564 
Patent  Medicines. 
(  Am.  Jour,  Pharm» 
t       Nov.,  1883. 
though  scarcely  worthy  to  be  so  called,  it  is  but  natural  that  those  who 
use  them  as  such,  should  seek  them  where  medicines  are  sold.  When 
we  consider  that  three-fourths  of  the  nauseous  doses  swallowed  by  the 
entire  community  in  this  country,  are  the  false  and  deceptive  com- 
pounds known  as  patent  medicines,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  that 
they  have  constituted  an  element  of  individual  wealth  to  their  proprie- 
tors, or  have  added  to  the  profits  of  dealers  in  response  to  this  demand. 
But  while  a  pharmacist  combines,  and  necessarily  so,  the  character  of 
a  tradesman  with  that  of  a  profession,  is  he,  in  his  capacity  as  a 
tradesman,  justified  in  sinking  his  professional  character  so  low,  as  to 
aid  in  this  wide-spread  evil  ?  Is  it  not  rather  his  duty  to  use  his 
influence  in  an  earnest  endeavor  to  suppress  so  great  an  abuse  ? 
I  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  pharmacists  can  arrest  the  evil,  but 
they  can  withdraw  their  active  support ;  they  can,  at  least,  cease  to 
make  of  themselves  advertising  agents  for  preparations,  which  they 
would  be  ashamed  to  compound  and  dispense  as  their  own.  They  can, 
beyond  all  question,  furnish  preparations  which  would  be  a  much 
nearer  equivalent,  in  every  sense,  for  the  price  obtained.  They  can 
certainly  impart  rational  information,  rather  than  circulate  false  know- 
ledge, fabulous  assertions  and  lying  certificates.  They  can  surely  give 
a  little  rational  advice,  or  impart  a  moiety  of  information,  which  will 
curtail  the  enfeebling  of  age,  the  breaking  down  of  mature  life,  the 
sapping  of  the  foundations  of  youth,  and  the  slaughter  of  innocents^ 
which  has  been  brought  about  by  the  use  and  abuse  of  the  vile  trash, 
which  is  so  extensively  advertised  and  sold  under  the  name  of  proprie- 
tary medicines. 
There  is  scarcely  a  pharmacist  who  does  not  know  that  villainous 
compounds  are  heralded  by  flaming  posters,  column  after  column  of 
penny-a-line  sophistry,  and  elaborate  letter-press  circulars,  as  the  result 
of  scientific  study  and  rare  medical  skill  in  the  treatment  of  disease, 
and  as  possessing  wonderful  medical  properties,  which  compounds  of 
bad  Avhiskey  and  wormwood,  or  cheap  vinegar  and  aloes,  have  been 
concocted  from  the  poorest  kind  of  materials,  and  by  that  species  of 
stupidity  which,  if  better  informed,  would  be  loth  to  thrust  its  own 
ideas  and  opinions  in  the  face  of  knowledge  and  skill,  of  which  it  has 
never  dreamed. 
It  may  be  considered  smart,  in  the  shrewd  business  sense  which  pre- 
vails, in  this  day  of  misrepresentations,  when  pecuniary  success  hood- 
winks whole  communities,  and  too  often  sinks  into  insignificance  that 
