--
"In connection with this subject it might be mentioned that, for
years past, the name of Bellevue Hospital has been taken in vain
by a number of persons and firms, without any authority
whatever. It is a common occurrence that samples of proprietary
medicines, foods, mineral waters, plasters, etc., etc. are sent
to the hospital, or to members of the house-staff for 'trial,'
whereupon the subsequent advertisements of the articles in
question often assert that the latter are 'used in Bellevue
Hospital,' leaving the impression upon the mind of the reader
that the article, or articles, have been used with the sanction
of some member of the Medical Board. It is probably impossible
to find a remedy for this evil, from which many other
institutions of repute likewise suffer. To publish a denial of
such false assertions would only aggravate the evil. The utmost
that can be done appears to be, to caution the medical staff
against any entanglements with, or encouragement of, the agents
of the interested parties."
This report, which was adopted by the Medical Board of Bellevue
Hospital, classifies proprietary preparations as "Objectionable" or
"Unobjectionable" according to the following rules:--
"Unobjectionable preparations are those, the origin and
composition of which is not kept secret, and which are known to
serve a useful and legitimate purpose. Malted Milk is an
example. Objectionable proprietary preparations, by far the
largest group of the whole class, comprise all those which are
aimed at under the medical code of ethics under the term 'secret
nostrum,' which term may be more closely defined thus:
"A secret nostrum is a preparation, the origin or composition of
which is kept secret, the therapeutic claims for which are
unreasonable or unscientific, or which is not intended for a
legitimate purpose.
"Examples: The various 'Soothing Syrups,' 'Female Regulators,'
'Blood Purifiers,' and thousands of others."
Dr. A. Emil Hiss, Ph. G., says of the secrecy of these preparations:--
"A secret compound with a meaningless title is presumptively a
fraud. Why a secret if not to permit extravagant, or fraudulent,
claims as to therapeutic merit? * * * * * The ruling motive of
the secret being essentially false and dishonest, its employment
in the interest of any remedy is clearly a sufficient cause for
its condemnation and ostracism."
Mothers sometimes wonder why their boys take so readily to cigarettes,
or their daughters to cocaine, never thinking that the soothing syrup,
or cough mixture given freely by themselves to their children developed
a craving for something stronger later on. Mrs. Winslow's Soothing
Syrup, advertised for years in church as well as secular papers as
"invaluable for children," is cited in the report for 1888 of the
Massachusetts State Board of Health as containing opium; also Ayer's
Cherry Pectoral, Dr. Bull's Cough Syrup, Jayne's Expectorant, Hooker's
Cough and Croup Syrup, Moore's Essence of Life, Mother Bailey's Quieting
Syrup, and others too numerous to mention. The report says:--
"The sale of soothing syrups, and all medicines designed for the
use of children, which contain opium and its preparations should
be prohibited. Many would be deterred from using a preparation
known to contain opium, who would use without question a
soothing syrup recommended for teething children."
Again, on page 149 the following is quoted from a prominent physician:--
"Among infants, and in the early years of life, soothing syrups
are the cause of untold misery; for seeds are doubtlessly sown
in infancy only to bear the most pernicious fruit in adult life.
It is said that one of the best known soothing syrups contains
from one to three grains of morphia to the ounce of syrup. I
believe that stringent legal measures should immediately be
taken to stop the sale of so-called soothing syrups containing
opium, morphia or codeine."
The writer has known mothers so ignorant of the nature of these soothing
syrups as to deliberately put the baby to sleep upon them in order to
insure relief from care for some hours.
Prof. J. Redding, M. D., says on this point:--
"While it may be true that an adult, of his own free will, and
without incentive, or predisposing causes, does occasionally
become a drunkard, I am convinced that nine hundred and
ninety-nine out of every one thousand individuals who become
drunkards are made so in embryo, infancy, or childhood, by the
use of alcoholic decoctions, soothing syrups, opiates, calomel,
etc. which are given as medicines to allay pain, obtund nerve
sensibility, to cure the little sufferer of his _vital
manifestations_, of his _mental discomforts_, but leave the
actual disease and its, perhaps, putrid causation to time and
debilitated vitality to remove."
Of the danger and harmfulness of patent cough mixtures _The American
Therapist_ says:--
"Cough mixtures as a rule, do more harm than good. Nine times
out of ten the principal ingredient is opium. It is true that
opium may lessen the tendency to cough, but it does great damage
by arresting the normal secretions, and the system becomes
affected by the poisons from the kidneys, skin, stomach,
intestines and the mucous membrane lining the upper air
passages. Not only do these mixtures arrest every secretion in
the body, but they also show their deteriorating and degrading
effect through the stomach. They contain substances which tend
to disorder and derange digestion."
Several years ago the Post-Office Department at Washington was led to
take an interest in the question of fraudulent "patent" medicines, and
an examination of many of these nostrums was undertaken by government
chemists. Fraud orders were issued against some of the most flagrant
offenders, forbidding them the use of the mails. This has not done away
with the evil, however, for they usually move to another city, and begin
business again under another name.
