258  The  Patent  Medicine  Problem.        { Am;Tlmer"i9ih4arm' 
Not  to  go  too  extensively  into  the  history  of  the  agitation  re- 
lating to  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  patent  medicines,  more  popu- 
larly designated  as  nostrums,  we  may  well  confine  ourselves  to  the 
published  records  of  the  two  national  associations  directly  interested : 
the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  and  the  American  Medical 
Association,  both  organized  somewhat  over  sixty  years  ago. 
The  American  Medical  Association  almost  annually,  from  the 
time  of  its  preliminary  meeting  in  the  city  of  New  York,  in  1846,  to 
its  reorganization  at  Saratoga  Springs  in  1902,  adopted  resolutions 
condemning  nostrums  and  secret  remedies  of  all  kinds,  and  pointed 
out  objectionable  features  connected  with  them.  Previous  to*  the 
reorganization  of  the  Association  on  the  present  basis,  however, 
little  or  nothing  of  practical  value  was  accomplished. 
The  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  has  also  devoted  con- 
siderable time  and  space  to  the  discussion  of  problems  connected 
with  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  patent  and  proprietary  remedies. 
A  cursory  review  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Association  suggests  the 
rather  interesting  fact  that  this  agitation  appears  to  have  developed 
in  cycles  and  to  have  been  markedly  acute  in  decennial  waves,  the 
maximum  height  of  the  agitation  being  evidenced  in  the  early  years 
of  the  decennium.  Thus,  beginning  with  the  Proceedings  for  1853, 
the  second  meeting  of  the  Association,  we  find  the  following  reso- 
lution, which  was,  on  motion  of  Joseph  Laidley,  substituted  for  one 
previously  offered  by  C.  B.  Guthrie,  and  adopted  by  a  majority  of 
the  members  present! 
"  Resolved,  That  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  be- 
lieves that  the  use  and  sale  of  secret  or  quack  medicines  is  wrong  in 
principle  and  is  in  practice  attended  with  injurious  effects  to  both 
the  profession  and  the  public  at  large,  and  believes  it  to  be  the  duty 
of  every  conscientious  druggist  to  discourage  their  use. 
"  Resolved,  That  this  Association  earnestly  recommend  to  our 
pharmaceutical  brethren  to  discourage  by  every  honorable  means 
the  use  of  these  nostrums ;  to  refrain  from  recommending  them  to 
their  customers ;  not  to  use  any  means  of  bringing  them  into  public 
notice ;  not  to  manufacture  or  to  have  manufactured  any  medicine, 
the  composition  of  which  is  not  made  public;  and  to  use  every 
opportunity  of  exposing  the  evils  attending  their  use,  and  the  false 
means  which  are  employed  to  induce  their  consumption."  {Proc. 
Am.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1853,  p.  17.) 
