July 14, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



53 



QUOTATIONS 

 THE PRESIDENT AND THE FOOD AND DRUGS ACT 



We have, for the past three weeks, called at- 

 tention to the failure of the federal Food and 

 Drugs Act, under the interpretation recently 

 given it by the Supreme Court, to protect the 

 public against loss, both in health and pocket, 

 from lying claims regarding the curative ef- 

 fects of nostrums. As soon as the new inter- 

 pretation became public, some of the more 

 progressive members of Congress began to 

 plan for getting an amendment to the pure 

 food law that would specifically prohibit un- 

 truthful claims for therapeutic effects of 

 drugs. President Taft, on June 21, took 

 ofiicial cognizance of the blow that the Su- 

 preme Court decision had dealt the Food and 

 Drugs Act by sending a special message to 

 congress urging the very amendments that are 

 needed to restore that law to its previous effi- 

 ciency. Said the President: 



An evil which menaces the general health of the 

 people strikes at the life of the nation. In my 

 opinion . . . the sale of drugs under knowingly 

 false claims as to their effect in disease consti- 

 tutes an evil and warrants me in calling the mat- 

 ter to the attention of the Congress. 



Fraudulent misrepresentations of the curative 

 value of nostrums not only operate to defraud 

 purchasers, but are a distinct menace to the public 

 health. There are none so credulous as sufferers 

 from disease. The need is urgent for legislation 

 which wiU prevent the raising of false hopes of 

 speedy cures of serious ailments by misstatements 

 of the fact as to worthless mixtures on which the 

 sick wUl rely while their diseases j)rogress un- 

 checked. 



To meet the objection that has been raised 

 in some quarters that the curative effect of 

 nostrums is a matter of opinion and not of 

 fact and that the opinion will vary both as 

 regards the so-called schools of medicine and 

 also as to individuals of the same school, Mr. 

 Taft says : 



No physician of standing in his profession, no 

 matter to what school of medicine he may belong, 

 entertains the slightest idea that any of these 

 preparations will work the wonders promised on 

 the labels. 



And further : 



Of course, as pointed out by the Supreme Court, 

 any attempt to legislate against mere expressions 

 of opinion would be abortive; nevertheless, if 

 knowingly false misstatements of fact as to the 

 effect of the preparations be provided against, the 

 greater part of the evil will be subject to control. 



That the amendment suggested by the 

 President wiU be fought by the " patent medi- 

 cine " interests is to be expected. The Pro- 

 prietary Association, as recently as June 17, 

 sent out a letter purporting to give " the legal 

 aspect of the Johnson case." The gist of the 

 letter is contained in the following sentence 

 that appears in it : 



As there is no science in therapeutics, the prac- 

 tise of medicine being based on opinion and not 

 on definite scientific facts — any statement concern- 

 ing the curative properties of any drug, chemical 

 or medicine, is largely a ' ' matter of opinion. "... 



In the opinion of the Proprietary Associa- 

 tion — in other words, in the opinion of " pa- 

 tent medicine " makers — " the effect of the 

 decision of the Supreme Court does not 

 change or weaken the Food and Drugs Act 

 in any particular." 



President Taft, as evidenced by his special 

 message, disagrees with the "patent medi- 

 cine " men, for in his message he says : 



I fear that if no remedial legislation be granted 

 at this session the good which has already been 

 accomplished in regard to these nostrums wUl be 

 undone, and the people of the coimtry will be 

 deprived of a powerful safeguard against danger- 

 ous fraud. 



We believe that the restrictions the Presi- 

 dent would have placed on the nostrum busi- 

 ness are more likely to meet with public ap- 

 proval than the " wide-open " policy advocated 

 by the makers of " patent medicines." Amend 

 the act! — Journal of the American Medical 

 Association. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES 



The Journal of Experimental Zoology for 

 July contains two articles : " Assortative Ma- 

 ting, Variability and Inheritance of Size, in 

 the Conjugation of Paramecium," by H. S. 



