Editorial. 
Am.  Jour  Pharm. 
June,  1877. 
Nostrums  in  the  Temple  of  Pharmacy,  is  the  heading  of  an  editorial  which 
appeared  in  the  April  number  of  the  "  Pacific  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,"  and 
in  which  we  are  taken  to  account  in  the  following  manner: 
The  "American  Journal  of  Pharmacy"  is,  we  believe,  the  oldest  pharmaceutical  journal  in  America, 
and  it  is  published  by  authority  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  the  oldest  pharmacal  college. 
Such  institutions  are  regarded  as  exemplars  in  ethics  and  models  in  everything  that  concerns  the 
interests  and  principles  of  pharmacy,  both  in  form  and  substance.  Hence,  we  were  rather  surprised  to 
find  an  advertisement  in  the  March  number  of  the  journal  aforesaid  containing  these  items  : 
"Fluid  Extract  Grindelia  Robusta.    From  California.    A  specific  in  Asthma 
"  Fluid  Extract  Xanthium  Spinosum.    From  Russia.    A  cure  for  Hydrophobia. 
"  Fluid  Extract  Bearsfoot.    A  specific  for  enlarged  spleen. 
"  Dr  Warburg's  Tincture.    A  celebrated  remedy  for  malarial  fevers,"  etc. 
It  is  true  these  are  not  all  nostrums,  properly  speaking,  the  last  alone  coming  under  that  head.  But 
' '  specifics  "  are  not  much  better  than  nostrums,  especially  when  they  pretend  to  cure  such  diseases  as 
hydrophobia.  It  is  true,  also,  that  advertisements  of  a  similar  character  are  published  in  nearly  all  the 
medical  and  pharmacal  journals  in  America,  and  quite  as  much  so  in  Great  Britain  and  elsewhere.  But 
is  it  not  time  that  pharmacists  desist  from  making  such  publications?  Is  it  not  time  that  the  various 
pharmaceutical  societies,  now  well  organized  as  they  are  and  possessing  great  power,  should  control 
their  members  in  such  matters  ?  And,  above  all,  is  it  not  time  that  the  leading  journal  in  America  should 
set  a  spotless  example  in  this  respect,  and  refuse  any  longer  to  sanction  and  encourage  the  practice?  The 
advertisement  to  which  we  refer  occupies  the  very  first  page  in  the  advertisement  department,  and  it  is 
rendered  the  more  noteworthy  because  the  conductors  of  the  journal  publish  a  standing  notice  that  "a 
proper  discrimination  will  be  observed  in  relation  to  the  character  of  advertisements." 
Ever  since  its  commencement  the  "American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  "  has  made 
"a  proper  discrimination"  in  the  advertisements*  admitted,  and  not  only  refused 
many  that  were  offered,  but  in  all  cases  promptly  stopped  them  as  soon  as  the  fraud- 
ulent character  of  the  advertised  articles  became  known.  A  nostrum,  properly 
speaking,  has  never  been  advertised  by  this  journal,  and  we  are  surprised  that  our 
cotemporary  objects  to  an  advertisement  of  Warburg's  Tincture  after,  for  a  year 
or  more,  the  medical  journals  of  this  country  and  Great  Britain  have  been  extolling 
this  very  same  preparation  as  a  cure  for  malarial  fevers,  some  having  also  published 
a  formula  by  which,  as  we  believe,  the  tincture  is  not  made;  and  medical  practi- 
tioners, who  had  not  the  slightest  knowledge  of  its  composition,  compelled  pharm- 
acists to  procure  it  for  their  use  ;  what  is  known  about  its  composition  we  have  stated 
in  our  last  number  (see  page  270). 
But  we  are  pleased  that  the  strictures  by  our  cotemporary,  in  regard  to  the  other 
preparations,  are  not  based  upon  their  character  as  nostrums,  but  rather  because  they 
are  stated  to  be  a  "  specific  "  or  a  "  cure."  Personally,  we  do  not  believe  in  specifics 
and  sure  cures,  yet  it  will  not  be  denied  that  some,  if  not  all,  the  drugs  mentioned 
have  been  recommended  by  certain  physicians  as  unfailing  cures  or  prophylactics,  and 
we  may  add  that  one  of  the  articles  objected  to  is  advertised  in  the  "  Pacific  Jour- 
nal" as  the  well  known  California  remedy  Sox  poison  oak  and  asthma.  We  grant 
that  the  term  "remedy"  is  less  comprehensive  than  "specific,"  but  that  it  implies 
curative  powers  will,  we  think,  be  admitted;  and  if  so,  we  would  point  to  certain 
pills  which  our  cotemporary  advertises,  in  large  letters,  as  being  "  valuable  as  a 
remedy  in  consumption  "  In  the  same  number  of  the  "Pacific  Med  and  Surg. 
Jour."  in  which  the  above-quoted  editorial  appeared,  we  find  also  advertisements  stating 
that  a  certain  brand  of  codliver  oil  is  the  best  for  foreign  or  domestic  use,  and  the  cod- 
liver  oil  of  another  maker  to  be  the  best  and  most  reliable  codliver  oil  in  the  world. 
A  certain  soap  is  advertised  as  being  invaluable  for  chapped  hands,  etc.,  and  another 
