Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-09-30

The Largest Trade Done with Elderly
Men-Sales of the Various Glasses Of
Proprietary MedicInes-The Medicine
Chest-Progress.
"MOre people doctor themselves than
you would imagine" said an uptown
druggist to reporter. The craze at
present is for patent medicines. The great
reduction in the price of all proprietary
articles has induced many inyalids or in
diyiduals who suppose they are i'll, to give
up patroniZing physicians and try the
many nOstrums with which the market
is flooded. have not kept track of the
number Of patent medicines in the mar
ket in recent years, but the last time /
gave my attention to the subject there
were over 100000 proprietary medicines
manufactu in the United States. A
drug store is a gres at resort for hypOchon-
driscs. Here men talk by the hour OF
the various ailments which are of no in
terest to me but TO which am obliged to
listen, or else lose the sick man s custom.
What class purchase patent medi-
cines,"
~All classes, of course, buy proprietary
articles to greater or less extent, but the
largest trade in them is done with elderly
" hch ihdu ICdtitS, say years,
he usually has some ailment which may
either be trifling or iOus. At all events,
after the first symptoms present them
selves, he makes a careful diagnosis of his
case and hies him to the druggist The
pill manufacturer patiently listens to the
customers statement of his ills and pre-
scribes a remedy-usually one of his own
preparations. Why' Because the profit
on the drug st's goods ar 100 per cent
more than OF others Probably the rem
edy purchased benefits the patient, but
the chances are that it doesn't.
THE HIGHT OF FOLLY
Would you recommend individuals
who ore sick TO do their own doctoringg"
Certainly not. No man can tell the
nature of his disease. A symptom or
symptoms may indicate a dozen different
diseases, and when a man is taking a
liver invigoratOT he may be suffering
from kidney trouble. 1t is the hight OF
folly for one to buy a proprietary tonic,
the ingredients of which are of the poorest
and cheapest quality. Does il stand to
reason that patent medicine firm would
put high priced wine in a beef, iron and
wine tonicy No. The wine used is gener-
ally the cheapest kind Of cherry, and
shudder when think of the extract OF
beef and iron. The same principle ap-
plies 10 all proprietary articles in which
alcohol is supposed to enter But few bit
ters or nerv.nes contain much alcohol but
are mainly composed of cheap qualities
of French spirits. Good alcohol costs
money and Is far too dear to be used
in patent medicines which sell at 81 per
bottle"
What class of patent med icines has the
largest sale'" was asked d
Different articles are manufactured at
various seasons. For instance, in the sum
'mer months sarsaparillas and ginger ton
les have the call, while in cold weather
cough syrup and consumption cures are
largely sold. You would be surprised to
know the number remedies for coughs
and colds sold in Brooklyn, from Novem-
Der TO June. They are of various kinds,
good bad and Indifferent, the latter pre-
dominating. Do think syrups can cure
consumption No, sir. They no doubt
relieve the sufferer and loosen the cough.
but in many instances coughs are tenn
porarily dried up by their use only to
break out again more severely than be-
fore"
THE MEDICINE CHEST.
"IIOw do the so-called medicine chests
selly"
Poorly. What man originally from
the country will ever forget his mothers
medicine chest and the good woman's
catsup tea and mustard plasters' How.
on the first symptom Of disease in any O. |
her loved ones, she hastens to the Well
thumbed and ancient medicine book, |
locates the malady and prescribes the /
remedy The day Of the medicine chest |.
has, / think, passed. But whether the /.
remedies which our mothers prescribed !
were efficaciOus or not, don't pretend to I
know, but any way we most always got |
well. Good care and nursing go great
way in the treatment Of disease"
The reporters informant, who in addi- !
ton to being druggist, is also physi- |
clan, continuing, said: an the sleepy /
Long Island village in which / was born, /
our doctor combined the duties of physi- .
clan with those of dominic. His knowl- (
edge of the Bible far exceeded that of .
materia medica. The first body was dis .
sected in this country in Philadelphia, in .
1850, and from that date until 1767, when .
the first medical school was established |
in New York, but little progress was made
in the study of medical science. The
st rides made in the profession have been
phenomenal but nothing compared to
what will be discovered by future gener-
ations.-Brooklyn Eagle,