Part 10 (1/2)
”With but few exceptions they contain a considerable percentage of a very active and powerful remedy, the iodide of pota.s.sium. The sale of such an article in unlimited {97} quant.i.ties by druggists, grocers, and others is censurable. More than this, the method of its sale is dishonest, since the unwary purchaser is led to believe that he is purchasing a harmless vegetable remedy, namely, sarsaparilla.
”It may be seriously questioned whether the blood of persons who take iodide of pota.s.sium continuously is not decidedly impoverished, instead of being purified, as is claimed by the manufacturers. It is not uncommon to find persons who have used continuously six, eight, or ten pint bottles of one of these preparations.
”Unlike sarsaparilla, the iodide of pota.s.sium is cla.s.sed among poisons by nearly every writer upon toxicology.”
Practically all the proprietary remedies have their most potent principle in the supposed mystery of their composition. As a matter of fact, all are simple prescriptions, well known to physicians, and owing their successful treatment of many ills much more to the printer's ink used to secure their sale than to any pharmaceutical ingredient which they contain. No important remedy has ever been put on the market by advertising methods. Exposure of the charlatanry of such methods will not, however, cause an interruption of their sale.
Long ago Barnum said that people wish to be humbugged, and there is no doubt that they have been, are, and will be humbugged just to the extent to which they lay themselves open to the alluring methods of the advertiser. It does seem too bad, however, that the influence of the clergymen and of religious as well as charitable visitors--an influence acquired because of the confidential position they occupy and the feeling of good faith their mode of life inspires--should be abused for the encouragement and extension of what is manifestly a great evil.
Alcohol and iodide of potash are not the only drugs likely to do harm that are incorporated in proprietary medicines. Great complaints have recently been made with regard to the spread of the cocaine habit in this country. Not a few of the remedies that are supposed to give immediate relief to colds in the head contain cocaine in dangerous amounts; and there seems no doubt that in many cases the drug habit for this substance has been acquired innocently and {98} unconsciously at first by the use of such preparations. These are only the more notable evils likely to result from the indiscriminate employment of medicines of whose composition there is complete ignorance, and of whose effect there can be only the judgment dependent upon the subjective feelings of the patient. It must not be forgotten that the patient's feelings are for the moment often favourably influenced by some substance that may do no good to the ailment, though making the patient less sensitive to any symptoms from which he was suffering; but in the end doing positive harm, because of the contraction of the alcohol or some drug habit, or because the suppression of symptoms may be the very worst thing for the patients, since it allows the underlying ailment to progress to a serious stage without forcing them to have it treated _in radice_.
These are only a few examples that show very well the inadvisability of recommending in any way medicines of which one does not know the exact contents. The present writer has had one example of how utterly disingenuous, though one feels much more like calling it rascally, the manufacturers of so-called patent medicines or proprietary remedies may be. One of the remedies widely advertised for the cure of epilepsy, or fits, is announced always as containing no harmful drugs, no bromide of potash. The manufacturer of the remedy was asked how he could say any such thing, since it was very evident even to the taste that the remedy contained bromides. ”Oh,” he said, ”yes, it contains sodium bromide, but not bromide of potash.” Almost needless to say, sodium bromide is at least as harmful as pota.s.sium bromide, and the advertis.e.m.e.nt is entirely for purposes of deception.
The poor epileptics have been a source of revenue for quacks and charlatans as long as history runs. At the present time one not infrequently finds testimonials from convents, asylums, reformatories, and the like, a.s.serting the value of some particularly advertised remedy for this disease. All these remedies contain bromides. The treatment of epilepsy is now better understood by physicians and it is generally recognised that the two things that epileptic {99} patients need are outdoor air and as far as possible all freedom from responsibility. Bromides will, for a time, control the number and frequency of the attacks, but if used indiscriminately, and especially if employed without any proper realisation of their possibilities for harm, these salts are almost sure to make the condition of the patient much worse than before, to bring on a state in which mental symptoms predominate over physical, and in which the patient may go into dementia, or some form of mental alienation. Especially is this true with regard to epileptic children. Continuous dosing with drugs of any kind is sure to do them harm rather than good. Care for their diet and rest and the removal of all sources of disturbance of their digestive tract is more important than any other method of treatment.
