262  The  Patent  Medicine  Problem.       {Am  j^iqw!™' 
ment  thus  secured  has  contributed  much  to  maintain  the  Council 
despite  the  attacks  of  moneyed  interests  within  and  without  the 
membership  of  the  Association. 
The  work  of  the  Council  was  later  in  the  year  efficiently  aug- 
mented by  the  series  of  articles  originally  published  in  Collier's 
Weekly,  by  Samuel  Hopkins  Adams,  on  the  "  Great  American 
Fraud,"  and  subsequently  reprinted  in  pamphlet  form  by  the  Amer- 
ican Medical  Association.  The  Food  and  Drugs  Act  of  June  30, 
1906,  also  contributed  its  share  in  support  of  the  work  of  the  Council. 
These  several  agencies  have  been  further  augmented  by  the  stand 
taken  by  the  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue  in  regard  to  alcohol 
containing  nostrums  and  by  the  assistance  given  by  various  state 
officials  entrusted  with  the  enforcement  of  local  food  and  drug  laws, 
so  that  at  the  present  time  there  is  considerable  evidence  to  show 
that  the  efforts  of  the  Council  on  Pharmacy  and  Chemistry  have 
made  a  distinct  impression  on  thinking  laymen  as  well  as  on  the 
more  progressive  members  of  the  American  Medical  Association. 
Following  the  inauguration  of  the  Council  on  Pharmacy  and 
Chemistry,  the  American  Medical  Association  organized  a  chemical 
laboratory  in  the  Association  building,  and  this  laboratory,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  work  on  "proprietary  remedies,"  has  devoted  consider- 
able time  to  the  examination  of  so-called  "  patent  medicines  "  or 
4t  nostrums."  The  resulting  analyses  are  usually  published  in  the 
Journal  and  have  been  in  part,  at  least,  compiled  in  book  form  in  a 
volume  entitled  "  Nostrums  and  Quackery." 
This  book  has  recently  been  reprinted  in  enlarged  form,  and  its 
increasing  circulation  among  well-informed  laymen  will  contribute 
much  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  patent  medicine  problem  from 
a  public  health  point  of  view,  and  should  serve  to  prevent  any  pos- 
sible retrogressive  action  on  the  part  of  the  American  Pharmaceu- 
tical Association  as  an  Association. 
In  summing  up  this  brief  and  admittedly  incomplete  survey  of 
recent  accomplishments  to  solve  the  "  patent  medicine  "  problem,  it 
would  appear  that  the  questions  involved  are  not  to  be  considered 
as  being  answered  until  they  are  answered  correctly,  and  that  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  public  the  influence  of  "  patent  medicines  " 
on  the  health  and  welfare  of  the  individual  is  the  only  factor  deserv- 
ing of  consideration.  Bearing  this  latter  fact  in  mind,  it  would 
appear  desirable  that  all  branches  of  the  drug  trade  give  the  patent 
