The propaganda for reform in proprietary medicines / [Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Assoication].

Date:
[1910?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The propaganda for reform in proprietary medicines / [Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Assoication]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    nals. Thus there is quoted from the New York Medical Jour- nal, Jan. 2, 1909, in part, the following recommendation: i we venture to suggest to our readers who have not tried this remedy that they prescribe one original sealed pack- age of. Papayans (Bell) and that they carefully note the re- sults from its use.” [Italics ours—Ep.] Having seen an “original sealed package” we believe that we can predict the “results from its use.” On any patient not mentally unbal- anced, the result would be that the next dose of Papayans (Bell) he thought that he needed would be purchased from the druggist direct. That such results are not hypothetical is evidenced by the statements of the exploiters of Papayans (Bell) that “the annual sale now exceeds four hundred million tablets.” As- suming this statement to be true, it would be necessary for every physician in the United States to prescribe over three thousand of these tablets every year—if they reached patients only through the physician! The company’s own figures indicate that the time is about ripe to take care of this vast army of self-drugging laymen and recent circular letters seem to recognize it. The physician is. notified that druggists are now furnished with Papayans (Bell) “in sealed packages of thirty and one hundred tablets.” The medical man is told that the firm has “not forgotten the days when physicians’ orders made our success possible” and it says it is “sincerely grateful to the doctors who gave us orders in the days when we were struggling for recognition.” This tacit admission of the value of the physician as an unpaid agent for nostrum houses should be given thought by those physicians who prescribe such preparations. While, so far as we know, Bell & Co. have not yet adver- tised in the daily press, they are not averse to furnishing the - laity with samples when requested. An Ohio physician sent us the following letter received by a young woman who had written asking for samples: Miss X Y——, (ae . Dear Madam: Ag requested, we are mailing you sample of our Papayans (Bell) for Indigestion. If a sufferer from Indigestion, we want you to give it a thor- ough trial as directed and note remarkable results that we believe you will get from its use. Kindly write us if you are unable to obtain it from your local druggist, as it is stocked by nearly every good drugstore in the United States. Yours truly, BELL & Co.
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