The examinations made for the Post Office Department revealed the fact
that a great many of the so-called medicines on the market were
intoxicating beverages in disguise. The Internal Revenue Department then
took up the matter and a long list of these beverage medicines was sent
out to internal revenue agents with instructions that these must not be
sold henceforth unless by persons paying a special tax for the sale of
alcoholic beverages.
Some of the manufacturers of these nostrums availed themselves of
opportunity given to add a recognized medicinal agent to their flavored
alcohol and water and such preparations were stricken from the list of
those requiring a whisky license for their sale. Peruna and Hostetter's
Bitters were the best-known of these. Peruna had been up to this time
what government chemists called "a cheap cocktail." The report of the
pure food commissioner of North Dakota for 1906 gives on page 157 an
analysis of it as now upon the market: "Alcohol by volume, 21.25 per
cent.; total solids, 3.846 per cent.; ash, .158 per cent." The report
says:--
"The only thing of a medicinal nature that we could find in this
preparation appeared to be a small amount of senna combined with
a bitters of some kind."
Proprietary "Foods" have not escaped attention from chemists. Dr.
Charles Harrington, for several years secretary of Massachusetts Board
of Health, was the first to publish an analysis of these preparations
showing their alcoholic strength and their small nutritive content. He
lists "foods" examined by him as follows:--
"Liquid Peptonoids 23.03 alcohol; maximum amount recommended
will yield less than one ounce of nutriment per day, and the
equivalent of 3.50 oz. of whisky. Hemapeptone 10.60 alcohol;
Hemaboloids 15.81 alcohol; the maximum dose recommended yields
about 1/4 oz. of nutriment, and the equivalent of about 1-1/2
oz. of whisky daily. Tonic Beef 15.58 alcohol; doses recommended
yield about 1/2 oz. nutriment daily, and the equivalent of one
ounce of whiskey. Mulford's Predigested Beef 19.72 alcohol;
doses recommended yield about 1-1/4 oz. nutriment daily, and the
alcoholic equivalent of about 6 oz. of whisky. There were
"Foods" for the sick examined which were non-alcoholic, but
their nutritive value was about nothing in comparison to their
cost."
The Committee on Pharmacy of the American Medical Association reports on
the following foods thus:--
Carpanutrine 17.3 alcohol; Liquid Peptones (Lilly & Co.) 22.0;
Nutrient Wine of Beef Peptone (Armour) 21.5; Nutritive Liquid
Peptone 23.0; Panopepton 18.5; Peptonic Elixir 18.8; Tonic Beef
16.1. The report on these says: "There are no fatty substances
present in these products; their food value from this point of
view is, therefore, _nil_."
A prominent physician of Philadelphia said of these "Foods" in the
Journal of the A. M. A.:--
"I have long been convinced that many a patient has suffered
severely when preparations such as these were being used, and
that not a few of them have died, chiefly of starvation. * * * A
very important disadvantage of these foods is their alcoholic
content. Even in the small doses customarily used, the quantity
of alcohol is often irritating to the stomach, and may be
disadvantageous in other ways."
The Committee on Pharmacy also reported on cod-liver oil preparations.
They said: "A preparation claiming to represent cod-liver oil which does
not contain oil in some form is fraudulent. Waterbury's Metabolized
Cod-Liver Oil and Hagee's Cordial of Cod-Liver Oil are cited as
examples. It is claimed by the manufacturers that the latter represents
33 per cent. of pure Norwegian cod-liver oil, but in neither of these
preparations did the tests made by the committee show any oil. Analysis
revealed sugar, alcohol, and glycerine, none of which is contained in
cod-liver oil."
Vinol is advertised as Wine of Cod-Liver Oil, but is admittedly without
oil, and according to analysis contains 18.8 per cent. alcohol.
Wampole's Tasteless Preparation of Cod-Liver Oil showed 20.05 per cent.
of alcohol.
Cod-Liver Oil is considerably out of date now as a prescribed remedy
because physicians have found that it impairs appetite. Cream and fresh
butter and olive oil are advised instead.
Australia has been such a harvest field for patent medicine
manufacturers that a government commission was appointed to study the
subject. This commission presented a voluminous report to the
parliament of 1907. This report gives an analysis of most of the
extensively advertised medicines. Doan's Backache Kidney Pills are said
to be made of oil of juniper 1 drop, hemlock pitch 10 grains, potassium
nitrate 5 grains, powdered fenugreek (Greek hay) 4 grains, wheat flour 4
grains, maize starch 2 grains. The report says: "The stuff is the
cheapest kind of skin-plaster made up into pills." The seeds of
fenugreek are used mainly for poultices. Doan's Dinner Pills contain two
drastic purgatives, podophyllin and aloin. Both of these are dangerous
drugs. Aloin frequently produces hemorrhoids (piles). The _British
Medical Journal_ says that the material in forty of the Kidney Pills and
four Dinner Pills would cost one English halfpenny (one cent).
