Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
Juue,  1909.  ) 
Food  and  Drug  Adulteration. 
273 
the  efforts  of  those  who  are  trying  to  prevent  the  passage  of  the 
bill  framed  to  prohibit  the  use  of  unsound  eggs  in  food  products 
which  is  now  before  the  Legislature  at  Harrisburg.  So  long  as 
this  vile  business  is  profitable  so  long  will  certain  manufacturers 
continue  to  use  even  such  unwholesome,  revolting  products  as 
rotten  eggs.  It  has  been  well  said  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
a  "  pretty  good  "  egg,  and  the  argument  of  one  of  the  dealers 
who  supplies  certain  bakers  with  this  class  of  material,  that  a  rotten 
egg  is  just  the  same  as  an  apple  with  a  rotten  spot  in  it,  and  that 
the  removal  of  the  rotten  spot  is  all  that  is  necessary,  the  rest  of 
the  egg  being  wholesome,  is  hardly  tenable. 
In  closing  I  wish  to  briefly  refer  to  the  question  of  drug  prod- 
ucts, particularly  nostrums,  which,  while  they  do>  not  come  under 
the  provisions  of  the  food  law,  nor  of  any  other  law  in  this  State, 
are  frequently  inimical  to  the  health  of  the  individual  who  uses 
them.  The  injustice  of  allowing  the  nostrum  maker  to  put  upon 
the  market  preparations,  often  containing  powerful  narcotic  drugs, 
without  any  restrictions  as  to  his  qualifications,  while  the  physician 
in  order  to  prescribe  these  same  drugs  is  required  to  study  for  not 
less  than  four  years,  and  the  pharmacist  in  order  to  dispense  the 
physician's  prescription  is  required  to  complete  a  course  of  not 
less  than  two  years,  has  never  been  properly  realized  by  the  public 
at  large.  Both  physician  and  pharmacist,  after  completing  their 
respective  educational  courses,  are  required  to  pass  examinations 
for  registration  before  entering  upon  the  practice  of  their  profes- 
sions, but  any  citizen  of  the  Commonwealth,  no  matter  how  little 
education  or  skill  he  may  possess,  may  undertake  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  medicines  containing  powerful  narcotics  or  habit-form- 
ing drugs,  with  the  single  exception  of  cocaine,  without  any 
restrictions  whatever. 
At  the  present  time  there  is  almost  universal  conformity  with 
the  letter  of  the  law  as  regards  the  labelling  of  drug  products, 
but  it  will  be  found  that  the  newspaper  and  bill  board  advertising 
of  both  food  and  drug  products  is  subject  to  no  restrictions  what- 
ever. The  daily  papers  are  filled  with  advertisements  of  fake 
remedies,  some  of  them  purporting  to  be  home  prescriptions,  in 
which  one  of  the  ingredients  is  always  a  secret  proprietary  article. 
Many  of  them  advocate  the  use  of  whiskey  or  narcotics  in  the 
treatment  of  coughs  and  colds,  and  all  of  them,  from  the  stand- 
point of  intelligent  medical  criticism,  are  open  to  the  objection 
