Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
January,  1914.  J 
Book  Reviews. 
41 
know  better  than  to  do  this,  are  unable  to  discriminate  and  so  are 
almost  as  easily  led  as  the  others.  Then  there  are  many  people 
afflicted  with  some  ailment,  or  think  that  they  are,  who  clutch,  like 
a  drowning  man  after  a  straw,  any  statement  which  seems  to  bear 
upon  their  case. 
To  satisfy  the  "  needs  "  of  people  like  these  there  is  a  host  of 
firms  who  manufacture  remedies  for  every  conceivable  trouble,  and  to 
eliminate  the  need  of  having  a  physician  they  include  in  their  packages 
circulars  which  purport  to  give  complete  directions  of  use.  So 
extraordinary  are  some  of  these  statements  that  anyone  even  only 
very  superficially  acquainted  with  the  facts  would  prick  up  his  ears 
at  hearing  them.  But  not  so  with  the  gullible  public.  The  more 
extreme  the  statement,  the  more  absolute  dependence  they  place  on 
the  product. 
Truly,  this  proprietary  medicine  venture  is  no  more  than  a 
psychological  game  between  the  manufacturer  and  the  public,  only 
the  public  is  not  aware  that  it  is  playing  the  game.  Here  are  some 
of  the  psychological  weapons  the  manufacturer  has  at  his  command  : 
1.  As  one  bows  down  to  a  man  who  is  well  dressed  and  imposing 
in  appearance,  so  one  worships  an  ordinary  drug  or  food  (or  even  a 
worthless  one)  when  it  is  clothed  in  a  dignified  name. 
2.  As  the  average  illogical  mind  believes  that  what  comes  after 
must  be  due  to  what  goes  before,  the  deduction  is  easily  made  that 
if  a  person  recovers  after  having  made  use  of  some  remedy,  the 
remedy  deserves  the  credit.  This  is  termed  the  post  hoc,  ergo  propter 
hoc  argument.  The  folly  of  course  lies  in  the  fact  that  in  the  great 
percentage  of  cases  the  patient  would  have  recovered  without  any 
remedy. 
Yes,  the  Propaganda  for  Reform  in  Proprietary  Medicines,  which 
is  a  bound  volume  of  reprints,  might  well  be  called  "  A  Study  in 
the  Psychology  of  Advertising  Worthless  Products."  A  former 
book  of  reprints  entitled  "  Nostrums  and  Quackery "  is  relative 
especially  to  those  nostrums  which  are  exploited  only — or  chiefly — 
to  the  public.  The  volume  under  consideration,  however,  relates  to 
those  products  which  are  exploited  to  the  physician  and  includes 
also  some  of  those  in  the  other -volume  where  there  seemed  to  be  an 
"  overlapping." 
Some  120  proprietaries  are  considered,  the  schemes  by  which 
they  are  foisted  upon  the  public  through  the  medical  profession  are 
discussed  with  numerous  reproductions  of  illustrations  of  advertise- 
