THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 



183 



MEDICINE AND PHARMACY. 



By N. H. martin, F. L. S., F. R. M. S., President of the British Pharmaceutical Conference. 



{Continued from October r'sstie.) 



You can imagine the incredulous 

 smile with which an accomplished physi- 

 cian would receive the assertion of some 

 antiquated herbalist that he knew a weed 

 which was an universal cure, but when 

 such a weed is made the basis, and 

 furnishes the name to a compound manu- 

 factured by an enterprising company, and 

 is presented to him with a sample bottle, 

 a pamphlet bristling with comments 

 from medical journals and testimonials, 

 under the name of Liquor Curaline Co., 

 the amiable physician falls into the trap 

 and his next patient is dosed with the 

 latest improvement in Modern Pharmacy, 

 "Liq. Cure-all-ine Co." The Medical 

 Journals, however, in their advertising 

 columns, and in their literary pages are 

 the strongest supporters of these quack- 

 eries, I do not suggest, and it would be 

 preposterous to suppose that the learned 

 and versatile editor of the British Medical 

 Journal would listen to an appeal of this 

 sort : 



"Dear Sir — Advertising as v^^e do in 

 your valuable and esteemed medium, and 

 being likely to continue the same in the 

 future on an extensive an liberal scale, 

 we shall esteem it a favor if you will 

 kindly give us at an early date the super- 

 added bene6t of a free editorial, the sub- 

 stance of which we beg respectfully to 

 submit herewith. We are, dear sir, yours 

 faithfully, Bunkum, Quack & Co." There 

 cannot be the slightest doubt of the re- 

 ception which such a letter and such an 

 appeal would get at the hands of the 

 editors and proprietors of our leading 

 meuical journals. But let B. Q. & Co. 

 approach the matter by advertising on an 

 extensive scale in the Journal, and then 

 send samples for analysis and report, and 

 if we read nothing stronger it will at 



least come out something after the fol- 

 lowing : 



"SKINNALINE 



"It is claimed that the substance con- 

 tains the active principles of skin in pro- 

 portion of twenty grains to the pound. 

 We have put these claims to the test aS 

 far as possible, and we are satisfied that 

 they are practically justifiable, but we are 

 not able to endorse all that the discoverer 

 claims for the preparation, although there 

 is no reason to doubt his statements." To 

 the stern logic of science this is luke- 

 warm enough in all conscience, but the 

 astute advertiser is satisfied. He prob- 

 ably did not expect what was impossi- 

 ble, any definite analysis and report, but 

 but he knows, cautiously worded and 

 valueless as the paragraph is as to the 

 merits of Skinnaline, he has only to 

 quote the paragraph and add the magic 

 words of the title of the journal, and the 

 commercial result to him will be increased 

 a hundredfold. I venture to assert that 

 such notices are absolutely unworthy of 

 the highest and best traditions of medical 

 journalism, and they are the ruin of sci- 

 entific medicine and pharmacy. I could 

 give you many illustrations, but forbear 

 to weary you. I believe the Americans 

 were the first to make the discovery that 

 the doctor might be made a cheap and 

 efficient means of advertising, although 

 the Germans have not unsuccessfully 

 cultivated the same field, and it is to this 

 source that we owe the experience that 

 the consulting rooms of the medical prac- 

 titioner are deluged with " physician's 

 samples " of the most arrant quackery 

 the world has ever seen. When will 

 English medicine have the courage to 

 purge itself of this corruption ? 



It will be interesting, I think, to in- 