The poor children have to suffer many things from many people. People hesitate, as a rule, to accept recommendations with regard to the administration of drugs to their animals when the person who gives the recommendation is known not to be an expert in the matter. Almost any suggestion, however, with regard to the dosing of their children is likely to be followed by loving but indiscreet mothers. It is well known now, and in many cases is admitted, that the so-called soothing syrups so often given to children contain opium in quite appreciable quant.i.ties. Needless to say, nothing much worse than this could possibly be given to children. The child soon becomes accustomed to its daily dose of opium and craves the repet.i.tion of it. It will not sleep without it, and as this adds to the sales of the remedy, this special ingredient continues to put money in the pockets of the manufacturers, but at the expense of the nervous stability of the child, and lack of resisting power later in life. It would be hard to say how many of the nervous wrecks so commonly met with in young adults now are to be attributed to this unfortunate state of affairs early in life; but undoubtedly this evil has had much to do with the noticeable increase in the nervousness of our people. The more nervous the heredity of the child, the more it must be guarded against such mistaken methods of inducing sleep, or the result is sure to be serious.
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Scarcely too much can be said in condemnation of most of the proprietary remedies for constipation, though it is in this department of medication that the non-medical are freest with their advice.
First, the cheapest possible drugs are selected by the manufacturers of such remedies. Secondly, those drugs especially are employed which, while producing the desired immediate effect, are always followed by a reaction which requires further use of the medicine. One finds testimonials, however, from all cla.s.ses of the community, even from clergymen, with regard to such remedies, though at the last international medical congress it was confidently a.s.serted, by three of the most prominent specialists in digestive diseases in the world, that the modern problems in digestive disturbances are so much more intricate than they used to be, and the affections which develop are so much more difficult of treatment, because of the use of these unsuitable remedies, and the consequent habituation to drugs, which has been acquired during the prolonged period of their employment.
In recent years catarrh has become the word that is supposed to attract popular attention most, and accordingly is the watchword of the proprietary medicine manufacturer. A long time ago, that is, about half a century ago, catarrh was supposed really to mean something in medicine. Those were the days of humoral pathology, when disturbances of secretion were supposed to be the basis of all disease.
Accordingly, whenever there was an excessive discharge from the nose, a patient was said to be suffering from catarrh, and as the nasal secretion was supposed to be connected in some way with the brain, it is easy to understand how significant such a pathological condition might well be thought. In more recent years, the word ”catarrh” has still been employed by physicians who thoughtlessly employ terms that they think will be better understood by the laity, owing to their familiarity with them, though they have been outlived in medicine.
From representing an affection of the nose, catarrh, as a consequence, has come to be employed for an excess of secretion from any mucous membrane. Accordingly we hear of catarrh of the stomach, catarrh of the bladder, or catarrh of the {101} bile-ducts, and there has come to the general public a notion that catarrh is an all-pervading affection whose ravages must be prevented, at all hazards, and whose beginning must be the signal for prompt medical treatment.
As a matter of fact, catarrh, when it means anything, means only that stage of inflammation in which there is an increased secretion and which represents an inflammatory condition so mild as often to be described as only hyperaemic, that is, due to an increase of blood in the part. It is rather easy to understand that if more blood flows through a mucous membrane, there will be greater secretion from it than would normally be the case. This is what happens in the production of catarrh. As a rule, it is only a pa.s.sing congestion without any lasting changes in the tissue. Catarrh may, however, continue to be present if the irritation, which originally caused the congestion, be allowed to continue. It is this irritation, however, which needs to be treated, and not the catarrhal inflammation, which is only a symptom of it. The three most used words in popular medicine,--catarrh, rheumatism, and gout,--when traced to their etymological signification, mean the same thing. Catarrh means a flowing down, rheumatism a state of flowing, both being formed from the Greek verb [Greek text], to flow, while gout is derived from the Latin word _gutta_, a drop, which hints at the excess of fluid that is supposed to be the basis of the disease.
For these three diseases, however, the most varied remedies have been proposed, and practically entirely without success, when tested, in a large number of cases. As a matter of fact, under the two words catarrh and rheumatism, there is grouped a series of affections very different from one another, and requiring very different treatment.
