%en;iP872RM"}  Patent  Medicines  and  Private  formulas.  535 
present  day  is  the  result  of  the  accumulated  experience  of  our  prede- 
cessors and  some  cotemporaries,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  one  to 
assist  in  still  further  developing  pharmacy,  by  making  known  his  ob- 
servations, and  we  invite  the  author,  as  well  as  all  others  interested, 
to  communicate  them  to  this  Journal,  for  the  benefit  of  the  profession 
generally. 
PATENT  MEDICINES  AND  PRIVATE  FORMULAS. 
By  James  W.  Long. 
The  present  epidemic  of  so-called  patent  medicines  is  destined,  un- 
less checked  in  some  manner,  to  become  a  standing  curse,  both  to  the 
profession  of  medicine  and  the  public.  P.  T.  Barnum  never  made  a 
truer  remark  in  his  life  than  when  he  said,  "  The  American  people 
are  fond  of  being  humbugged  ;"  for  the  avidity  with  which  they  swal- 
low these  nostrums  proves  this  to  be  true. 
The  standing  cry  of  the  empiricists  is,  "  Don't  believe  the  doctors  ; 
they  are  afraid  we  will  ruin  their  practice  by  depriving  it  of  its  se- 
crecy, and  making  things  plain  to  the  public." 
The  druggist,  who  stands  between  the  two,  can  readily  see  how  false 
this  is.  He  is  necessarily  compelled  to  keep  these  things,  but  if  he 
is  conscientious  and  has  a  proper  professional  pride,  he  is  not  bound 
to  recommend  them,  and  we  would  respectfully  suggest  that  with  them 
rests  the  remedy. 
The  writer  of  this  article  has  frequently  been  thrown  in  contact 
with  these  patent  medicine  venders.  They  invariably  have  one  story, 
that  is,  that  their  medicine  is  superior  to  all  in  the  market,  and  that 
they  have  at  great  expense  procured  a  private  formula.  We  always 
make  it  a  rule  to  first  examine  their  packages,  and  if  we  meet  with 
the  almost  inevitable  "Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,"  etc., 
we  immediately  become  suspicious  of  them. 
A  very  good  rule  is  to  ask  them  pointedly,  what  ingredients  their 
medicine  is  composed  of ;  if  their  dose  is  a  teaspoonful,  how  much  of 
this  and  how  much  of  that  do  you  put  in  a  teaspoonful.  The  general 
answer  is  that  they  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  tell,  but  should  they  do 
so,  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred,  a  computation  of  the  whole- 
sale price  of  these  ingredients,  the  menstruum,  bottle,  stamp,  wrap- 
per, and  a  moderate  per  centage  for  work,  will  hardly  admit  of  its  be- 
ing sold  at  any  profit  to  them  at  their  jobbing  rates. 
