New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-06-11
Patent Medicines.


heaped upon this class of specifics they continue
to advance in public favor both in Europe and in
this country. Although the inventors and com
Founders of them have been called quacks
and charetans for ages, mankind in general still
place confidence in and trust to their efficacy with
more faith than ever
To our minds the cause of this ia plain and should
serve to caution the inexperienced but jealous
graduate of medicine against being too sweeping
in his condemnation and too exclusive in his choice
| of remedies. Vo5 popu8, Goa Del, can be applied
in this connection with perhaps more truth than in
any other, for the voice of the people in favor of
remedies which they have tried upon themselves,
their wives and their children for years, is Ger
tainly the godlke attribute of truth as any.
| thing human ever gets to be, If after twenty |
years constant use of q particular receipt, as
remedy for disease it is found to be nearly al
ways beneficial, it is natural that the person who
has thus used ii would be convinced unalerably of
| its efficacy, and'place more faith in it than he
would in the prescription which he had never
tried.
Again, does any physician however learned he may
be, pretend thathe understands all about the human
body or the diseases to which it is liable And is
not the medical science at best but an edifce un-
finished and untenable? Does any physician do
aught but experiment upon his patients? And
who will pretend to deny that all the different
schools-though Numerically opposed to each
other-have had their successes; days Of popular.
ty failures and turns of misfortune. Who can for
t get that there is one class of writers who teach
that for fevers blood must be taken from the pa,
tent; another, that to bleed person suffering
from fever is to sap the foundations Of his life
a and in many cases to kill him. One respectable
t class prescrbes steam and vapor baths for almost
every ailment; another forbids them. To-day
qunine is given for all eyers and intermittent dis
Il orders; tomorrow it is condemned as dangerous
: and injurious to the system. Mercury has had its
, day of popularity and its day of disgrace. The
Aopathist thinks that the innitestma doses Of the
= homeopathic ridiculous; the homeopathic rolls
his eyes with horror at the immense quantities Of
drugs used by his rival.
. The disciple of Thompson believes that nature
has provided in every forest suitable remedies for
diseases incidental to the climate; another class
believe that cold water alone will cure every i'll
/. the human family is heir to.
(. What right have the medical profession, there
d fore, to condemn anything? And are they not
it themselves condemned by every phiIosophic
it mind? Are not the inventors of patent medicines
is as much entitled to respect and confidence as
It they? To better understand this proposition, let
r, US examine into the subject closely:
l, What are patent medicines? Specific remedies
r for disease, the ingredients of which are
kept secret for the purpose Of restricting the
It profits of their sale to the inventor Or proprie-
:. tor Who is the inventor or proprietor Assuredly
v some person who, having for years experimental
e upon the sick with the medicine, has proved its
efficacy and learned to value it it deserves. He
}. knows from actual experience, that it will accom-
plish certain results and does not fear to recon-
. mend its use. It is now no longer an experiment
. but a certainty He does not take Dr.. Squin
h word for it, but his belief is based upon what he
70 knows to be SO, Then, why should he not sell it,
Is and realize profit upon such discovery, as well
g as the inventor of the steam engine, the electric
e telegraph or the spinning jenny? The physicians
j. tell us that it is not proper to make profit out o.
a. any discovery which may be made in the science
d or practice of medicine, because it is specializing
e upon the misfortunes of the human family. How
is it, if it is not proper to speculate upon the mis-
g fortunes of their fellowmeH, that physicians eve
le get rich? It would be more in keeping with the
E. pretensions to return to their patients annually
e. all their profits over and above mere supper
y for themselves and families.
N We are therefore forced to the following con
re illusions:
A. LIST. That as all acknowledge experience to b,
"a the most reliable guide, patent medicines being
sr the result of experience cannot in the nature
e things be Objectionable.
e. I'd. That as neither the judgment nor skin o
1t physicians are infalibIe, their condemnation o
g patent medicines should not deter the public from
j. placing confidence in them.
y Sd. That as the very class which condemn thu
proprietors of patent medicines for making then
S, profitable have not clean hands themselves, an,
are guilty of the same oflense which they complain
It. Of their condemnation should have no weight.
g Having, we think placed this matter in its tru
% light before the public, a few words more and W
- have done. In directing attention to patent med
US ieines, we do not wish to be understood adyo
es eating an indiscriminate use of every nostruu
ne which may be offered to the public, By no means
oil A due caution against imposition should be oh
re served, and the most practicable means OF pre-
'H venting ourselves from being imposed upon is
r. buy none but such as are sold by respectable
ng doris, and which are indorsed by known parties
MS In this city we have many highly respectable dea
I'm ers in drugs and medicines who also deal largel
ny in patent medicines. Among these is Mr.. Jane
ed CONCEAL, No. 20 St. Charles street-a gentlema
as of singular enterprise, enlarged hberality and
an high order of capacity, As he has character t
ed maintain in this community it is not likely that
ed would risk its being furnished for the paltr
sum to be made upon the sale of yalueles
ed medicines or the compoundngs Of quacks
ey In taking the agency of medicine, careful an
OF discreet druggist informs himself to its histor
er and value, and satisfies himself that he will not
ed the means Of the Introduction among his friend
by of a compound which would have the effect
ed tightening their purses while shortening their lives
an Mr.. CONCEAL, as an educated druggist, is compe
In tent and fully able to institute inquiry into sue
we subject. Several of the medicines for which
re is the agent advertised in our paper this morn
gu ing. Werefer our readers to these advertisement
on for particulars as to their nature, etc.
ne.
ed LAND AND COLLECTING 0FFICE.-It will be see
his upon reference to our advertising columns tba
on Messrs. w. H. Garland & Son, of Summit, Miss
He have opened office in that place for the trans
a action of the above named businnss Tbav wi