Vitae-Ore is given as consisting of ordinary sulphate of iron (green
vitriol) to which a little Epsom salts has been added. Munyon's Kidney
Cure, which claims to cure Bright's disease, gravel, and all urinary
diseases, is given as composed entirely of sugar. Dr. Williams' Pink
Pills are said to be an iron pill much the same as the ordinary Blaud's
Pills which are sold in drug-stores for half, or less than half, the
price of the proprietary article. (Iron is said by recent investigators
to be very injurious to the stomach.)
The Committee on Pharmacy of the American Medical Association has
analyzed many proprietary medicines; from their reports the following
analyses are taken. "Health Grains," which are claimed to be a remedy
for "Dyspepsia, Indigestion, Nervousness, etc.," were found to consist
of 87.50 per cent. of coarse quartz sand, and 12.50 per cent. of rock
candy and syrup.
"Hoff's Consumption Cure consists essentially of sodium
cinnamate and extract of opium, a mixture at one time suggested
for the treatment of tuberculosis, but which has been discarded
by physicians. A medicine which depends on opium for whatever
therapeutic effect it may have is, when sold indiscriminately to
the laity, inherently vicious."
Sartoin Skin Food for "sunburn, and all skin blemishes" was made of
Epsom salts colored with a pink dye. The government prosecuted the
company sending out Epsom salts as a "food," and they were fined $20 for
thus seeking to dupe silly women.
Malt extracts are very extensively used at the present time, under the
popular notion that they are an aid to starch digestion. That they are a
product of the brewery has caused them to be looked upon with suspicion
by cautious people, but the multitude has apparently given no thought,
or care, as to whether or not they may be alcoholic. Dr. Charles
Harrington presented the results of an examination of these preparations
at a meeting of the Boston Society of Medical Sciences, held Nov. 17,
1896. The following is quoted from the journal of the society for
November, 1896:--
"Twenty-one different brands of liquid malt extract were
obtained and analyzed. That they were not true malt extracts is
shown by the fact that in no one was there the slightest
diastatic power; all were alcoholic, some being stronger than
beer, ale, or even porter. In a number of specimens a large
amount of salicylic acid was detected."
Dr. J. H. Kellogg, in commenting upon this report, said in the Dec.,
1896, _Bulletin of the A. M. T. A._:--
"In the light of these facts, it is apparent that ale or lager
beer might as well be prescribed for a patient as these
so-called malt extracts, which are practically nothing more than
concentrated ale or lager."
There are malt extracts, made up like honey, or syrup, in consistency,
which are valuable.
The following list of malt extracts, with accompanying letter from Prof.
Sharples, is taken from a paper published by Hon. Henry H. Faxon, of
Quincy, Mass.:--
"Boston, Mass., March 20, 1897.
"I enclose a list of the malt extracts examined in this office
during the past year or two. These samples were all in original
packages, obtained by officers in various parts of Eastern
Massachusetts. They probably very fairly represent the various
malt extracts on the market. I have added two samples of Porter
and one of Old Brown Stout for purposes of comparison.
"Yours respectfully,
"S. P. SHARPLES.
"State Assayer."
Name. Solids. Alcohol.
5193 English Malt Extract 9.70 5.63
5214 Old Grist Mill Malt Extract 10.57 5.54
5418 Old Grist Mill Malt Extract 9.98 5.63
5490 Old Grist Mill Malt Extract 12.28 5.86
5626 Old Grist Mill Malt Extract 9.63 5.00
5207 Liquid Food, a Malt Extract 10.47 4.27
5225 Pure Malt, a Liquid Food, a Tonic 9.71 5.00
5416 Pure Malt, a Liquid Food, a Tonic 10.76 6.32
5619 King's Pure Malt[C] 9.52 6.60
[Footnote C: The label on King's Malt states that
for a strong, healthy person, with a good appetite,
a pint with each meal and another on retiring at
night will not be too much.]
