Los Angeles herald., 1905-03-29
Patent and Proprietary Medicines
A Reply to Mr.. Box

cinal or culinary, cannot be made or
preserved without alcohol.
The use of alcohol in medicine is
approved by the pharmacopoeias of
all nations. 1T is in accord with the
practice of all medical authorities in
the world.
The abuse of alcohol is another
matter, but the cost alone is enough
to prevent abuse. Alcohol costs about
$3.50 per gallon. 1t is too expensive
for any medicine maker to use more
than he needs of it. And he cannot
hope that people are going to take
the medicine because of the alcohol,
when good whisky can be purchased
for one-fifth as much.
A dose of medicine which contains
even 20 per cent of alcohol does not
seem to me very dangerous mat
ter. That means one-fifth of a tea
spoonful of alcohol at a time. Physi-
clans do not hesitate to give brandy
to child in teaspoonful doses, and
brandy is half alcohol. When one
compares medicine with wine or beer,
he should also compare the dosage
One takes more alcohol in a glass of
wine than he takes in a great many
doses of medicine.
Mr.. Box is also most unfair in his
reference to poisons used in proprie-
tary medicines. 1t is true that some
medicines contain poisons in small
percentages, but the use is not nearly
as general as in physicians prescrip-
tions. great many drugs which are
recognized by every physician as help
ful in small doses are poisonous when
taken in excess.
An elderly druggist told me a few
days ago that he had personally ex-
amined more than 100000 physicians
prescriptions, and by actual count, 70
per cent of them contained an opiate.
Yet analysis shows not q trace of
opiate In the largest sellers among the
proprietary remedies.
Strychnine is another dangerous
drug largely prescribed by physicians.
1t is used as a tonic and stimulant
Yet this is drug rarely found in
proprietares.
The maker of a proprietary medicine
must be more careful about the use
of any poison than the physician.
The physician is in a position to di-
rect his doses and to watch the results.
He is able to take chances which no
maker of a general remedy will take,
for fear that the directions on the
bottle will not be adhered to.
There are thousands of physicians
whose interests are opposed to pro-
prietary remedies. They are ready to
denounce ready-made remedy at the
slightest evidence of harm from It,.
Yet how seldom we hear of any harm
from proprietaries. I have myself
never heard of a single authenticated
case.
1t is the lack Of poison, rather than
its presence, which forms the real OBJ
lection to proprietaries. II is by using
poison which the medicine maker
avoids that the physician often se-
cures greater effect. The maker of
remedy has too much at stake to
use anything which will result i'm oc-
casional harm. And this caution
leads him to often omit ingredients
which he knows to be valuable.
Proprietary remedies are used not
alone by the poor who cannot afford
70 call physician. They are employed
by those to whom expense is of no i'm
portance. And In ordinary ailments,
when physician is called, he pre-
scribes ready made remedy. Proprle-
tary remedies are at some time taken
by all OF us. They are found in nearly
every home
And / know OF no business where
fraud has less chance OF success than
IN medicine. A worthless remedy is
very quickly found out. A sick person
VIII not long continue a remedy which
does not help. The lack of merit in a
lood may remain long undiscovered,
put II a medicine lacks virtue the fact
Is at once apparent
When | need a remedy for any or
binary ailment, my choice goes TO
remedy SO good that II made its
maker rich. A DEFENDER.