The Greeley tribune., 1905-03-23
Patent Medicines
Their Discoveries

Edward Box. editor OF TIE Ladies
Home journal deyotss 9 page IN the
March nuubsr OF that publication 10
% after the manufacturers Of patent
medicines and tie u>Srs u thess med
icines-
First. lie says. no physician o.
standing in lis profession Th0 DIS
covers any formula or 4ly ne"
method to alleviate the illnesses o.
suserings Of humanity ever keeps slc-
a formula TO himself or for s@lf-saln-
This is part OF the published CODE
of ethics recognized b. al reputable
physicians
Now look at your average pateEt
medicine doctor. What does he do:
Let Us acknowledge for the moment
that he discovers valuable formula
DOES he give it to his profession for
its members 10 give to tie woEld Of
suffering: Not he.
\ second point, the discovery OF
such a doctor is protected By the
securing Of trade mark and be-
comes what is 50 well called secret
nostrum.' There exists no control,
government, state or medical, over
the formula except the control OF
physician who has already turned
aside from the highest point OF honor
in his profession. Now what aSsur-
ance has a woman taking such
medicine that the ingredients OF one
bottle are in the next one she buys:
Instances have been known where
wood alcohol had been substituted
for pure alcohol when the price OF
the latter went too high. In one
instance il has been acknowl wledged by
the manufacturer OF q certain bit
ters, that owing 10 a scarcity of
cherry bark-the basis Of the 'bitrers
he substituted nothing short of
prussic acid.
4 third point: 1t is generally con-
ceded that il takes i've or six years
of hard study and the hardest Kind
of training for a medical student to
III himself to prescribe for patients
that he can see. whose troubles he
can diagnose from persona. ,examina-
tion OF patient and symptoms. Yet
here are a lot Of men VINO offer to
diagnose every kind OF disease that
flesh is heir TO, without any knowl
edge of the patient whatever.
A woman should always remember
one thing. that any thing secret in
medicine is the most dangerous thing
She can tamper with. Let woman
take bottle Of her favorite patent
medicine and have it analyzed by
reputable chemist. Revelations will
come to her that will amaze her.
She will ind in one case that she
has been taking a medicine so full of
alcohol that she pours out a few tea
spoonfuls in saucer. touch match
to it and it will ignite. She will
find III another that she has been
taking dose of cocaine that will
alarm her. She will find in a third
that she has been taking medicine
ninety-odd Per cent water and the
rest sUlphuric acid-the water useless
of course, as medicine, and the acid
finally eating the enamel of her
teeth.
In this same way Mr.. Box multi
plies instances where the most in
furious drugs are given as purely
vegetable compounds, and he winds
up with a quotation by prominent
manufacturer Of patent medicines:
Men are on to our game: We
don I care damn about them. 1t
is the women We are after We have
buncoed them now for a good many
years, and 50 long as they remain as
easy as they have been, and We can
make them believe that they are
sick, we're all right. Give us the
women every time. We can make
them feel more female troubles in a
year than they would really have if
they lived to De hundred. =