SPRING MEDICINE FRAUD. 



ever. But it is said: ''All these venders of patent medicines have the 

 best of evidence in the way of living witnesses, to the effect that their 

 remedies have and are constantly curing the people." In reply to this 

 claim, we would repeat the words of the late Dr. J. H. Bundy, of Cali- 

 fornia Medical College, who made the statement (and many other honest 

 physicians have done likewise), that five diseases out of every six with 

 which people are afflicted would get well of themselves if no medicine 

 were taken. People get well any way, and often in epite of the medi- 

 cine taken. It is, therefore, very evident that the patent medicine 

 vender can get testimonials from people who would have recovered 

 anyway, while the medicine is given the credit for curing the patient. 



The writer once was in possession of formulas for some valuable 

 medicine that he thought of putting on the market as a patent medi- 

 cine. On consulting with some experienced druggists in regard to the 

 matter, their reply was: " The value or efficiency of your medicine will 

 have nothing to do with the success of its sale; that will depend 

 entirely on the amount of advertising you give it. The ultimate suc- 

 cess will depend on the size of your purse. Colored water will 

 answer just as well as anything else as far as the success of the enter- 

 prise is concerned." 



The best and most effective patent medicine that we ever knew, 

 namely, " California Imperial Cough Syrup," was a complete failure 

 when placed on the market, for the simple reason that the owner did 

 not have the capital to advertise it successfully. 



These facts prove the utter fallacy of placing any dependence upon 

 patent medicines. While it is no doubt true that some people think they 

 have been cured by this or that patent medicine, it is equally true that 

 some have been cured by "dough pills" or sugar and water prescribed 

 under Latin names by the family physician. In nearly all cases the 

 patent medicines are actually injurious. When once the eyes of the 

 people are opened to the stupendous fraud of these remedies that owe 

 their success purely to the amount of advertising they get, they will no 

 longer permit themselves to be thus imposed upon. It is now gener- 

 ally conceded by health experts that patent medicines have done so 

 very much more harm than good, that if all of them could be swept 

 into the sea, the public health would be immensely benefitted. 



SPRING MEDICINE FRAUD. 



There is no greater fraud practiced upon the people than that 

 which has its origin in the prevailing notion of the need of a "spring" 

 medicine, which, quite naturally, the venders of patent medicines do 

 all in their power to bolster up and to increase, as their living, or rathe- 

 their opportunity to become wealthy, in part depends upon it. Hun 

 dreds of thousands of bottles of spring medicine are sold every spring 

 at from 75c to $1.25 a bottle, which contain practically nothing but 

 some simple herb, dissolved in alcohol or water and flavored. The 

 people ought to know that the basis of the best of these is nothing 

 more elaborate than a decoction of the bark of the sassafras root, which 



