Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
March,  1915.  J 
Drug  Intoxication. 
137 
of  the  statistics  published  in  the  Thirteenth  Census  of  the  United 
States,  in  connection  with  the  remarkable  increase  in  the  manufacture 
and  inferentially,  therefore,  in  the  consumption  of  materials  used  as 
medicines.  The  paragraph  relating  to  patent  medicines  and  com- 
pounds and  druggists'  preparations  shows  that  during  the  sixty  years 
for  which  figures  are  obtainable  the  values  of  products  of  this  type 
at  the  manufacturing  establishment  increased  from  $3,863,815  in 
1849  to  $141,941,602  in  1909.  An  even  more  impressive  suggestion 
is  presented  by  the  appended  table  showing  the  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  establishments  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  commodities  of 
this  type,  the  cost  of  the  materials  used,  and  the  value  of  the  products 
at  the  manufacturing  establishment,  compared  with  the  increase  in 
population  of  the  United  States  during  practically  the  same  period 
of  time. 
Number  of  Establishments  Engaged  in  the  Manufacture  of  Patent  Medicines  and 
Druggists'  Preparations,  the  Cosi  of  Materials  Used  and  the  Value  of  the  Product 
as  Manufactured  Compared  with  the  Population  of  the  United  States,  Exclusive 
of  Outlying  Possessions,  during  the  Corresponding  Period* 
Year 
Number 
of  estab- 
lishments 
Cost  of 
material 
Value  of 
product 
Population  of 
United  States 
Year  of 
census 
1909  
•••  3.642 
$50,375,665 
$141,941,602 
91,972,266 
I9IO 
1899  
•••  2,154 
31,949,890 
88,790,774 
75,994-575 
1900 
1889  
...  3.08Q 
15,571.187 
43,940,120 
62,947,714  | 
1890 
1879...  
620 
7,906,138 
16,885,498 
50,155,783  ! 
1880 
*  Thirteenth  Census  of  the  United  States,  1910,  v.  8,  pp.  451-452,  and  v.  1,  p.  126. 
Thus  it  appears  that  while  the  increase  in  population  of  the  United 
States  from  1880  to  1910  was  approximately  83.3  per  cent.,  the  in- 
crease in  the  value  of  patent  medicines  and  related  products  was 
740.5  per  cent.  In  other  words,  while  the  population  of  the  United 
States  was  less  than  doubled,  the  value  of  the^medicines  manufactured 
and  consumed  was  increased  ninefold.  The  cost  of  the  material  to 
the  manufacturer  was  seven  times  greater  in  1909  than  in  1879,  and 
the  value  added  by  manufacture  was  eleven  times  greater  in  1909  than 
it  was  in  1879.  These  figures,  given  above,  high  as  they  are,  represent 
but  a  minor  portion  of  the  expenditures  by  American  people  for 
medicines  of  various  kinds.  Many,  if  not  all,  of  the  chemicals  used 
as  medicines  are  made  in  manufacturing  establishments  other  than 
those  included  in  the  above  enumeration,  and  other  materials,  particu- 
larly crude  drugs  and  the  finer  grades  of  chemicals,  are  imported  from 
