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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO GO BACK TO MEDIEVAL TIMES TO ElND WITCH DOCTORS; 

 THEY ARE PLYING THEIR PROFESSION TODAY IN NATAL, SOUTH AERICA 



But in civilized countries, the day of the medical charlatan is at an end. Occasionally 

 there are "flare-ups," but when secrecy about formulas and practices was abolished it became 

 unpossible for pretenders to hold sway over popular imagination for any length of time. 

 Today, the physician who refuses to share with the world his knowledge of a discovery that 

 will benefit mankind suffers social and professional ostracism. 



THE DOOM OE THE NOSTRUM SOUNDED 



Today, despite "flare-ups" like Fried- 

 man's tuberculosis turtle cure and enthu- 

 siasms like "twilight slumber," the ex- 

 ploiting of specific remedies is on the 

 decline. The vogue of the Wards and 

 the Whitworths has passed away. 



Standards of regulation of the purity 

 of drugs, rigidly enforced ethical codes 

 among physicians, prescribed and stand- 

 ardized formulas in national "pharma- 

 copoeias" or formularies, and, most of 

 all, campaigns in magazines, both lay and 

 medical, to instruct the people in public 

 health and sanitation, especially in the 



United States, have sounded the doom of 

 the nostrum and the cure-all. No more 

 are outlaw remedies made legitimate and 

 admitted to the Pharmacopoeia, for the 

 prescribing of drugs is being put on a 

 rational basis and the explanation of the 

 reason zvhy medicines produce certain ef- 

 fects is becoming more and more of an 

 exact science. The magical lure of an- 

 cient pharmacy has departed. 



There are today no secrets in medicine, 

 and the physician who makes a discovery 

 that will benefit the human race must 

 either share it with his fellows or suffer 

 social and professional ostracism. 



