The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-15
ADVICE GIVEN IN DRUG STORES.
Hardly Amy Ill for Which the Clerk
won't Prescribe.


The physicians of New York declare that
they have another evil to contend with be-
sides the abuse of the free dispensaries.
This second cause of complaint is found in
the drug stores of the city. Many of the
druggists, so the doctors say, have a habit
of prescribing for sick persons who come
into their stores and make known their
wants, instead of sending them to a doc
tors Office where they could be examined
and treated in the orthodox fashion. In
most drug stores of New York if a man
says that he is i'll and describes his symp-
Tins the clerk, in nine cases out of ten, will
say: I've got just the thing to fix that"
and will sell him bottle of something, or
a single dose of medicine with a little plain
soda water to help it down.
The dispensing of mixtures of a more or
less medicinal character in place of the old
time refreshing and innocuous drinks Of the
soda water fountain has grown to an enor-
nous extent In front of the slabs of
polished marble that go to make up the big
fountains is an array of bottles and ocean
tiers that would put fashionable bar to
shame. The white-coated attendant whose
ear is inclined at coni1dlng angle, is ready
at a moments notice to treat Anything
from sunstroke to cholera. There is hardly
an ailment for which the soda water clerk
cannot find q specific among the glass ar
tillery behind him
With a few twists of the wrist and a
sizzle a sure headache cure is handed
across the counter a shake and another
sizZle and a liver reducer comes gurgling
out. Malaria disappears as if by magic,
disordered stomachs are toned up to work.
renewed under the skillful manipulation of
the soda water man.
Besides the specialties, of which every
druggist has a score, there are drinks COM
mon to about all of the fountains. There
is the lime juice and mineral water, the
temperance mans rickey, which is sup
posed to have a beneficial action on en-
larged livers. The salty bitter of the lime,
combined with the effervescing saline
water. will squeeze that organ down to its
normal size, even if it fills the stomach
with a bubbling acid conglomeration.
A professor of therapeutics in a Western
medical college recently made series of ex-
periments with certain drug to determine
it's effect on the human system. A large
number of the students agreed to take Ger
tain doses of the drug daily for a certain
length of time. In the course of a few days
those students who were taking the large
doses came to the professor and begged off
from the experiment because they found
that the drug destroyed Their brain power.
They could not study and their memories
were becoming defective. Those who took
small doses said that they thought that it
temporarily stimulated the mental facu-
ties. The professor concluded that as or
dinarily sold in stores the drug was in
furious TO the brain.
The preparations served over the soda
water. fountains are not measured in the
druggists graduate. The amount of the
dose depends solely on the accuracy of the,
clerks eye and there is apparently no limit
to the number of drinks man may take
The clerk does not lean over his counter
and ask How many drinks of this stuff
have you had to-day" but serves the flip
or the fizz without question
Antipyretics, phenacettn, acetanilid and
antifebrin are sold over the drag counters
with a free and easy hand the doctors
depressing on the hearts action even
though they relieve headaches. 1t is no
uncommon experience for physicians to find
patients who have been doctoring them
selves with the druggists aid in a. serious
condition from the effects of these drugs
and prompt stimulative treatment has to be
Cd tn