250 ELEMENTS OF PHYSIOLOGY 



451. The nostrum venders who shamelessly advertise 

 their iron tonics "to enrich the blood" are only attempt- 

 ing to prey upon the ignorant. The magical power of the 

 sun's rays can turn iron into food. The brown color of 

 the grain, the red cheek of the tomato, strawberry, and 

 peach are due to iron, and iron in this form will enrich 

 the blood. For a student to learn that iron colors the red 

 corpuscles, may be of some value, but if the only purpose 

 the knowledge serves is to aid in entrapping him into be- 

 lieving that the patent-medicine man makes a valuable 

 blood tonic out of rusty nails and alcohol, his method of 

 study has not cultivated his judgment, nor cured him of 

 the natural propensity to jump at conclusions. 



452. Leonard Hill, Professor of Physiology in the Royal 

 College of Surgeons, says : " In these days of advertise- 

 ments it is necessary to strongly warn the reader against 

 the lies of the trader and the quack. The method of 

 fortune-making by advertisement is to sell a well-known 

 and cheap article at a dear price, under a new name, with 

 a flavor added, and the vaunted pills, when submitted to 

 analysis in chemical laboratories, are found to consist of 

 aloes, salts, or other common drugs, which the quack buys 

 for a few pence a pound, and sells for a shilling an ounce. 

 Most of the minor ailments are produced by errors in 

 diet and lack of healthy exercise. These ailments are 

 relieved temporarily by a purge, and the public are per- 

 suaded thus to buy fruit salt or pills for a shilling, when 

 the required article, aloes or Epsom salts, can be obtained 

 for a penny. Among the numberless quack medicines 

 sold for nervous exhaustion, many are altogether value- 

 less, and sometimes contain stimulants, such as alcohol 

 or coca. Nervous exhaustion can be cured, not by drugs, 

 but by changing the habits of life. Bicycling, bathing, 

 and gymnastic exercises are worth infinitely more than all 

 the drugs in the world. Errors in living can be atoned for, 



