260 
The  Patent  Medicine  Problem.  {KmjnlT\luvtsx' 
in  his  own  discretion  or  with  professional  aid,  by  the  information 
given  in  the  record  of  constituents,  or  he  may  neglect  to  so  guide 
himself,  and  depend  upon  advice  given  on  the  wrapper  of  the 
medicine,  in  the  exercise  of  his  personal  responsibility.  The  State 
has  done  its  duty,  and  given  the  individual  the  opportunity  for  the 
exercise  of  discretion.  The  opportunity  has  an  educational  value  to 
the  individual." 
The  following  year  the  Committee  on  Legislation,  in  its  report  of 
progress  (Proc.  Am.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1886,  v.  34,  p.  10,  154,  155), 
included  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that : 
"  Whereas,  All  medicines  concern  the  health  of  those  who  use 
them;  and 
4k  Whereas,  The  purchaser  of  a  medicine  selected  by  himself 
has  the  right  to  receive  information  of  its  constituents  and  their 
quantities;  and 
"  Whereas,  The  report  and  the  draft  of  a  law  regulating  the 
sale  of  proprietary  medicines,  which  were  accepted  by  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association  at  its  meeting  held  in  September,  1855, 
embrace  a  method  whereby  the  above-mentioned  objects  may  be 
secured;  therefore,  be  it 
"  Resolved,  That  the  President  and  other  officers  of  the  Asso- 
ciation be  authorized  and  instructed  to  present  printed  copies  of  the 
reports  and  of  the  action  had  in  this  Association  upon  said  reports, 
to  the  Governors,  to  the  Speakers  of  the  Senates  and  Houses  of 
Representatives,  and  to  the  State  Boards  of  Health,  of  the  different 
States  of  the  United  States ;  also>  to  offer  any  services  wherein  these 
authorities  may  consider  the  cooperation  of  this  Association  desir- 
able or  useful." 
This  preamble  and  resolution  was  vigorously  discussed  and  a 
motion  that  they  be  stricken  from  the  minutes  of  the  Association 
was  defeated.  The  report  of  the  Committee  was  then  on  motion 
accepted,  and  finally  on  motion  of  C.  Lewis  Diehl,  seconded  by  C. 
S.  N.  Hallberg,  the  preamble  and  resolution  were  adopted. 
Despite  the  endorsement  given  the  report  of  the  Committee  on 
Legislation,  little  or  nothing  of  a  practical  nature  appears  to  have 
been  done.  During  the  early  years  of  the  succeeding  decade  a  few 
isolated  papers  on  patent  medicine  abuses,  from  a  public  health  point 
of  view,  were  presented,  but  their  readers  found  no  following  and  the 
resolutions  they  offered  appear  to  have  been  overlooked  or  ignored, 
while  much  of  the  time  of  the  Association  was  devoted  to  the  dis- 
