As™ptJemb^hi9S6n  }  Progress  in  Pharmacy.  429 
true  that  from  an  economic  point  of  view  the  drug  sections  of  the 
pure  food  law  are  ot  comparatively  minor  importance  it  is  also  true 
that  if  properly  enforced  these  sections  will  tend  to  prevent  the 
unnecessary  expenditure  of  millions  of  dollars,  and,  what  is  of  even 
greater  importance,  will  also  tend  to  prevent  the  doing  of  untold 
injury  by  nostrums,  both  directly  by  producing  untoward  and  unex- 
pected physiologic  effects,  and  indirectly,  by  failing  to  produce  the 
effects  claimed  by  the  manufacturer  or  his  agents.  If  the  several 
sections  relating  to  drugs  and  medicines  are,  as  they  should  be,  the 
forerunners  of  additional  anti-narcotic  legislation  on  the  parts  of  the 
several  State  legislatures,  they  will  contribute  very  materially  to 
eliminate  entirely  many  of  the  more  objectionable  preparations  that 
are  now  sold  as  medicine. 
Much  of  the  ultimate  success  of  pure  drug,  anti-nostrum  and 
anti-narcotic  legislation  will  necessarily  depend  on  the  support  that 
is  given  to  the  enforcement  of  these  laws  by  members  of  the  several 
branches  of  the  drug  trade ;  and  the  ultimate  results  on  pharmacy 
itself  will  necessarily  be  a  reflection  of  the  attitude  taken  by  phar- 
macists in  connection  therewith. 
It  will  be  quite  safe  to  assert,  however,  that  quite  apart  from  any 
action  or  lack  of  action  that  may  be  taken  by  the  several  branches 
of  the  drug  trade,  in  connection  with  nostrums  and  narcotics,  the 
physicians  of  the  country,  and  even  the  people  themselves,  have 
been  aroused  by  the,  at  times  perhaps  overdrawn,  articles  that  have 
been  published  in  lay  journals,  and  will  certainly  demand  legislation 
that  will  effectually  control  the  misleading,  not  to  say  criminal,  ex- 
ploitation of  dangerous  or  fraudulent  nostrums.  The  pharmacist 
should  and  does  know  of  the  direct  as  well  as  of  the  indirect  harm 
that  has  been  done  by  the  use  of  secret  remedies,  and  it  is  gratifying 
indeed  to  note  that  the  more  representative  members  of  the  phar- 
maceutical profession,  even  in  this  country,  have  consistently  been 
in  favor  of  the  particular  kind  of  legislation  involved  in  the  recently 
enacted  pure  food  bill.  In  support  of  this  statement  it  will  be  but 
necessary  to  refer  to  the  repeatedly  expressed  views  of  such  promi- 
nent American  pharmacists  as  the  late  Charles  Rice,  Prof.  A.  B. 
Prescott,  John  M.  Maisch  or  Fred.  Hoffman,  and  it  may  be  interest- 
ing to  add  that  the  need  for  legislation  along  these  very  lines  was 
discussed  in  the  meetings  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Associa- 
tion more  than  half  a  century  ago  and  that  an  outline  of  a  law 
