AmAp°rur;i?ohrm'}     The  Evolution  of  Nostrum  Vending.  173 
From  this  review  we  are  compelled  to  draw  the  conclusion  that 
the  manufacture  and  sale  of  secret  remedies  has  coexisted  with  the 
practice  of  medicine  throughout  all  times.  Instead  of  being  a  modern 
innovation,  the  genesis  of  nostrum  vending  probably  dates  with  the 
very  inception  of  the  practice  of  medicine. 
The  style  and  character  of  such  remedies  necessarily  changes  with 
the  changes  and  conditions  of  society.  At  the  commencement  of 
the  twentieth  century,  the  lovers  of  the  ethical  practice  of  medicine 
and  of  ethical  pharmacy  are  confronted  by  an  alarming  condition — 
a  condition  which  has  resulted  from  the  continual  development  of 
this  evil,  and  is  now  more  apparent,  because  accentuated  by  the 
commercialism  and  energy  of  twentieth-century  methods.  In  this 
generation  the  newspapers  have  an  enormous  influence,  and  their 
advertising  columns  have  been  a  leading  factor  in  the  development 
of  this  giant  evil  and  the  encouragement  of  self-medication  by  the 
public. 
The  blame,  however,  cannot  be  laid  at  the  door  of  pharmacy 
alone,  but  must  be  shared  by  both  professions.  We  all  know  that 
in  recent  years  a  class  of  proprietaries  have  been  directly  offered  to 
the  physicians  and  prescribed  by  many,  that  have  in  most  instances 
but  very  little  to  elevate  them  above  the  level  of  the  common 
ordinary  nostrums  that  are  advertised  direct  to  the  public. 
In  a  recent  issue  of  an  American  medical  journal,  which  claims  to 
have  a  very  wide  circulation  and  prides  itself  upon  the  influence  it 
exerts,  the  writer  counted  in  the  advertising  pages,  nine  remedies 
for  external  use  and  thirty-two  intended  for  internal  administration, 
all  under  arbitrary  coined  names,  and  the  advertisements  contained 
nothing  or  next  to  nothing  to  signify  their  composition.  Our  pre- 
scription files  and  store  shelves  show  that  physicians  are  prescribing 
such  remedies  without  having  but  a  very  indefinite  idea  of  the 
ingredients  or  actions. 
The  following  is  abstracted  from  a  recent  issue  of  a  medical 
journal :  "  Boys,  I'm  going  to  give  you  a  prescription  which  makes 
the  treatment  of  pneumonia  a  regular  cinch.  Put  10  drops  of  tinc- 
ture of  ipecac  and  10  drops  of  tincture  of  aconite  to  4  ounces  of 
respiton,  and  give  ^  to  1  teaspoonful  every  two  or  three  hours." 
Is  there  a  single  pharmaceutical  journal  in  America,  even  among 
the  "  house  organs,"  that  would  lend  its  pages  to  such  a  thinly 
veiled  advertisement  and  such  an  undignified  appeal  to  its  patrons  ? 
