The Dickinson press., 1911-03-11
:IuEY AlE IlDY4klLlER3
SAY LEADING N
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SAy lEADINa CHEMIST
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Prof. A. p. Hollis Of the state Normal
school at Valley City, in his 9th series
of articles on Child Culture says:
A sufficient number Of analyses Of
patent medicines have now been made
by government and other chemistssto
warrant this department to sound arnate
of warning against the Patent Medicine
Habit. All PATENT Medicines arespot
dangerous; some are. and the general
public does moi. Observation-Disclosures
has no means Of doing 50. The con.
jtents ofiharmful remedies like Perlna
have been % frequently exposed assto
make the name Q .byword-and yetsthis
alcoholic beverage continues. to .be aold
at the drug stores a. medicine and, con.
%tinues itss ahslfd advertisements. Affes
examininasAhs testimony in a nit
brought against a druggist in Syracuse,
My. for selling aPeruna with out a
saloon license. Prof. l1add concludes:
"Peruna would seem to be just q
plain, mild booze, a form of intoxi-
eating beverage, not a medicine and
not a cure for the diseases claimed"
1t is ~afsreeretable fact that the drug
stores do not help in the campaign.
against patent medicines. They have
taken no part in the exposures of
fraudulent remdies. Instead they allow
immense window displays to be made
advertising the connection; they send
circulars and almanacs through the mail
to their patrons, and apparently are not
interested in the campaign now being
so successfully waged by welfare organi-
cations against the patent medicine
evil.
In many states the better class of drug
stores are getting out of the saloon bust
ness and the cigarette business, and to
that extent restoring the ancient respect
with which their high calling was re-
garded; if they should take a further
step and refuse to sell the more vicious
of the patent medicines, they would
remove the opprobium that nov attaches
to their business and be among the most
honored and benefcient of callings. DR..
Horatio Wood Jr. popular Science
Monthly for June '06) estimates that
every year 800, 900, 900 are spent in the
u. S. alone for patent medicines. The
worst of these are the Pain Killers, con-
tanning cocaine or morphine as the
soothing principle, and the exhilirators
containing alcohol or s%trychnine. Ito
make you feel good when you take 1t
and miserable when you don't"
From the stand point of Child Wei
fare. DR.. Wood declares the soothing
syrups to be the most diabolical of all,
as they are loaded down with morphine.
The Ladies Home Journal of April 1908
cites the case of a child that became
.peevish and cross. At eight o'clock the
mother gave the child the first dose Of
medicine. at two or three O'Clock in the
afternoon the child died. The chemist
found morphine in the medicine.
1.-TWO infants, twin babies, three
months old, were given a dose of so
called soothing sleeping syrup n
night because they would not sleep. The
next morning the mother found both
babies dead. The corners inquest of
the stomachs of the babies disclosed the
fact that they had died from the opium
contained in the Soothing ~ medi-
cine"
In England the Pharmacy Act COM
pels Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup to
be plainly labeled Poison.
How many of our readers know of
instances where patent medicines re-
suited in harm9 Mere opinions or sur
misses would be of little value, but well
authenticated cases, through analysis or
corener's or physicians testimony would
be of real value in lettering others from
the Patent Medicine Evil. !
The Government has published a use
full bulletin dealing with habit-f0rming
agents. that should be widely read by
people everywhere. Send to the Depart
ment of Agriculture, Washington. D.
c., for Farmers Bulletin No. 1913.
Prof. E. F. Ladd, the famous Pure
Food Commissioner Of North Dakota, in
cluded the following page in one of his
recent Bulletins:
THE BABY KILLERS,
The Food Department Of the United
States has published a list of medical
preparations. soothing syrups''. which
are referred to as ''baby-killers'... The
use Of this class Of products is certainly
to be condemned, and the list as given
by the u. S. Government chemists
includes the following preparations
Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup
(morphine suIfate) Childrens' Comfort
(morphiue sulfate) Dr.. Fehy's Pepsin
Anodyne Compound (morphine sulfate) ;
Or. Frahney's Teethine Syrup mOrphine