5421 A Nutritious Tonic, Pure Malt Extract 10.88 6.24
5226 Noris' Extract of Malt 11.57 5.94
5258 Noris' Extract of Malt 9.31 6.55
5397 Noris' Extract of Malt 10.63 6.24
5485 Noris' Extract of Malt 10.50 6.63
5620 Noris' Extract of Malt 12.55 5.90
5229 Pabst Malt Extract, The Best Tonic 10.43 5.16
5230 Hoff's Malt Extract (Tarrant's) 11.33 8.88
5489 Hoff's Malt Extract (Tarrant's) 12.25 7.17
5231 Johann Hoff'sches Malz-Extract, Gesundheit's Beir 11.31 4.34
5491 Johann Hoff'sches Malz-Extract, Gesundheit's Beir 11.02 4.85
5621 Johann Hoff'sches Malz-Extract, Gesundheit's Beir 10.49 4.50
5408 Johann Hoff'sches Malz-Extract, Gesundheit's Beir 11.47 4.78
5340 Haffenreffer & Co. Malt Wine 11.02 6.65
5423 Haffenreffer & Co. Malt Wine 11.71 5.63
Liquid Bread, A Pure Extract of Malt 6.78 6.63
5395 Durgin's Malt, Liquid Extract of Malt 7.12 5.94
5433 Durgin's Liquid Extract of Malt 6.49 5.55
5396 Wyeth's Liquid Malt Extract 14.80 3.35
5488 Wyeth's Liquid Malt Extract 15.50 2.86
5622 Wyeth's Liquid Malt Extract 15.73 2.35
5406 Wampole's Concentrated Extract of Malt 9.84 9.86
5407 Anheuser-Busch's Malt Nutrine 15.98 3.00
5600 Anheuser-Busch's Malt Nutrine 15.82 2.25
5417 Malt Extract (Sterilized), John L. Gleeson 7.97 4.71
5422 Malt Extract (Sterilized), Charles C. Hearn 8.58 5.00
5436 Burkhart Brewing Co.'s Malt Extract 10.73 7.01
5486 Menzel's Extract of Malt 5.90 5.24
5625 Menzel's Extract of Malt 6.75 4.35
5623 King of Malt Tonics, Lion Tonic 10.95 7.05
5624 Teutonic, "A concentrated Extract
of Malt and Hops" 9.95 7.45
5409 Van Nostrand's Old Stout Porter,
"a pure malt extract" 7.97 6.55
5233 Philadelphia Porter 5.34 6.63
5232 Burke's Guiness Stout 6.66 7.17
The alcohol in the above table represents the cubic centimeters
of alcohol in a 100 cubic centimeters of the liquid. The solids
are the number of grams of solid extract in each 100 centimeters
of the liquid.
S. P. SHARPLES.
The _British Medical Journal_, and the _British Medical Temperance
Review_ have been calling attention to the danger in coca wines.
Intemperance among invalids is said to be greatly on the increase from
the use of these wines. In every case the basis of these preparations is
strongly alcoholic wine, ranging from 18 to 20 per cent. The coca added
is either the leaves, or liquid extract of coca, or hydrochlorate of
cocaine.
Dr. Frederic Coley says in the _British Medical Journal_:--
"Coca, and its chief alkaloid, cocaine, are drugs which possess
some power of removing the sense of fatigue, just as analgesics
remove the consciousness of pain. But they no more remove the
physical condition of muscles, and nerve centres, of which the
sense of pain gives us warning, than a dose of morphine, which
removes the pain of toothache, removes the offending tooth, or
even arrests the caries in it. The truth of this will be obvious
to any one who remembers enough of physiology to know what
fatigue really means. A muscle which is tired out is different
chemically from the same muscle in its more normal condition,
when it is ready to respond vigorously to ordinary stimuli. It
has lost something, and is, besides, overcharged (poisoned, in
fact) with the products of its own activity, and it can only be
restored by a fresh supply of the material which it requires,
and the carrying away of the poisonous waste products. Fatigue
of nerve centres is no doubt strictly analogous to fatigue of
muscles.
"It is practically impossible for us, by voluntary exertion, to
reach the degree of absolute fatigue, which the physiologist
produces by electric stimulation of a nerve-muscle preparation.
The sense of fatigue becomes so intense that voluntary effort
cannot overcome it. So no man can produce asphyxia by simply
holding his breath, because the _besoin de respirer_ becomes
irresistible; but it is quite possible for a narcotic to so dull
the sensory part of the respiratory reflex mechanism as to
permit asphyxia to take place.
"The sense of fatigue, and the _besoin de respirer_ are both
Nature's danger signals. Drugs which hide such signals from us
are a more than doubtful benefit. If it were possible for us to
suppose that a fraction of a grain of cocaine could afford to
exhausted nerve centres, and muscles, the nutriment which they
require for their restoration, and at the same time eliminate
the poisonous waste products, then it would be reasonable to
prescribe the drug for use by all who are overworked, and
perhaps suffering from the malnutrition consequent upon,
'nervous dyspepsia,' as well as mere want of rest.
"In this go-ahead century it is no wonder that many are but too
ready to experiment with a drug which professes to be able to
remove fatigue, and to enable a man to go on working when,
without its aid, weariness had become unendurable. Cocaine
claims all this; and it is most dangerous just because, for a
time, it seems able to keep its promise. That is how victims to
cocainism are made. Let us be honest with our overworked
patients, who want us to help them with drugs; let us tell them
that rest is the only safe remedy for weariness.
