444 BIOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS 



be well enough if the people were benefited by their use, but this is 

 rarely the case. On the other hand, most of them are fakes, some 

 are positively dangerous, all are outrageously expensive, and in 

 many cases their use delays proper treatment, till too late. 



The Food and Drugs law obliged them to make no claims to 

 " cure " unless they could prove their claims and this rule has 

 practically removed that word from their vocabulary of fiction. 



No patent medicine ever cured consumption, nor " kidney 

 trouble," nor catarrh, and they now are more careful in the wording 

 of their advertisements, though they still try to convey the same 

 impression. 



" Consumption cures " are mainly opiates which lull the suf- 

 ferer into false security until past all help. Tonics and sarsapa- 

 rillas depend wholly upon alcohol for their effect. " Soothing 

 Syrups " for helpless babies are opium and morphine mixtures 

 and frequently lay the foundation for drug habits in later life, if 

 indeed the baby is not " soothed " into the sleep that knows no 

 waking. 



Headache remedies are all heart-depressing drugs which deaden 

 the pain but do not remove the cause, of which the pain was merely 

 a warning. 



Catarrh cures are usually cocaine or opium mixtures and often 

 lead to drug addiction; under recent laws they are much restricted. 



The Food and Drug Law does not forbid the sale of these medi- 

 cines but it does oblige the maker to do two things : 



1. He must put on the label the amounts of alcohol, morphine, 

 cocaine, opium, or other harmful drug which his medicine contains. 



2. He must not " make any false or misleading statement " 

 as to the virtues of his particular " remedy." 



This is one of the chief values of the law and applies to food 

 stuffs as well as medicines, so the only way to obtain the protection 

 which the law affords, is by reading the labels before you buy. 



One can often judge of the character of a newspaper or maga- 

 zine, from the number and kind of patent medicine advertisements 

 which it carries. A reputable periodical will not now open its 

 columns to the false and misleading claims which some medicine 



