154 
Correspondence. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      March,  1909. 
Editor,  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  : 
When  I  first  read  Dr.  Wiley's  lecture,  I  felt  that  he  was  a 
veritable  Daniel  come  to  judgment,  but  when  I  considered  the 
subject  in  detail  as  it  would  have  to  be  worked  out,  my  spirits  fell, 
and  I  had  to  conclude  that  in  the  present  state  of  the  public  mind  it 
would  only  be  possible  to  carry  out  his  plan  to  a  very  limited  extent. 
His  suggestion  certainly  is  fascinating  to  the  physician  and  hyper- 
ethical  pharmacist,  but  I  fear  there  are  very  few  communities  in 
which  it  could  be  carried  out.  There  are  not  many  localities  in 
which  druggists  and  doctors  could  come  to  such  an  agreement  as 
would  be  necessary  to  make  it  a  success.  As  an  ideal,  however,  it 
is  something  good  to  work  up  to,  but  as  a  practical  measure  for 
general  adoption  at  the  present  time  I  fear  it  is  not  feasible. 
To  carry  out  such  a  plan,  the  concurrence  of  four  parties  is  neces- 
sary; these  are:  (i)  the  doctors,  (2)  the  druggists,  (3)  the  great 
American  public,  and  (4)  the  patent  medicine  proprietors.  If  we 
assume  that  the  first  two  are  able  to  come  to  an  agreement  that 
would  render  Wiley's  plan  feasible,  we  still  have  the  other  two 
parties  to  deal  with.  The  patent  medicine  proprietors  have  vast 
sums  of  money  invested  in  their  products,  and  they  would  not 
consent  to  let  their  capital  be  dissipated  and  in  some  cases  them- 
selves ruined  for  the  sake  of  carrying  out  an  idea  with  which  they 
have  no  sympathy.  They  would  surely  make  more  strenuous  efforts 
than  ever  to  create  a  demand  for  their  goods,  and  the  great  American 
public  would  exercise  their  right  to  choose  between  the  remedies 
advertised  by  the  patent  medicine  men  and  those  put  forward  by 
druggists.  Comparing  the  flaming  advertisements  of  "  cures,"  with 
the  modest  recommendations  by  druggists  of  medicines  to  "  relieve," 
the  choice  would  almost  always  be  in  favor  of  the  former.  And  so 
in  the  majority  of  cases  the  ethical  preparations  would  remain 
unsold. 
But  suppose  the  druggists  should  discontinue  to  sell  the  patent 
medicines,  what  would  happen  ?  Surely  somebody  would  sell  them. 
The  proprietors  would  find  some  means  of  marketing  their  goods. 
With  the  public  calling  for  them  and  proprietors  pushing  them,  the 
sale  would  go  on.  It  is  quite  likely  that  such  action  by  druggists 
would  hurt  the  sale  of  these  "  patents  "  and  perhaps  after  many 
years  almost  kill  it,  but  no  one  can  now  foresee  what  the  effect  would 
be,  nor  how  long  it  would  be  before  any  marked  effect  would  be 
produced. 