"To combine such a drug as coca, or cocaine, with an alcoholic
stimulant, is to multiply the dangers of cocainism by those of
alcoholism. It would be impossible to find terms sufficiently
severe in which to condemn the recklessness of those who
promiscuously recommend such a compound for all who are
overworked or debilitated. One firm actually has the assurance
to advertise a preparation of this kind as a remedy for
dipsomania. Truly this is casting out devils by Beelzebub, with
a vengeance. Invoking Beelzebub for such a purpose has never
been a success. And I suspect that any form of coca wine will
make a great many more dipsomaniacs than it will cure."
Dr. Walter N. Edwards, F. C. S., says of coca wines:--
"These wines are sold as being useful in an immense variety of
ailments. The following are a few of the many that are named
upon the bottles or in the circulars accompanying them:--
"Weakness after illness,
"Nervous disorders,
"Sleeplessness,
"Influenza,
"Whooping cough,
"Exhaustion of mind and body,
"Allays thirst,
"Restores digestive function,
"Enables great physical toil to be undergone,
"Great value in excesses of all kinds,
"General debility,
"Prevents colds and chills,
"Makes pure, rich blood,
"Anaemia,
"Invaluable after pleurisy, pneumonia, etc.,
"Aid to the vocal organs.
"This is a fairly respectable list of complaints, and the very
fact that these preparations of coca wine are put forward as a
cure for so wide a range of various complaints is in itself a
condemnation of them.
"When any particular remedy is said to be of universal
application for a large number of different complaints it may be
looked upon with great suspicion.
"It must always be remembered that there is the commercial side
to this question. The proprietors have no particular regard for
the welfare of the people; their business is to make a profit,
and many of them gain enormous fortunes. By skilful and lavish
advertisements, and by carefully worded testimonials, they
appeal to the credulity of the public, and often deceive even
those who regard themselves as belonging to the thinking
classes.
"There are two specific dangers in regard to these wines. They
are ordinary wines, either port or sherry for the most part, and
therefore strongly alcoholic. The user of them is in
considerable danger of cultivating a taste for alcohol, and
certainly, there is the greatest possible danger to any one
having had the appetite, of reviving it.
"The dose is an elastic one, it can be repeated with
considerable frequency three or four times a day.
"What would be said of growing girls or youths having recourse
three or four times a day to the wine bottle? This is exactly
what they are doing when coca, and the so-called food wines are
placed in their hands as medicine. They like the pleasant taste,
there is the call of habit and appetite, and so there arises the
greatest possible danger of a general liking for alcoholic
liquors being set up. The ailing man or woman of set years is in
similar danger, for they are having recourse to alcohol when
their powers of mind and body are to some extent exhausted, and
they are thus less able to resist the fascination for alcohol
that may so quickly be brought into existence.
"Another element of danger is that the recourse to coca and kola
is an attempt to get more out of the body, and the mind, than
nature intended. Overwork, overstrain, worry, all produce
exhaustion of physical and nervous power. Nature pulls us up by
asserting herself, and we feel run down and seedy, and, perhaps,
quite unwell. What is wanted is rest, proper diet, and change.
These would quickly be restorative, and once again we should be
fit for the duties of life.
"In a busy age there is the strongest possible temptation to
seek a restorative by some occult method, rather than to give
the rest and refreshment that nature demands. It is upon this
that the whole trade in these so-called restoratives depends.
"There is no food quality in alcohol, cocaine or kola, but there
is in them all a narcotizing influence that in its lesser stages
is hurtful, and in its greater stages disastrous.
"The cocaine habit may be cultivated as easily as the alcohol
habit, and the two forms of disease, alcoholism and cocainism,
are by no means rare. The great factor in each of them is the
loss of will power, and when that is accomplished the descent to
complete moral and physical ruin is quite easy.
"A pure and simple life, in accord with the laws of health and
hygiene, is the panacea both for the maintenance, and the
restoration of health, and that is what we should strive to aim
at, rather than having recourse to drugs that are not only
ineffective, but positively dangerous."--_United Temperance
Gazette._
In Dr. Milner Fothergill's _Practioners' Hand-book of Treatment_, fourth
edition, the following statement is made:--
"Coca wine, and other medicated wines are largely sold to people
who are considered, and consider themselves, to be total
abstainers. It is not uncommon to hear the mother of a family
say, 'I never allow my girls to touch stimulants of any kind,
but I give them each a glass of coca wine at 11 in the morning,
and again at bedtime.' Originally coca wine was made from coca
leaves, but it is now commonly a solution of the alkaloid, in a
sweet and strongly alcoholic wine. This is really the gist of
the whole matter; coca wine is largely consumed by people who
fondly believe themselves to be total abstainers, and who are
active enough in denouncing those who take a little wine, or a
glass of beer at their meals. The sooner their delusion is
dispelled the better for themselves, and for the unfortunate
children over whom they exercise supervision."
Another physician tells of seeing a distinguished ecclesiastical
dignitary, a sworn foe of alcohol and its congeners, giving his young
child a generous daily allowance of one of these wines.
