1 68  The  Evolution  of  Nostrum  Vending.     { AmAPTi[;^o5arm' 
piece  of  art.  Do  not  cut  up  the  block  of  marble  for  commercial 
paving  stones.  Let  us  take  hammer  and  chisel  and  work  faithfully 
from  morning  till  night  until  professional  pharmacy  stands  before 
us  perfected  in  all  its  glory. 
THE  EVOLUTION  OF  NOSTRUM  VENDING  AND  ITS 
RELATION  TO  THE  PRACTICE  OF  MEDICINE  AND 
PHARMACY. 
By  George  M.  Beringer. 
The  term  "  nostrum  "  correctly  used  is  restricted  to  "  a  quack 
medicine  ;  a  remedy,  the  ingredients  of  which  are  kept  secret ;  "  but 
the  discussions  in  some  of  our  pharmaceutical  meetings,  as  well  as 
popular  usage,  have  included  under  this  title  all  proprietary  reme- 
dies. A  shade  of  authority  for  such  usage  and  broadening  of  the 
meaning  of  the  term  is  given  in  the  Century  Dictionary  and  Cyclo- 
pedia, where  the  derivation  of  nostrum  is  given  as  "  L.  nostrum, 
neut.  of  rioster,  our,  ours."  The  name  is  supposed  to  refer  to  the 
habit  of  quacks  and  other  advertisers  of  claiming  special  virtue  for 
their  wares  as  "  our  own  make." 
While  fully  recognizing  the  difference  between  the  terms  "  nos- 
trum "  and  "  proprietary  remedy  "  when  properly  used,  the  writer 
may  in  this  article,  following  the  example  set  in  these  meetings,  use 
the  terms  as  synonymous. 
We  must  admit  that,  at  the  present  time,  a  large  portion  of  the 
trade  of  the  average  American  pharmacist  is  in  this  class  of  medi- 
cines, and  that  even  in  prescription  compounding  they  have  become 
an  important  factor. 
Some  of  the  writers  on  professional  pharmacy,  who  have  very  ex- 
alted ideals,  have  considered  these  as  entirely  modern  innovations  in 
medical  and  pharmaceutical  ethics,  and  lay  an  undue  share  of  the 
blame  at  the  door  of  the  drug  trade.  They  are  prone  to  moralize 
about  the  happy  trade  conditions  of  the  past  decades,  when  the 
present  generation  of  duggists  were  in  embryo  and  the  devotees  of 
the  calling,  whose  reputation  we  honor,  were  practising  pure  pro- 
fessional pharmacy. 
A  retrospection  of  the  history  of  medicine  in  this  connection,  even 
though,  necessarily,  quite  cursory,  may  not  be  unprofitable.  Among 
the  ancient  Greeks  the  treatment  of  disease  was  largely  in  the  nature 