The important thing is not so much the suggestion of a remedy as the recognition of the particular cause which in one case is producing an excess of secretion and in the other is giving rise to the so-called rheumatic pain. When the exact cause can be found, it is usually not so difficult to succeed in preventing the recurrence of the troublesome symptoms. It is with regard to these two diseases, however, that in non-medical circles even intelligent men are ready to give advice. They const.i.tute {102} the most puzzling problem that the physician has to deal with, but the non-medical mind waives the difficulty and suggests the remedy. In this matter one is forcibly reminded of a famous expression of Josh Billings, who used to say, ”It is not so much the ignorance of mankind that makes them ridiculous as the knowing so many things that are not so.”
Clergymen, lawyers, members of Congress, and of various state legislatures, all permit their portraits to appear, advertising the merits of some trumped-up cure for catarrh or rheumatism. It is interesting to realise, then, that in most cases, according to expert testimony, the remedy they recommend so highly consists of nothing more than diluted alcohol flavoured so as to taste like medicine. The only real effect is the alcoholic exhilaration which follows its ingestion and gives the sense of well being, because of which the testimonials are provided. As one of the medical journals said recently, it would be very interesting to make a list of the men and women throughout the country who, by permitting their portraits and recommendations to be used in the advertis.e.m.e.nts of various patent medicines, have practically confessed that they like to take their whiskey rather dilute but mixed with a little bitters. The whole question ill.u.s.trates the tendency of the proprietary medicine man to exploit some phase of medicine long after it has ceased to be of interest to the medical profession.
With regard to all of these things clergymen may do a great humanitarian work by protecting the poor from the efforts of advertising remedy-makers to get their hard-earned money. It is sometimes said that long years have been spent in the preparation of a remedy. This not only is never true, but never has been true in the history of proprietary medicines. Some one who has an eye to business gets hold of a prescription of which he knows nothing, but of which his advertising agents are able to say much, and the result is sometimes a fortune for the advertiser. There is always a pretence of philanthropy, but it is the mask of heartless hypocrisy. Unfortunately many of our religious journals are tempted by the promptly paid bills of such manufacturing concerns to print their advertis.e.m.e.nts. They are aiding in a {103} deliberate swindle, and if this were better understood there would be much less suffering and fewer vain hopes.
The best-managed newspapers and magazines in the country are now absolutely refusing all medical advertis.e.m.e.nts. This is the only proper att.i.tude in the matter, for there is a place to advertise medicines, if they are worthy, and that place is the medical journals.
If the popular advertising could be reduced, we should soon have much less of the proprietary medicine evil.
There are many ways in which clergymen by their example, their advice, and their influence can be of great a.s.sistance to pract.i.tioners of medicine. It is very sad, then, to find that some of them, having elabourated theories of their own on certain subjects, or having taken up with peculiar notions, are in opposition to the accepted medical teaching of the world. Occasionally they are found among the ranks of the anti-vaccinationists, though if there is anything that has been demonstrated to a certainty, it is that vaccination has practically eradicated smallpox, considering the frequency of the disease a century ago, and that it would absolutely eradicate it, if the practice could be made universal. Statistics are at hand to demonstrate this beyond all possibility of doubt. There are a certain number of people, however, who apparently, out of a desire for singularity as much as anything else, refuse to accept the evidence.
It is very unfortunate to find clergymen among them, for it tends to bring the clerical judgment into disrepute.
Nearly the same thing might be said of ant.i.toxin for diphtheria.
Clergymen seem to consider it necessary for them to have their minds made up as to whether the use of diphtheria ant.i.toxin is advisable or not. If they have once committed themselves to the expression of the opinion that ant.i.toxin is of no value, then no amount of evidence will succeed in changing their opinion. Under these circ.u.mstances it becomes extremely difficult at times for physicians to succeed in having families permit them to treat their patients after the manner in which they are convinced the treatment should be carried on. If such clergymen would only realise that the clergyman has, as a rule, much less right to express {104} opinions on medical subjects than has the physician to air views with regard to theological principles, there would be much less friction, and it would be better for patients in the end.
There are certain sanitary regulations that clergymen should not only not oppose, but endeavour, by every means in their power, to have those who respect their opinions follow out as carefully as possible.
Such sanitary regulations have in the past twenty-five years practically cut down the death rate of our large cities a half. There is no greater source of alleviation for the physical evils, at least those which afflict the lower cla.s.ses, than the due enforcement of modern sanitation. There are prejudices, however, that must be overcome, and the clergyman should be found beside the doctor, helping him rather than opposing him, as is sometimes the case.
JAMES J. WALSH.
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