124 MICKOBES AND HEALTH. 



"these institutes are not advertised, or otherwise un- 

 prof essionally conducted." Again, he says : "I do not 

 wish to extensively infringe upon or anticipate the 

 publication of Dr. Roberts," yet "physicians of the 

 highest standing and attainments agree that no other 

 scientist has even attempted the problem which Dr. 

 Roberts has positively solved." 



Can patent medicine manufacturers advertise in 

 bolder language? From time immemorial the savages 

 have eaten the hearts of their enemies to give them 

 courage. It is said our ancestors were in the habit of 

 drinking soup made from calves' lungs to fortify their 

 own lungs. Then a few doctors with high-sounding 

 names told us to take preserves made from the brains 

 and kidneys, to take extracts made from the thyroid 

 and other glands of the lower animals. That was the 

 age of animal extracts and comes down to a very recent 

 date. In fact, a few of these dishes in the form of 

 antitoxins, lymph compound and elixir of life are still 

 on the market, just to remind us of the barbaric past. 

 We understand that the lymph compound is manufac- 

 tured in secret and that the doctor who is allowed to 

 use it must buy his territory the same as a man who 

 buys territory for a patent right, and having bought 

 the territory, he must next buy the lymph at a cost of 

 thirty-six dollars for one and three-fourths ounces. 



We laugh at the superstition of the middle ages, 

 when the alchemist tried to transmute or change the 

 baser metals into gold and to discover the elixir of 

 life, but the manufacturers of serum therapy have 



