The Falls City tribune., 1910-06-17

W O3 VI iAAii NhlNft HuA III 10 yum
PEELED to stock the goods or his
customers will 90 elsewhere. lie
cannot say 10 his patrons, the pre-
paration you ask for is a Nostrum Of
no value because the patron be
lieyes in the advertising and regards
his favorite medicine as above re
proaeh. even when he knows there are
many preparations that are fakes.
1t Is like Bob Ingersoll's definition of
Orthodoxy-"OrthodoXy is my doxy,
and %hetrodoxy is your doxy." SO In
this case, my nostrum is a medicine;
your medicine is a nostrum." The
druggist can only be passive and let
the advertising sell the goods. If
he tried any other plan the spiders
would spin a web across his front
door.
Vinegar Bitters was a notable ex-
ample of the nostrum class. 1t is
dead and unmourned now, but it
was very much alive twenty five
years ago. II was made of soul beer,
Cape aloes and water. The whole
sale price was $500 per dozen. 1t
cost 50 cents a dozen TO manufacture
and about $l.00 per dozen to adver-
tise it., the rest was velvet And
the people swallowed it by car loads.
During the acute stage of this spasm
il would have been easy to procure
one hundred enthusiastic testimonials
feet that this "swill' was the most
wonderful curative medicine ever
made.
The owners did not have to forge
testimonials, or ask for them, they
were thrust upon them beyond their
ability to publish. II was a daring
and gigantic fraud, brazenly advertis.
ed to cure everything but a ham,
and II made big money for its own
ers.
Radam's Microbe Killer was an
other rank fake, without even as
much merit as Vinegar Bitters.
Liquizone or Liquieide, said to con.
tain 90 per cent water and one per
cent sulphurous acid-must nave cost
about ten cents per barrel-with a lib.
eral allowance for bottles and ad.
yerising it should have been quite
profitable.
Hydrozone, claiming to be a 'scien-
tific, absolutely harmless germicide,f'
was quite as cheap and just as worth
less. 1t was totally unscientific and
ing.
Hostetter's Bitters isn't as good a
drink as it used to be. Since the
pure food law il only contains % per
cent of alcohol. Whiskey is cheaper
and better.
DIffy's Malt claims to be a med
icine, 1t also claims to be a superb
or liquor. 1t is neither. Add
enouh water to your whiskey to bring
1t down to A per cent and it will be
quite as good as Duffy's and-cheaper
Paine's Celery Compound never had
any merit and the people have found
it out. They havn't found out Peru
ma yet.
| lave never opened a bottle of
Warmers Safe Cure. but it has
the ear marks of a nostrum. It's cures
must have been faith cures. La-cu-
pia, Foso Bark. P%ushkuro, etc, ought
to nave had tickets for their original
names. but should not get on the
prize list for anything else.
P3ychine was the neryiest swindle
of all, for they actually set the price
for the large size at $500 per bottle,
Said to contain a little strychnine,
enough alcohol to keep it from spoil
ing. a pinch of beautiful red ~coloring
matter (CochineaD and the rest wat
er. That made a pretty velvety pre-
paration. | am told the formula has
been changed since the pure food law,
Perhaps they left out the stryeh.
nine. According to the label, it
is 'the greatest of tonics" and an
"infalible remedy for consumption"
Oh, ye disciples of Aesculapius
how insignificant is your boosted
wisdom. Here is an "infalible" cure
for consumption and We wot it not!
Ozomulsion is put out by the same
firm. 1t contains Cod Liver Oil.
They couldn't make an emulsion with
out oil, | don't see why they put
out so expensive a preparation. 1t
probably didn't pay over four hun
dred per cen net, and if P~sychine
is an ''infallible remedy for consum-
ption' why put out another that cost
ten times as much?
There have been many other fakes.
too many for an article like this one,
and the nostrum man isn't dead yet.
A. MoRSMAN. M. D.
M4~-~ ~ "