Quacks, false remedies and the public health / [David Walsh].

  • Walsh, David
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Quacks, false remedies and the public health / [David Walsh]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/68 (page 8)
    ‘They are advertised as drugs pure and simple, and do not claim to be potent cures for this or that malady, and there is no apparent reason why the proprietor of recognised proprietary remedies should object to a similar amount of publicity. If the known simple drug finds a remunerative sale, why not the proprietary drug or mixture of drugs which reveals its composition? Asa matter of fact, in the case of aspirin and many most valuable drugs, the chemical composition is published in trade circulars and medical books, and often on the labels of the containing packages. On November 28th, 1907, on the recommendation of Dr. Langley Browne, seconded by Dr. McManus, the General Medical Council resolved “that a committee be appointed to ascertain what legal precedents exist in the Colonies and Dependencies of the Empire and in foreign countries for the prevention of medical practice by other than legally qualified persons, and to consider what steps should be taken to procure effective legisla- tion for the same purpose in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.” This view of the Com- mittee as to the advisability of a Royal Commission was adopted by the Council and presented to the Lord President, Privy Council. Any legislative action which controls irregular medical practice must surely control vendors of secret remedies who profess to cure disease thereby. These medically ignorant and unqualified persons treat cases without examination, sometimes by correspondence and by answers to printed questions. Neither the vendor nor the purchaser of secret remedies troubles his head about diagnosis, which, needless to say, can be deter- mined only after personal examination by a skilled medical man. The pith of the matter is that the unqualified vendor is paid for the wares which he sells for the avowed purpose of curing human maladies. That being so, the investigation of secret remedies must necessarily become a part of the labours of any Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the conditions of medical practice by unqualified persons. If these views be accepted the recent action of the General Medical Council becomes of real importance in relation io secret remedies. The report of the Unqualified Practice Prevention piaruagens of the General Medical Council (a) shows at: Seventy-five British Colonies and Dependencies and foreign countries forbid the practice of medicine by unqualified persons, under penalty of fine and imprison- mi Minutes of the General Medical Council. Vol. XLV. 1908.