PHYSICIANS  AND  PHARMACEUTISTS  AND  THEIR  RELATIONS.  113 
standing  of  others  as  members  of  scientific  societies  or  as  editors 
of  general  scientific  or  medical  journals ;  the  usage  of  some 
physicians,  otherwise  opponents  to  quackery,  to  prescribe  nos- 
trums, either  from  a  knowledge  of  their  composition  or  from 
faith  in  the  authors  of  the  same  ;  the  readiness  of  even  high- 
standing  and  learned  men  to  give  recommendations  for  the  use 
of  nostrums ;  but,  above  all,  the  thoughtlessness  of  those  who 
wish  to  save  the  expenditure  of  money  for  the  services  of  phy- 
sicians, and  still  have  to  pay  several  times  that  amount  for  the 
recommended  merchandize  of  the  quacks  ;  all  these  circumstances 
combined  tend  to  keep  the  secret  medicines  afloat,  and  to  add 
new  ones  almost  daiJy  to  the  old  stuff. 
To  put  down  quackery,  to  expose  it  and  reduce  it  to  nothing, 
requires  the  efforts  of  all  true  hearted  men,  and  especially  of 
physicians  and  pharmaceutists.  We  know  it  cannot  be  overcome 
all  at  once,  but  must  fall  by  degrees,  and  we  have  no  doubt  it 
will.  When  questioned  about  the  efficacy  of  quack  medicines, 
we  should  not  hesitate  to  state  our  opinion  of  nostrums  in  general, 
to  refuse  any  sort  of  recommendation  above— some  are  said  to 
have  derived  benefit  from  it ; — but  to  recommend  the  afflicted  to 
seek  the  advice  of  some  physician  in  whose  knowledge  and  skill 
we  can  place  confidence.  This,  we  think,  should  be  the  begin- 
ning ;  if  necessary,  an  explanation  why  the  same  medicine  cannot 
answer  for  so  many  diseases  or  always  for  the  same  disease, 
which  is  modified  by  the  constitution,  the  sex,  habits,  manner  of 
living,  &c.  Declining  on  the  part  of  apothecaries  to  keep  quack 
medicines  for  sale  has,  in  most  cases,  been  rewarded  by  the 
entire  confidence  of  the  practising  physician  and  a  corresponding 
increase  of  the  prescription — the  legitimate  pharmaceutical  busi- 
ness. So  much  we  are  assured  of,  that  if  medical  societies  would 
take  a  bold  stand  against  nostrums  of  any  sort,  and  act  in  con- 
junction with  the  various  pharmaceutical  societies,  to  remedy  this 
evil  would  then  be  much  easier.  As  yet  the  voices  in  opposition 
to  quackery,  and  especially  the  nostrum  quackery,  are  thinly 
scattered  throughout  the  country ;  but  seldom  the  editor  of  a 
newspaper  ventures  to  publish  an  article  opposed  to  it.  The 
harmonious  action  of  the  practising  physician  and  the  dispensing 
pharmaceutist  is  necessary,  to  be  productive  of  much  good  ;  their 
recompense  would  be  the  increased  confidence  of  the  public. 
8^ 
