The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-10-28
DOCTOR THEMSELVES.
People Who Make Business Brisk for the
Many Manufacturers of Patent
Medicines.

you would imagine, salu druggist 10
reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle.
The craze at present is for patent
medicines. The great reduction in the
price of all proprietary articles has in
duced many invalids, or individuals
who suppose they are i'll, to give up
patronizing physicians and try the many
nostrums with which the market is
flooded. l have not kept track of the
number of patent medicines in the
market in recent years, but the last
time gave my attention to the subject
there were over 1000 proprietary
medicines manufactured in the United
States. A drug store is a great resort
for hypochondriacs. Here men talk by
the hour of their various ailments which
are of no interest to me, but to which l
am obliged to listen or else lose the
sick mans custom"
What class purchase patent medi-
cines?'
"All classes, of course, buy proprietary
medicines to greater or less extent, but
the largest trade in them is done with
elderly men. When man reaches,
say, 60 years, he usually has some all
ment which may either be triflipg or
symptoms present themselves he makes
him to the druggist. The pill manu-
facturer patiently listens to the GUS
TONER'S statement of his ills and pre-
scribes a remedy-usually one of his
own preparations. Why? Because the
profit on the druggists goods are 100
per cent more than on others. Probably
the remedy purchased benefits the pa
tient, but the chances are that it
doesn't"
Would you recommend individuals
who are sick to do their own doctor
ing?"
Certainly not. No man can tell the
nature of his disease. A symptom or
symptoms may indicate a dozen differ
ent diseases, and when a man is taking
liver invigorator he may be suffering
from kidney trouble. 1t is the height
of folly for one to buy a proprietary
tonic, the ingredients of which are of
the poorest and cheapest quality. Does
it stand to reason that a patent medi-
cine firm would put high-priced wine in
a beef, iron, and wine tonicp No. The
wine used is generally the cheapest
kind of sherry, and | shudder when l
think of the extract of beet and iron
used. The same principle applies to all
proprietary articles in which alcohol is
suppose to enter. But few bitters or
nervines 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 medicines has
the largest sale?" was asked.
Different articles are manufactured
at various seasons. For instance, in
the summer months sarsaparillas and
ginger tonics have the call, while in
cold weather cough sirup and consump-
ton cures are largely sold. You would
Do surprised to know the number of
remedies for coughs and colds sold in
Brooklyn from November to June.
They are of various kinds, good, bad,
and indifferent, the latter predomina-
ting. Do | think sirups can cure con-
sumption? No, sir. They no doubt re-
lieve 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"
How do homeopathic medicines
sell?'
Poorly. What man originally from
the country will ever forget his mothers
medicine chest and the good woman's
catnip tea and mustard plasters? How,
on the first symptom of disease in any
of her loved ones she hastens to the
well-thumbed and ancient medicine
book, locates the malady, and prescribes
the remedy? The day of the homeo-
pathic medicine chest has, | think,
passed. AT any rate, homeopathy is
not practiced as much in Brooklyn as
formerly. But whether the remedies
which our mothers prescribed were
efficacious or not, l don't pretend to
know, but anyway we most always got
well. Good care and nursing 90
great way in the treatment of disease"
The reporters informant, who, in adj
dition to being a druggist, is also a
physician, continuing, said: '.In the
sleepy Long island village in which /
was born, our doctor combined the
duties of physician with those of
dominic. His knowledge of the Bible
far exceeded that of materia medica.
The first body was dissected in this
country in Philadelphia, in 1850. and
from that date until 1867, when the first
medical school was established in New
York, but little progress was made in
the study of medical science. The
strides made in the profession have
been phenomenal, but nothing COM
pared to what will be discovered by
future generations"
Don't druggists often compound
their own prescriptions?"
Yes, but if caught they are liable to
imprisonment | have diploma and
can prescribe for a patient, and then
compound my own prescription. Drug
gists are very careful in prescribing and
are fully aware of the penalty for SO