Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
Dec.  1875.  J 
Vending  of  Nostrums. 
539 
and  well-directed  efforts  on  the  part  of  all  pharmacists.  The  medicai 
profession  is  powerless  in  the  matter,  as  any  protest  uttered  by  physi- 
cians would  be  ascribed  to  interested  motives.  To  the  pharmacist,  then, 
we  must  look  for  alleviation  of  this  nuisance.  To  this  end  it  is  import- 
ant that  he  should  realize  his  responsibility  as  the  purveyor  of  medi- 
cines, and,  conjointly  with  the  physician,  as  conservator  of  the  public 
health.  As  a  person  of  skilled  judgment  in  such  matters,  his  opinion 
is  deferred  to  by  his  patrons,  when  he  takes  the  trouble  to  express  it. 
His  duty,  then,  is  :  never  to  recommend  a  patent  medicine,  keep  no 
advertising  matter  setting  forth  their  merits,  allow  no  display  of  signs 
and  show-cards,  etc.,  in  his  shop,  and,  if  possible,  as  it  often  is,  keep 
such  nostrums  out  of  sight  of  the  public,  to  supply  only  on  customer's 
order,  provided  he  cannot  prevail  upon  him  to  consult  a  physician  or  to 
try  some  remedy  which  he  shall  prescribe. 
A  peremptory  refusal  to  supply  a  patent  medicine  would  only  send 
the  customer  to  the  next  drug  store,  or,  supposing  there  to  be  unanimity 
among  pharmacists  on  this  point — a  thing  impossible — the  proprietors 
of  the  tabooed  preparations  would  establish  agencies  at  other  places  of 
business,  and  thus  the  business  of  the  apothecary  would  suffer  without 
materially  affecting  the  sale  of  the  nostrum. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  believed  that  a  judicious  and  dignified  pur- 
suance of  the  course  indicated  above  would  secure  to  the  pharmacist 
the  respect  of  his  patrons,  thus  inuring  to  his  pecuniary  advantage, 
while  gradually  doing  away  with  the  traffic  in  articles  whose  properties 
and  composition  are  unknown  alike  to  buyer  and  seller. 
The  "  Record  "  characterizes  as  a  "  halfway  measure  "  the  proposed 
issuing  of  an  almanac  by  pharmacists,  and  says  'Mt  will  be  incomplete^ 
unsatisfactory  and  impracticable."  Such  advertisement  will  no  doubt 
be  appreciated  by  the  publisher  and  editor  with  whom  the  "  Popular 
Health  Almanac  "  is  an  accomplished  fact. 
In  the  writer's  opinion,  "  halfway  "  measures  are  more  likely  to  suc- 
ceed in  this  matter  than  the  violent  one  of  absolute  refusal ;  and  the 
substitution  of  the  proposed  almanac  for  the  rubbish  with  which  our 
counters  are  (by  our  leave)  annually  flooded,  will  go  far  toward  lessen- 
ing the  demand  for  patent  medicines. 
In  conclusion,  it  is  suggested  that  two  joint  committees  be  appointed 
at  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the  national  medical  and  pharmaceutical 
associations,  one  of  these  being  instructed  to  prepare  a  series  of  for- 
mulae for  household  remedies,  providing  a  suitable  variety  of  each  class 
