The great American fraud : Articles on the nostrum evil and quacks, in two series, reprinted from Collier's weekly / by Samuel Hopkins Adams.

  • Samuel Hopkins Adams
Date:
[1906]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The great American fraud : Articles on the nostrum evil and quacks, in two series, reprinted from Collier's weekly / by Samuel Hopkins Adams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    SERIES I>F«£_MDSTmJM EVIL. MENINGITIS Mcnmyfi« of K Dr Duprajtn ' Wc Ixnov. Ihu th, gtrn is \erv ea^]i\ ccsirn^i. Tl'trcibqo ac i ^ to give as to f rt\en%xtat.. Ps.tp*-1 s 'Jeep h alfh' £,tn.rall,, anc^ par- tn.uli?rl3 larf' ' to 'on an, troui t m ths. ri( ai. tnr ir V kr< the b Tjh rtisi ^'^ uin tn i ^ i teuint a\ !t IS not tri. An^ n I'-i-rri i n uf tn IT ^hr „ 1 u ^n I c ' he Jta iv e' t b vi / Herald A.rul ^ iM PonJ' J trai f i if' k \ n ji r c 1 . 1 H INTRODUCTION. r/iis ts the introductory article to a series which will contain a full explanation and exposure of patent-medicine methods, and the harm done to the public by this industry, founded mainly on fraud and poison. Results of the publicity given to these methods can already be seen in the steps recently taken by the National Government, some State Govermnents and a few of the more reputable ncvspapers. The object of the series is to make the situation so familiat- ai,d tlioroughly understood that there trill be a speedy end io fhr iroisf asijccls of ihr erll. Gullible x4merica will spend this year some seventy-five millions uf dollars in the purchase of patent med- icines. In consideration of this sum it will' swallow huge quantities of al- cohol, an appalling amount of opiates and narcotics^ a wide assortment of varied drugs ranging from powerful and dangerous heart depressants to insidious liver stimulants; and, far in excess of all other ingredients, un- diluted fraud. For fraud, exploited by tlie skillfulest of advertising bunco inen, is the basis of the trade. Should the newspapers, the magazines and the medical ^journals refuse their pages to tlii^ class of advertisements, the pat- ent medicine business in five years would be as scandalously historic as the South Sea Bubble, and the nation would be the richer not only in lives and money, but in drunkards and drug-fiends saved. Don't make the mistake of lumping all proprietary medicines in one indis- criminate denunciation, came warn- ing from all sides when this series was announced. But the honest at- tempt to separate the sheep from the goats develops a lamentable lack of qualified candidates for the sheepfold. External remedies there may be which are at once honest in their claims and effective for their purposes; they are not to be found among the much-advertised ointments or applica- tions which fill the public prints. I ' for '1 t , { m.tts ai riit j It hou'd t i< ' as a ..f r^. h r \%htn c; iiti-J u of v.3tcr sUW'' cl IS so'd at'' r For-ds F^'i r' 6' ^t Witch I'^zel tecc'-i, / n^hj mar\ dpaiC)' n tre O'- ■• n two cor'j leJ /o J ?Ir hi! Fotjyc'^^h d-' PC > i) c-' be ) rr A Pond's Extract advertisement trading on the public alarm over the recent meningitis epidemic in New York City. Cuticura may be a useful preparation, but in extravagance of advertising it rivals the most clamorous cure-all. Pond's Extract, one would naturally suppose, could afford to restrict itself to decent methods, but in the recent