90 
Editorial. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Phark  . 
\     Feb.  1, 1874. 
It  is  fairly  objected  to  the  present  system  of  nostrum  quackery  that  it  is 
dangerous  to  the  health  and  lives  of  the  people,  because  the  composition  in 
constituents  and  quantities  of  its  preparations  is  withheld  from  the  profession 
and  the  public.  If  alarming  symptoms  ensue,  there  is  no  means  of  determin- 
ing the  agency  of  the  medicine  in  the  case.  If  serious  illness  follows,  the 
attending  physician  is  left  in  the  dark  as  to  the  medicines  which  have  actually 
been  taken  in  the  compound,  and  their  probable  influence  upon  the  symptoms 
present. 
These  remedies  are  dangerous,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  effecting  perfect 
combination  of  materials  when  operating  upon  a  large  scale,  as  witness  the  case- 
of  poisoning  by  "  Mrs.  Winslow's  Soothing  Syrup,"  at  San  Francisco  and  at 
St.  Louis.  They  are  dangerous,  because  of  the  liability  to  error  incurred  in 
the  employment  of  cheap  and  unskilled  labor  for  many  of  the  details  of  manu- 
facture in  very  large  establishments. 
They  are  objectionable,  because  there  is  no  recourse  to  be  had  upon  the 
manufacturer  in  a  distant  State,  in  the  event  of  death  or  injury  resulting. 
In  the  way  of  remedy  for  these  acknowledged  evils,  we  suggest  that  the  med- 
ical profession  recognize  the  want  of  household  remedies  by  publishing  autho- 
ritative formula?,  for  the  use  of  pharmacists,  who  may  compound  them  at  their 
counters  and  keep  them  on  hand  for  the  ready  and  convenient  supply  of  all  the 
real  wants  of  families  and  of  individuals  in  this  direction. 
Let  vendors  of  patent  and  proprietary  medicines  and  nostrums  be  required 
by  law  to  fully  and  distinctly  set  forth  upon  their  labels  the  names  and  quanti- 
ties employed  of  all  the  materials  used  in  the  compound,  together  with  a  work- 
ing formula;  and  let  suitable  penalties  be  attached  to  all  fraud  and  deception 
with  reference  to  the  compound. 
Moreover,  let  physicians  encourage  the  establishment  of  small  pharmacies  in 
skilled  hands,  from  which  all  nostrums  which  do  not  conform  to  the  above  requi- 
sitions are  rigidly  excluded  ;  and  when  this  is  impracticable,  let  them  attach 
dispensing  apartments  to  their  own  offices.  B. 
We  have  but  little  to  add  to  the  foregoing  at  present;  but  we  desire  to  state 
that  we  know  of  not  a  few  drug-stores  where  one  is  not  confronted  everywhere 
with  an  array  of  nostrums;  but  we  also  know  of  others  where  gorgeous  show 
cards  are  displayed  in  every  nook  and  corner,  and  where  handbills  advertising 
all  sorts  of  nostrums  are  freely  distributed,  practices  which  should  be  discoun- 
tenanced. The  preparation  of  household  remedies  by  authorized  formulas  has 
been  proposed  years  ago,  without  having  met  with  the  requisite  support ;  we 
believe  this  course  to  be  the  only  rational  one  calculated  to  be  an  entering 
wedge  for  the  suppression  of  nostrum  quackery. 
A  great  deal  might  be  said  about  the  proposition  to  publish  upon  the  labels 
of  proprietary  medicines  the  full  working  formulas.  The  proposition  might  be 
qualified  to  exclude  all  drugs  which,  if  an  overdose  of  the  medicine  be  taken, 
would  endanger  the  life  or  health  of  the  patient,  as  in  the  cases  above  alluded 
to,  or  which  are  likely  to  create  a  morbid  appetite  for  the  ingredients,  if  con- 
tinually used,  like  the  stomach  bitters,  many  so-called  elixirs,  &c. 
Regarding  the  alternative  proposition  in  the  concluding  sentence  of  the 
above  article,  we  trust  it  may  be  long  before  the  cure  of  one  evil  will  be 
attempted  by  creating  another. 
In  an  editorial  contained  in  the  "  Medical  and  Surgical  Reporter"  of  Aug. 
30,  the  true  way  to  suppress  quackery,  in  and  out  of  the  profession,  is  regarded 
to  be  by  educating  the  people  on  medical  subjects,  and  the  establishment  of  a 
society  in  England  is  cited  whose  object  is  to  supply  this  information  to  the 
