The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-08-24

government, in order to protect the people from
their own folly and in spite of the most bitter OPP
position of the patent medicine makers 1--WE almost
said fakers) passed the pure food law, which re-
quires that the label must tell the contents OF the
bottle if there are any dangerous drugs IN It, be
fore the medicine can enter into interstate com
merce.
It is no longer possible to deceive the public
with long list of what the "cure" does not con
tain. If it is loaded with codeine, it is not sut
cient to saw that it contains opium, cocaine al
cohol chloroform haschisch, choral hydrate or
actetanilid Furthermore the label must make 10
misleading statement; that is, the maker must not
lie about his stuf-he must not call it a cure
because it isn't.
The vilest cocaine decoctions have been sup
pressed in a measure through the operation of the
pure food law and the cooperation of the drug
gists but the living evidences that the cocaine
traffic is still carried on in Salt Lake, if not under
the name of some proprietary medicine then in
open violation of the laws and ordinances, may be
seen any night and almost any day. Main
street The "dope fends' secure their favorite
drug somewhere, and their appearance does not
denote sufficient prosperity to warrant the belief
that they send away for it.
Advertisers of patent medicines are now trying
to make it appear that the government guarantees
their nostrums. Such is not the case. The cherry
bottle that says the cherries are artfcialy colored
and are preserved in benzoate sodium which is. by
the way one of the least harmful of preservatves.
has that label because it must have it according
to law or be debarred from entering into inter
state commerce And cough syrups and soothing
syrups and darrhoea remedies which contain
morphine far from being recommended by the
government, are compelled to print the fact
people will know what they are taking or giving
to their children.
Nobody will ever know how many have
died from headache powders, the cause of death be-
ing assigned to heart failure. Practically all head
ache medicines contain heart-depressant drugs.
The quicker they cure the headache the more pow
erful is the drug, and the dangerous to life.
Rheumatism remedies kidney and liver regulators,
catarrh and cold cures, spring tonics, blood puri-
iers, system rejuvenators, one and all, together
with the other hundreds of cures for every i'll
that flesh is heir to, and some Others every patent
medicine for symptoms and diseases, may well be
viewed with suspicion. Read the label, get out the
dictionary or ask the druggist.
There is many good and we'll meaning mother
who would hesitate, and rightly, too, to give her
babe a small dose of camphorated tincture of
opium Cparagoric), but who with no Thought of
the consequences would dose it with teaspoonful
of soothing syrup which contains five six grains
of opium to the ounce, because the dope is "war-
ranted harmless" and she has carefully read the
directions If the medicine for the baby contains
no laudanum" be assured that is no recommends
ton, but only subterfuge to hide the choral by
drate or sulphate morphia. If the remedy will
"pacify the most fretful chd,' it does so because
it deadens the functions which make the child fret
full, and is permanently injurious to the organs of
the child's body.
There may be many meritorious proprietary
medicines in the world, but on the whole we would
prefer, off hand, dose of sage tea to one of can
nabis indica, and if the sage tea fails to cure we
might send for doctor, but with small faith. We
would much prefer the old school physician who
knew remedy for chicken lce even if he had nev-
er heard of appendicitis, and who could look wise
and tell his patient he would be out in day or two
whether he meant out of the world, out of bed,
out of his head, out of doors or out of pocket it
makes no difference. He always looked cheerful
about it. anyway.