IN MEDICINE, SURGERY, ETC. 615 



diseases oltlie lieiul, lliose in llie st'coiul for ;ill diseiises ol' the body, 

 tliose in tlie third lor nil diseases oC the limbs, nud those in the Ibiiith 

 are a sui-e vennifu<i('. 



Fj'oin the eoimiiereial and industrial point of \ iew the ^i^reat iini)or- 

 tancc or])atent and i)roi)rietary inediein<'s iseonncetetl with advertising*. 

 The i)roblein is to indu(!e people to i)ay -.") eents for tlie liv'er-encourag- 

 ing-, silent-i)erauibnlatini;-, family pills, \\ hicli cost 3 eents. Some day 

 I ho\H' that the modern prol'essioniil expert in advertising- will favovns 

 with his \iews as to the natni'e and eharaeter of those i)eo]»]e who were 

 induced to buy rFones's liver pills or Slow's specific by means of a huge 

 display of these names on the sides and roofs of l)arns and outbuild- 

 ings, v.hich dis[day forms sucii a prominent fe.iture in many of our 

 Amei'iean landse;ii)es, as seen by the tra\ell»n- on the railway. 1 sup- 

 pose there must be such people, for I have a high estimate of tlie busi- 

 ness shrewdness of the men who pay for these abominations. I slnmld 

 also like to knov>' how nau-h a farmer gets for allowing his buildings to 

 be thus defaced. He must behard-u]*; indeed such a display indicates 

 that the ])lace is ]>rob;ibly mortgaged juhT tlrnt the i)oor man is heavily 

 in debt. 



Eveu the soap ad\('i'tisers are not as guilty as the nostrum-iuakers 

 in this particular style of nuisance, although they far exceed them 

 in viciousness when it comes to ajtplyiug art to ignoble purposes. The 

 connection between progress in medicine and soa]) advertisements may 

 not be deal' to you; but it exists nevertheless, for many of these soaps 

 make work for the doctors by ]noducing skin troubles. 



TT})on the whole. J siiould think that the number of people Avho woukl 

 take some trouble to a\<)id purchasing an article which is thus adver- 

 tised must be rapidly increasing, so that such displays will soon be no 

 longer protitable. The great importance of advertising (hies not relate 

 to the placard or chromo business, but to its relations to periodical 

 literature — to the daily and weekly ])ress and the monthly magazines 

 and journals. 



To tlie establishiiunit and support of some of our newspapers and 

 journals, medieval as well as others, these iiroprietary and secret medi- 

 cines, cosmetics, food ])re]>aiations, etc., have no doulit contributed 

 largely. 



I am sorry to say that 1 have been unable to obtain delinitc informa- 

 tion as to the direct benefits which inventions of this kind have con- 

 ferred on the public in the way of the (aire of disease or preventing 

 death. Among the questions which were not put in the schedules of 

 the last census Avere the following, namely: Did you ever take any 

 patent or proprietary medicine? If so, what and how much, and wduit 

 was^the result? Some very remarkable statistics would no doubt have 

 been obtaiiu'd had this inquiry been made. I can only say that I know 

 of but four secret remedies which ha\-e been really valuabh' additions 

 to the resources of practical medicine, and the composition of all these 



