THE FRENCH INSTITUTE. 83 



nostrum-venders declare the composition on a label and to submit 

 the stuff to official analysis. In England, as in this country, the 

 unrestricted sale of patent medicine has been again and again dis- 

 cussed in print, and the absence of proper legislation there has 

 allowed quacks and impostors to grow and nourish. 



Frankly speaking, nostrum- venders no longer rely on the cura- 

 tive power of their drugs. They depend now on the power of 

 advertising almost exclusively. They have a literary man to 

 " write up " the remedy in ingenious fashion ; an artist to show the 

 patient "before and after" using the panacea ; a poet to compose 

 odes and lyrics ; a liar who rivals Munchausen ; and a forger who 

 signs all kinds of testimonials. The great point seems to be to 

 make people feel that they are in the last stages of decline. A 

 cleverly worded circular is enough to give one a fit of the blues. 

 In the opening chapter of his amusing book, Three Men in a Boat, 

 Mr. Jerome hits off this particular point. " I never read a patent- 

 medicine advertisement," says one character, " without being im- 

 pelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular 

 disease therein dealt with, in its most virulent form." It is not 

 uncommon for the nostrum-vender to offer one thousand dollars 

 reward for any case he fails to cure. He is safe enough, even if 

 the remedy kills, for there is no time specified within which a 

 cure is to be effected. 



To this, then, patent medicine comes at last : " This wonderful 

 remedy works like a charm," or else not at all. 



T 



THE FRENCH INSTITUTE. 



By W. C. CAHALL, M. D. 



'HE Institute, as it exists to-day, is a creation of Napoleon, 

 and, like all other organizations which arose under the First 

 Consul, reveals his disposition for centralizing and supervising 

 everything, even the literary and scientific societies. It is due to 

 Napoleon, however, to say that he had a professional interest in 

 these societies as well as a ruler's, for it must be remembered he 

 was an engineer, and had a seat in the Academy of Sciences. 

 While the Institute dates from Bonaparte, who modified the 

 newly organized Institute of the Directory, the several academies 

 of which it is composed are very much older. The Consul simply 

 revived the academies in almost their original form, but placed 

 them in a more intimate relation with the Government and with 

 each other. 



The Institute may be likened to a university, while the acade- 

 mies are as the colleges of a university, independent yet correla- 



