45  8  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association.    { \™ptJember,hi908? ' 
physicians  out  of  the  wilderness  of  confusion  and  doubt,  although 
its  importance  must  be  understood,  and  full  credit  must  be  given  to 
those  heroes  who  have  risked  their  lives  in  the  investigation  of  the 
methods  of  preventing  yellow  fever,  smallpox  and  diphtheria. 
Many  physicians  make  the  mistake  of  advising  patients  who  can- 
not afford  it,  to  take  expensive  trips  or  to  rest  completely  from 
business  cares  for  a  long  period.  The  patient  appreciates  the  value 
of  this  advice,  but  being  unable  to  follow  it,  has  recourse  to  the 
nostrum.  The  chance  selection  may  result  favorably,  and  the  nos- 
trum gets  the  credit  which  the  physician  might  easily  have  obtained 
for  himself  had  he  written  a  prescription  applicable  to  the  condition 
of  the  man's  disease,  even  though  it  would  have  been  preferable  to 
have  had  his  original  advice  followed.  The  patient  should  be 
regarded  as  one  who  visits  a  physician  because  he  thinks  his  condi- 
tion is  serious  enough  to  warrant  the  necessary  financial  outlay, 
having  waited  for  Nature  to  cure  him,  and  having  probably  tried 
household  remedies  and  the  recommended  nostrums,  and  he  has 
the  right  to  ask  that  his  adviser  will  consider  his  case  of  sufficient 
importance  to  write  out  an  original  prescription  especially  adapted 
to  the  treatment  of  his  ailment  at  the  time  of  the  visit. 
The  consensus  of  opinions  expressed  by  eminent  therapeutists  at 
recent  meetings  of  the  medical  profession  was  that  the  U.S. P.  con- 
tains preparations  fitted  for  the  treatment  of  practically  every 
disease.  A  better  knowledge  of  the  use  of  drugs  for  various 
diseases  and  various  stages  of  the  same  disease,  is  now  demanded. 
The  nostrum  business  should  be  relegated  to  the  background.  The 
visit  of  the  physician  to  the  store  should  be  encouraged.  The  pro- 
fessional knowledge  of  the  pharmacist  should  always  be  at  the 
service  of  the  practitioner.  No  service  is  too  hard  or  too  trivial  to 
aid  the  physician  in  any  capacity. 
The  great  danger  lies  in  becoming  tired  or  lukewarm  in  the  move- 
ment and  falling  back  into  the  old  rut,  and  the  vicious  idea  that  one 
is  in  the  drug  business  to  sell  the  goods  upon  which  he  can  make 
the  most  profit.  The  shelves  should  be  filled  in  advance  of  an 
order  or  prescription  with  at  least  moderate  quantities  of  official 
preparations,  and  care  should  be  taken  that  they  are  official 
preparations  in  name  and  fact. 
Following  these  ideas  the  future  is  full  of  promise,  and  it  will  be 
possible  to  stem  the  tide  of  drugless  cures,  psycho-therapy  and  the 
nostrum  evil. 
