30  Publicity  on  the  Standing  of  Nostrums.    {A  January fi907.ai' 
fession  to  conditions  which  had  been  known  to  some  of  its  members 
for  a  long  time,  i\e.,  that,  instead  of  being  synthetic  compounds  with 
any  valid  claim  to  originality,  they  were  mixtures  of  varying  pro- 
portions  of  acetanilid  with  an  alkali  such  as  sodium  bicarbonate  or 
ammonium  carbonate,  with  or  without  the  addition  of  caffeine  to  aid 
the  therapeutic  effect. 
Artistic  mysticism  is  the  appropriate  designation  which  has  been 
accorded  to  the  methods  by  which  fanciful  names  and  ridiculous 
claims  were  so  interwoven  as  to  give  an  air  of  plausibility  calculated 
to  deceive  the  practitioner  who  can  not  be  expected  to  distinguish 
the  high  sounding  spurious  synthetic  names  from  the  plain  every, 
day  titles  of  the  component  parts.  With  the  striking  of  this  first 
blow  came  the  open  declaration  of  war  upon  the  council  and  its 
supporters  from  the  various  interests  both  directly  and  indirectly 
affected.  To  the  shame  of  both  professions  it  must  be  admitted 
that  there  were  not  lacking  journals  where  the  enemies  of  reform 
could  entrench  themselves  and  oppose  the  work  of  the  Council. 
Accusation  and  recrimination  became  the  order  of  the  day. 
Unofficial  exposures  were  made  of  hosts  of  other  similar  prepara- 
tions. The  department  of  Pharmacology  in  the  Journal  was  thrown 
open  for  free  discussion  of  a  subject  which  previous  to  that  time  had 
been  studiously  avoided  by  those  who  had  interests  at  stake  and 
concerning  which  few  journals  would  risk  the  publication  of  any 
facts  which  might  affect  or  jeopardize  their  advertising  interests. 
From  every  quarter  came  the  demand  to  make  a  searching  investi- 
gation of  the  subject  in  order  that  the  wheat  might  be  separated 
from  the  chaff,  and  that  the  correct  and  intelligible  composition  of 
many  of  these  questionable  preparations  might  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  practicing  members  of  the  profession  upon  whom  would 
then  rest  the  responsibility  for  their  further  employment  in  medicine. 
In  October,  1905,  Samuel  Hopkins  Adams,  a  forceful  magazine 
writer,  aided  by  Collier's  Weekly,  took  up  the  battle  and  carried  it 
directly  before  the  laity  in  a  series  of  articles  entitled  "  The  Great 
American  Fraud,"  in  which  nostrums  like  Liquozone,  Peruna,  and 
others  were  pictured  as  they  really  exist  when  divested  of  the  clap- 
trap of  suggestive  and  misleading  statements  written  by  direct  lineal 
descendants  of  Mendax  I.  In  this  series  of  articles  was  published 
the  reason  for  the  silence  of  the  daily  newspaper  press  upon  all 
matters  pertaining  to  the  fraudulent  character  of  these  preparations 
— the  existence  of  the  famous  "  Red  Clause,"  whereby  an  advertis- 
