%^mi,mT'}  Editorial.  89 
J.  F.  Street,  Bay  City ;  Finance  Committee — A.  A.  Dunk,  East  Saginaw,  E, 
Aldridge,  Bay  City. 
After  the  election  of  officers  the  subject  of  legislation  connected  with  phar- 
macy came  under  general  discussion. 
Editorial  Department. 
Nostrum  Quackery. — The  "Atlanta  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal"  for  Au- 
gust, 1873,  contains,  under  the  above  caption,  an  article  which  has  evidently 
been  written  by  one  who  has  studied  the  subject  with  care,  and  approaches  the 
question,  not  from  the  standpoint  of  partiality,  but  by  searching  for  the  causes 
in  order  to  find  a  remedy  for  an  evil  which  is  spreading  and  increasing  all  over 
the  world,  and  which  the  most  stringent  prohibitory  laws  of  continental  Europe 
have  failed  to  suppress.  The  article  in  question  is  so  free  from  the  passionate 
condemnations  which  may  be  met  with  in  many  medical  journals,  and  at 
the  same  time  bears  such  strong  evidence  of  its  writer's  full  acquaintance  with 
all  sides  of  the  complicated  question,  that  we  had  hoped  it  would  have 
received  the  attention  of  most  medical  journals,  and  thus  originated  a  discussion 
from  which  the  most  beneficial  results  might  have  been  expected.  Thus  far 
our  hope  has  been  disappointed. 
In  reproducing  the  article  here,  we  believe  that  it  will  be  read  with  that 
interest  which  the  candor  and  frankness  pervading  it  deserves  : 
Nostrum  quackery  has  been  so  often  the  theme  of  essay  and  dissertation,  we 
can  scarcely  hope  to  say  anything  new  upon  the  subject,  and  yet  it  is  of  so 
much  interest  to  the  profession,  and  so  nearly  touches  our  daily  occupation, 
that  we  may  venture  to  throw  out  a  few  random  thoughts  for  what  they  may 
be  worth. 
When  we  walk  into  our  drug-stores  and  glance  over  their  shelving,  we  are 
confronted  everywhere  with  an  army  of  nostrums  which  are  evidently  displayed 
for  a  purpose — they  certainly  mean  business.  If  we  should  possess  so  far  the 
confidence  of  the  proprietors  as  to  be  permitted  to  inspect  the  ledger,  we  would 
probably  find  that  the  sales  of  these  so-called  remedies  yield  a  large  percentage 
of  the  profits  of  the  business. 
It  is  useless  to  blink  the  fact  that  these  preparations,  whether  for  weal  or 
for  woe,  supply  a  great  public  want;  the  people  will  have  them,  in  spite  of  all 
we  may  do  or  say. 
It  is  notoriously  true  that  all  efforts  thus  far  made  by  the  medical  profes- 
sion to  suppress  the  great  and  growing  evil  have  most  signally  failed.  Why  is 
this  ? 
There  are  many  reasons  which  might  be  assigned,  but  for  the  present  we 
shall  confine  our  attention  to  two  :  1.  Nostrums  supply  a  want  which  the  com- 
munity feel,  and  for  which  they  are  willing  to  pay  their  money;  2.  The  oppo- 
sition of  the  medical  profession  to  the  sale  of  quack  preparations  is  set  down 
to  selfish  greed,  and  has  not  yet  been  divested  of  the  appearance,  at  least,  of 
self-seeking. 
Until  we  of  the  profession  are  willing  to  place  ourselves  in  a  position  of 
pecuniary  disinterestedness,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  acknowledge  and  supply 
the  want  of  the  public  for  household  remedies,  we  may  as  well  'bate  our  breath 
in  the  matter. 
