Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-07-15

fellow beings in the secrets of root and
herb. Double, double, toll and trOu-
BILE; fire burn and caldron bubble"
chanted Macbeth's witches. the patent
medicine manufacturers of their time,
and then, as now, there were not lack
ing those willing to accept their noX-
ious compounds.
One ingredient has been added by
modern progress to the mixtures Of the
ancients which has greatly stimulated
this interesting survival of prehistoric
faith in mysterious medicines. Print
ers' ink, not in itself of any known
curative value has brought the wiz
ards and witches from their hiding
places and has enabled them to acquire
world wide fame and enormous for
tunes by the practice of their art Of
medicine brewing. The mystery of
manufacture remains, but printers ink
has made a vast number Of people will
ing subscribers to the income Of the
compounders. Were 1t not for the
mysterious nature Of these widely ad-
vertised remedies they would not be so
popular, and therefore those who en-
tighten the public as to their real char
acter are dealing a severe blow to the
very ancient profession of quackery.
Such an attack has been made by
the British Medical association, which
not long ago published book entitled
Secret Remedies: What They Cost
and What They Contain" 1t contains
analyses of a large number of the pa
tent medicines so extensively adver-
tised in the daily papers Of Great Bri-
tain. Although many Of these are also
sold in America, the vast number or
patent nostrums advertised in this
country escape exposure in this book.
If service similar to this could be
rendered the people of the United
States by some equally reliable agency,
it would go far in persuading the pub
lie that when it purchases mysterious
medicines advertised to cure diseases
it Is being numerically humbugged.
Generally speaking, the analyses in
this book show that those who con-
sumo patent medicines are not exposed
to any serious danger; they are left
where they were before they read the
advertisement, except that the price
paid for these remedies Is out OF all
proportion to the cost of the drugs
from which they are made. This diff
ference, or a large part of it, is doubt
less spent for advertising: and there
fore If the buyer is willing to include
printers ink in the ingredients of his
favorite remedy he is not very greatly
swindled, although, even allowing Tor
this, the net profits must still be enor-
nous.
The love of mystery, the lingering
superstition that anything which ap-
pears in print must, somehow, be true,
and the force of repetition account for
the great sale Of patent medicines. NO
uneducated person is able successfully
to refute a statement which he finds
day after day and year after year ad-
vertised prominently in the newspapers
or upon the billboards. Sooner or later
he becomes convinced that it must be
true and he buys.
Some of the analyses given in Sc
cret Remedies" are enlightening, even
amusing. A certain "One Night Cold
Cure" sold for 25 cents a box, adver-
tised to break up any cold overnight
or money refunded" and to cure infiu-
enza in three days, was alleged to be
composed chiefly of "quinine, cascara,
camphor and other ingredients adopted
by the leading medical authorities for
colds in the head, throat and lungs.
The analysis showed that the tablets
contained in the box were coated with
sugar colored with ferric oxide $50
called chocolate coating), contained no
bromide, no quinine, no camphor ana
no cascara. The estimated cost OF the
ingredients used was one-half cent.
A very famous pill, advertised the
world around and sold at 30 cents
box, was found to contain ingredients
the prime cost of which was quarter
Of a cent. Analysis showed these pills