Aui.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Sept.  1875.  / 
Legitimate  Pharmacy. 
40J 
pensing  fraudulent  prescriptions  of  brandy  smashes  and  gin  cocktails^ 
any  more  than  (as  we  trust)  he  will  be  charged  with  conniving  at  infan- 
ticide and  abortion,  in  the  display  and  sale  of  deobstruent  pills " 
and  "periodical  drops." 
Although  the  patent-medicine  trade  is  not  attended  to  in  our  query,, 
it  seems  to  me  it  must  be  taken  into  account  in  considering  the  sphere 
of  true  pharmacy,  to  which,  in  its  present  overgrown  proportions,  it 
has  become  an  offence  and  a  stumbling-block. 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  multitude  of  nostrums  forced  upon  the 
people  by  brazen  advertising,  and  by  their  demand  in  turn  forced  upon 
our  shelves,  constitute  a  hindrance,  not  only  to  the  scientific  advance- 
ment, but  to  the  financial  success  of  our  calling,  constantly  becoming, 
as  they  do,  dead  stock  upon  our  hands,  on  account  of  their  fickle  and 
fleeting  saleability,  and  generally  offering  but  small  margins  of  profit 
as  compared  with  the  risk.  Now,  I  conceive  that  not  only  duty  but 
policy  forbid  the  pharmacist  lending  himself  or  his  store  as  advertising 
mediums  for  these  medical  monstrosities,  even  to  promote  that  "  mu- 
tual advantage  "  which  we  hear  so  much  about,  but  which  is  mutual 
only  for  the  makers.  Neither  the  cheap  melodramatic  lithographs  of 
the  Sage  of  Buffalo,  with  its  death-bed  scenes,  nor  the  high  heroics  of 
Hostetter's  St.  George  and  the  dragon,  nor  the  cabalistic  "  S.  T. 
i860,  X,"  of  the  Plantation-bitter  man,  are  interesting  as  works  of 
art,  nor  do  they  really  serve  to  embellish  clean  walls  or  paint.  And 
the  dealer  who  informs  his  customer  that  So-and  So's  lung  balsam  will 
cure  his  cough,  or  that  the  Widow  Mickle's  soothing  syrup  is  just  the 
thing  for  that  blessed  baby,  incurs  a  fearful  responsibility.  I  earnestly 
hope  the  time  will  come  when  the  reasonable  demand  of  the  public  for 
domestic  remedies  can  be  met  in  some  way  to  merit  the  just  approval 
of  physicians  and  druggists,  and  the  patent-medicine  fraud  be  reckoned 
as  a  thing  of  the  past.  But,  until  then,  and  while  the  demand  makes 
it  almost  necessary  for  us  to  deal  in  this  merchandise,  should  not  the 
attitude  of  pharmacists  be  one  of  tolerance  only  ?  Should  it  not  be 
the  rule  of  well-regulated  pharmacies  never  to  recommend  a  nostrum, 
but  only  to  fill  the  customer's  order  ?  Inasmuch  as  our  patrons  must 
rely  greatly  upon  our  skilled  judgment,  it  becomes  a  duty  to  make  no 
careless  recommendations,  as  also  it  is  a  duty  to  give  all  reasonable 
information,  and  to  educate  our  special  public  up  to  the  appreciation  of 
the  best  obtainable  drugs  and  preparations. 
In  conclusion,  sir,  will  it  be  considered  a  trite  sentimentality  to  assert. 