The user of coca wines runs a double risk--an alcohol craving may be
revived, or created; and, at the same time, cocainism may be set up, and
nothing but physical, mental and moral ruin follow.
The _British Medical Journal_ of January 23rd, 1897, says:--
"There can be no doubt that in many parts of the world cocaine
inebriety is largely on the increase. The greatest number of
victims is to be found among society women, and among women who
have adopted literature as a profession; and there is no doubt
that a considerable proportion of chronic cocainists have fallen
under the dominion of the drug from a desire to stimulate their
powers of imagination. Others have acquired that habit quite
innocently from taking coca wines. The symptoms experienced by
the victims of the cocaine habit are illusions of sight and
hearing, neuromuscular irritability, and localized anaesthesia.
After a time insomnia supervenes, and the patient displays a
curious hesitancy, and an inability to arrive at a decision on
even the most trivial subjects."
Dr. F. Coley says later on in the article before referred to:--
"There is another combination which, though utterly absurd from
a therapeutical point of view, is not in itself quite so
dangerous as coca wine. It will probably do a larger amount of
mischief, however, because more people take it. I refer to the
various preparations, so largely advertised, which profess to be
compounded of port wine, extract of malt, and extract of meat.
To the medically uneducated public this doubtless seems a most
promising combination: extract of meat for food, extract of malt
to aid digestion, port wine to make blood. Surely the very thing
to strengthen all who are weak, and to hasten the restoration of
convalescents. Unfortunately what the advertisements say--that
this stuff is largely prescribed by medical men--is not wholly
untrue.
"I do not suppose that any physician of anything like front rank
would make such a mistake. But busy general practitioners may be
excused if they prove to be a bit oblivious of physiology, and
so become attracted by a formula which is more plausible than
sound. In the first place, we all know that extract of meat is
not food at all. From the manner of its production, it cannot
contain an appreciable quantity of proteid material. It consists
mainly of creatin, and creatinin, and salts. These are, it is
needless to say, incapable of acting as food. Extract of meat,
and similar preparations, have their uses however; made into
'beef-tea,' their meaty flavor often enables patients to take a
quantity of bread, which would otherwise be refused; or lentil
flour, or some other matter may be added. In this way, though
not food itself, it becomes a most useful aid to feeding. It is
besides, a harmless stimulant, especially when taken, as it
always should be, hot. It should be needless to add that to
combine extract of meat with port wine is simply to ignore its
real use. The only intelligible basis for such an invention must
be the wholly erroneous notion that extract of meat is a food."
The prices asked for "secret nostrums" are said by chemists to be
ofttimes far beyond the value of the materials. Of one article the _New
Idea_, a druggists' paper, says:--
"It retails at $1.50 per bottle. Such an article could be put up
for less than fifteen cents, including bottle, leaving by no
means a small margin for the profit of its manufacturers."
The same paper says of a cure for catarrh, neuralgia, etc. sold in the
form of a small ball:--
"This cure costs $2.50 per ball. A handsome profit could be made
upon it at 5 cents a ball."
Some proprietary preparations are not harmful, but are positively inert.
The Mass. State Board of Health in report of 1896 gives _Kaskine_ as an
example of these. Although sold at a dollar an ounce it was found to
consist of nothing but granulated sugar of the fine grade used in
homeopathic pharmacy, without any medication or flavoring whatever.
Dr. Edward Von Adelung in an article in _Life and Health_, Dec., 1897,
tells of a well advertised cure for consumption, the analysis of which
showed it to be composed of water, slightly colored by the addition of a
very small quantity of red wine, and two mineral acids, muriatic and
impure sulphuric, in quantities just sufficient to lend it a taste! He
says:--
"Fortuitously I had the opportunity of observing the influence
of this remedy on a consumptive who took it regularly, and who
was so enamored of its favorable action that he gave up his
business to conduct an agency for its sale. It was not long
after he had entered upon his new vocation that I received word
of his death, due to pulmonary hemorrhage."
The "returned missionary" fraud has been exposed by different druggists'
papers, among them the _New Idea_. The "missionary" would advertise a
"free cure," if people would send to him. The "cure" would be in the
form of a prescription. There being no drugs in any drugstore bearing
the names given in the prescription, the dupe was expected to pay an
exorbitant price for them to the philanthropic "missionary." In one case
of this kind the "medicinal plants brought from South America, the only
place where they grew," were upon examination by chemists of the _New
Idea_ found to be ordinary drugs, not one of which comes from South
America.
The same paper tells of another "South American" fraud, 60,000 bottles
of which were said to be sold in Detroit in a few weeks, by an
itinerating vendor.
A certain liver, and kidney, and constipation cure, sold in the form of
herbs, is said by _New Idea_ to be chiefly couch grass, and senna
leaves. Yet it sells for 25 cents for a small package.
