The Ocala banner., 1914-12-11
PATENT MEDICINES
(By DIR. ]. Y. Porter. J
Dope and death.

Dope and death!
,J That's the combination that goes
with the use of patent medicines
No reputable physician would direct
the use of a prescription of which he
didn't know the exact contents and
their exact proportions. Each in
gredient has its precise duty to per
form In the relief of the patient, and
the prescription is prepared to meet
conditions revealed by the profession.
al diagnosis.
4 Yet, the layman, ignorant of the de.
mands of his own physical condition,
unskilled even in the rudiments of a
scientific diagnosis, unconsciously ex
ercising sublime faith in an all-wise
Providence to overrule any mistake
OF his own weak human judgment, de.
liberately doses himself with some
concoction that may be a poison or
an elixer-he knows no difference
and he is willing to take the chance,
The market is flooded with bottles,
beautifully labeled and brilliantly at
tractive. If one may trust the label
and the wrapper, the particular
trouble from corns to consumption.
Usually there is an exhaustive out
line of symptoms of various diseases,
which the gullible reader may rec
ognize as peculiarly his own, and
from the large assortment he may
select any one or more and proceed
to a home tratement'' entirely inde-
dendent of the doctors. He is re-
minded, however, that several bottles
of the medicine may be required to
work a complete cure
And so the work of self-destruction
and death goes on at frightfully in
creasing rate.
!! Now, what are the facts
/ In the majority of cases the So
called patent medicines are made up
of ingredients that cost three to ten
cents for a bottle that retails for a
dollar Some profit! And in a ma
1ority of cases-almost universally
the most active agent is hasheesh,
opium or alcohol, all of them mar
cotics, all of them Supplying or per-
verting brain activity and weakening
will power, and all of them creating
the desire for more, always more.
Certain of the so-called proprietary
medicines are not to be classed with
patent medicines. These are fire.
quently the prescriptions of eminent
physicians who authorize their prepa-
ration on a commercial scale by
/ reputable chemists, whose RESPONSE
bllity guarantees that the printed
formula has been faithfully followed,
and the formula are usually printed
on the label.
But the use even of proprietry med
icines is dangerous excepting on the
prescription of the doctor, and then
only as he prescribes. Because a
teaspoonful in water once in three
i hours will be beneficial gives no
reason to suspect that tablespoonful
once an hour will hasten relief.
Florida has had a recent emphatic
illustration of the harmfulness of the
use of those narcotics The business
manager of the one of the important
newspapers of the state, was killed
by a man who, it was alleged in his
defense, had been dosing himself with
an alleged headache powder" II
contained a considerable percentage
of hasheesh and he had been made
insane, had lost control of all. will
power and of the ability to control
his own actions. The result was the
unnecessary, cruel death of an able
man in the prime of a useful life.
There is but one safe way-neve1
swallow or administer a medicine
patent proprietary or any other
kind, excepting at the direction of a
reputable physician And don't take
the responsibility of dosing yourself
with prescription that he ordered a
year ago. Your case may have chang.
ed since then. 1t may not fit now.
Be sane if you would stay sane.