To this paper the public is also indebted for the information that a
kind of wafer advertised to "cure in a few days all coughs, colds,
irritation of the uvula and tonsils, influenza, bronchitis, asthma, sore
throat, consumption, and all diseases of the lungs and chest" was found
to consist wholly of sugar and corn starch!
_Medical World_ recently told of the investigation of "H----" by Prof.
John Uri Lloyd of Cincinnati. It was advertised as a plant discovered by
a doctor traveling in Florida. Its juices were said to be antidotal to
snake poisoning, and would also cure the opium habit. Prof. Lloyd found
it to be a liquid consisting of a solution of sulphate of morphine and
salicylic acid, in alcohol and glycerine, with suitable coloring matter.
Another fraud exposed by _New Idea_ was a "cure" for the peculiar ills
of women. The cure is put up in the form of little oblong blocks about a
half inch in length.
"A circular accompanies them, and is well calculated to produce
alarm in the young. It is another sample of the demoralizing
documents which unscrupulous quacks are continually circulating
among the laity, in order to create alarm, and profit by this
alarm."
After giving a description of the diseases peculiar to the sex it is
stated that all of these are curable by using eight dollars worth of
this wonderful medicine.
_New Idea_ continues:--
"The _cure_ consists, according to our examination, of nothing
but flour, made into a paste and allowed to harden in the form
of small oblong blocks. Evidently the quack relied upon the
faith-cure principle, and his auxiliary treatment, as set forth
in the rules of living given in the circular."
While these inert preparations are of the nature of frauds, they will
not injure the health, nor make drunkards, or opium fiends, as the
disguised preparations of whisky and morphine are likely to do.
That the use of patent medicines has made many drunkards is a fact well
attested. The American Association for the Study of Inebriety appointed
a committee several years ago to investigate the various nostrums
advertised especially for the benefit of alcohol and opium inebriates.
The report of this committee, prepared by Dr. N. Roe Bradner, late of
the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, in speaking of the marvelous
cures advertised in connection with the use of these mixtures, calls
them "volumes of gilded falsehood, designed for an innocent,
unsuspecting public," and adds:--
"The use of such nostrums would do more toward confirming than
eradicating the habit, if it existed, and would invite and
create addiction to an almost hopeless fatality, where the habit
had not previously existed. Insanity, palsy, idiocy, and many
forms of physical, moral and mental ruin have followed the sale
of these nostrums throughout our land."
Dr. E. A. Craighill, President of the Virginia State Pharmaceutical
Association, is quoted in the July (1897) _Journal of Inebriety_, as
saying:--
"In my experience I have known of men filling drunkards' graves
who learned to drink taking some advertised bitters as
legitimate medicine. It would be hard to estimate the number of
young brains ruined, and the maturer opium wrecks from nostrums
of this nature. I could write a volume on the mischief that is
being done every day to body, mind and soul, all over the land,
by the thousands of miserable frauds that are being poured down
the throats of not only ignorant people, but, alas, intelligent
ones, too."
A lady informed the writer recently that her brother had taken forty
bottles of one of these preparations, and had become a drunkard through
it.
Many seem unaware that the ethics of the medical profession restrain
reputable physicians from advertising themselves or their remedies, so
that these much-lauded patent medicines are put upon the market by
quacks, never by physicians of good standing. It is purely a
money-making enterprise, without consideration of the health or
destruction of the people. It is popularly supposed that physicians
decry these things from fear that their sale will injure regular
practice. This is another error as they increase work for the doctor by
aggravating existing trouble, as well as causing disease where there was
only slight disturbance.
Dr. F. E. Stewart, Ph. G., of Detroit, Mich., says in the October, 1897,
_Life and Health_:--
"Taking all these facts into consideration, it is apparent that
the patent, trade-mark and copyright laws should be so
interpreted and administered by the court that they will secure
the greatest good to the greatest number, and aid in attaining
the end of government, viz., 'moral, intellectual and physical
perfection.' It is not the object of these laws to create odious
monopolies, to throw a mantle of protection over fraud, to
enable quacks and charlatans to encroach on the domain of
legitimate medical and pharmacal practice, or to support an
advertising business designed to mislead the public in regard to
the nature and value of medicines as curative agents. The morals
of the community are injured by some of this advertising,
intellectual vigor is impaired by the use of many things
advertised, and physical, as well as moral, degradation
frequently results. Crime is often inculcated--even the crime of
murder, that the nostrum manufacturer may profit thereby. Cures
for incurable diseases are promised, and guaranteed. Every
scheme that human and devilish ingenuity can devise to wring
money from its victim is resorted to, which can be employed
without actually bringing the advertisers into court. All this
wicked quackery parades under the guise of 'patent' medicines,
and asks the protection of our courts. It is time for the
medical and pharmaceutic professions to unite, and unmask this
monster, and show the public its true nature. And this can be
accomplished in no better way than through a study of the object
of the laws which the secret nostrum manufacturers are now
endeavoring to prostitute for their own advantage, and the
teaching of the public what these laws were enacted for.
"The secret nostrum business in some of its phases has
assiduously found its way into the medical arts, and physicians,
pharmacists, and manufacturing houses, seem to have forgotten,
to a certain extent, the obligations which they owe to the
public. Medicine, in all its departments, must be practiced in
accord with scientific, and professional requirement, or it will
sink to the level of a commercial business. _The end of medical
practice is service to suffering humanity, not the acquisition
of money._ Money making is a necessary part of the practice of
medical arts, not, however, its chief object. This fact must be
kept in view always. Once lost sight of, and trade competition
substituted for competition in serving the interests of the
sick, medical and pharmacal practice will become an ignoble
scrabble for wealth, in which the sick become victims of
avarice and greed. Better set free a pack of ravening wolves in
a community than to change the end of medical practice to a
commercial one, for physicians and pharmacists would soon
degenerate into quacks and charlatans, and take shameful
advantage of the community for gain."
Where Dr. Stewart speaks of murder he probably refers to the sale of
_abortofacients_.
Dr. Roe Bradner, of Philadelphia, in his report upon alleged cures for
drunkenness before the Society for the Study of Inebriety several years
ago, said:--
"There is a certain other class of so-called remedies, prepared
sometimes by physicians and pharmacists, that do a great deal of
harm. I allude to the 'non-secret proprietaries' that claim to
publish their formulas, _but do not_. One in particular has made
thousands, and likely tens of thousands, of _chloral drunkards_,
dethroned the reason of as many more, besides having killed
outright very many. It is impossible for any one to estimate the
mischief that is being done by such remedies, and the physicians
who recommend them."
Advertising is still the great hindrance in protecting the people from
medical imposters. Professor E. W. Ladd, Pure Food Commissioner of North
Dakota, says on this point:--
"These patent medicines, some of which are of merit, and others
are only 'dopes,' or preparations intended to defraud the
public, have been altogether too generally advertised and sold
to the public. In many ways it seems a deplorable fact that by
an unfair method of advertising the American people have come to
be consumers to such an extent of a class of medicines, which,
at times, are positively detrimental to health. In other
instances the continued use of the product is liable to result
in the formation of a drug habit which may lead to serious
consequences.
"It should not be understood that this department condemns the
use of legitimate proprietary or patent medicines, but it
insists that there is a need for wiping out of existence about
half of the products now generally sold, and with regard to the
others the public have a right to know what is contained in
them, and not be misled by false statements, or by statements so
cunningly worded as to positively mislead the unwary reader. * *
* In view of the fact that about 90 per cent. of the nostrums on
the market are sold by newspaper and magazine advertising and
not by the customer seeing the package, it would seem advisable
to amend the law so as to cover this point."
There is no doubt that it is the advertising which makes the patent
medicine business so tremendously profitable. One firm boasted, prior to
the exposure of the fraud nature of their preparation, that they spent
$5,000 a day in advertising. What must have been made on the nostrum to
allow such expenditure? It is said on good authority that the cost of
these nostrums does not exceed fifteen to sixteen cents a bottle, and
they sell for a dollar a bottle. Such profits make it easy to buy up
newspapers that are conscienceless as to the robbery of the unfortunate
sick.
The only effectual way of putting an end to the sale of nostrums is to
make illegal the advertising of such preparations in the public press.
Norway has safeguarded her people thus. The difficulty in gaining such a
law in America will be the opposition of the newspapers, the large
majority of which still cling to this selfish method of adding to their
gains. Even the so-called religious press is not all clean yet in this
respect. Once they could be excused because of lack of knowledge. Now
there is no excuse.
During the debate in Congress upon the patent-medicine clause of the
Pure Food Bill, Senator Heyburn said:--
"I have always been aggressively against the advertisements of
nostrums. Some time ago a friend of mine, a very old fellow,
that I had taken a special interest in securing a pension for,
had reached the age and condition of dependency. I succeeded in
getting him a comfortable pension that would pay his bills for
household provisions. Once, when I found he was very poor, I
said to his wife, 'What are you doing with your pension?' She
said, 'Don't you know, Mr. Heyburn, that it takes at least
one-half of that pension for patent medicine?' Then she
enumerated the patent medicines they were taking. It was being
suggested to them through advertisements that they were the
victims of ills that they were not troubled with, and that they
could find relief through these different medicines.
"I am in favor of stopping the advertisements of these nostrums
in every paper in the country."
It may well be asked, Would any one of these well-to-do newspaper owners
entrust himself, or any of his family, in time of sickness to the
cure-all imposters whose nostrums they advertise? If one of their
children had anaemia would they rely on Pink Pills for a cure? If they
had a genuine catarrh would they expect it to be cured by Peruna? Never!
They would seek the very best medical advice obtainable. Yet, for the
ignorant, credulous, sick and suffering poor they allow traps to be laid
to rob of both money and such chances of recovery as might come from
proper medical attendance.