Chapter 33
33. Patent Medicines. It has been said, and with some degree of truth, that Americans are self-dosers and that they are prone to attempt to cure themselves even of serious diseases without consulting a physician. The sale of patent medicines is enormous, although I think it is diminishing in volume due to the exposures which have appeared in many periodicals and to the better
education of people. A patent medicine, technically speaking, is a concoction or drug, or combination of drugs, claimed to be a remedy or cure for a specific ill or for all the ills that human flesh is heir to. It is manufactured in large quantities and bottled or put up with attractive labels with more or less directions given for its use. Many of the patent medicines are either absolutely ineffective or are positively dangerous. Many of them contain a large percentage
of alcohol, which acts as a transient tonic and produces an exhilaration which the sufferer is likely to consider beneficial. The effect of the alcohol soon wears off and the taker is much worse for having swallowed it. Other patent medicines contain cocaine and other dangerous drugs, which should never be taken without the advice of a physician. The effect of some patent medicines is likely to be immediate and to appear to be efficacious. Some patent
medicines, however, are made of pure drugs and are really valuable. I am, however, opposed to the use of patent medicines, even those which are carefully and scientifically compounded. It is obvious that the layman cannot diagnose his trouble and that the label on the bottle or the pamphlet accompanying it is likely to confuse him and in many cases make him feel that he is suffering from an ailment or disease which does not exist. Headache
powders, cough medicines, tonics of all kinds, soothing syrup for babies should be conscientiously avoided unless prescribed by a physician. They are likely to contain dangerous drugs and may have no medicinal properties at all. Because a certain medicine has worked well with one person, it should not be taken as evidence that another can take it to his advantage. Similar symptoms may exist and yet the root of the trouble be entirely different.
Even if every patent medicine were pure and scientifically compounded, I would advise against their use unless recommended by a physician who is likely to diagnose correctly the trouble and to apply the right remedy. Physicians are not infallible, but every reputable physician is a graduate of a medical school, a reader of current medical magazines, and is constantly in touch by experience with other physicians and with human ailments.
Even if he is not an expert, his close proximity to disease makes him far more reliable than the label on the medicine bottle. I would advise no one to place himself in the hands of any physician who is not a member of one of the great medical associations maintained by both the allopathic and homeopathic schools. These associations will not admit into membership anyone who has not been properly instructed and who is not reliable. Any physician of
standing and with sufficient knowledge of the human body can obtain membership in these associations and those who are not members may be looked upon with suspicion, although it is quite likely that some of them are reliable. But as they are outside the associations, they cannot have the facilities of consultation and experience, which are given to those in regular standing in an association. It is obvious that even one of ordinary ability
who is educated in the profession is more reliable than one who doctores by his wits, even though he may appear to be successful. Although there are some charlatans in the profession who practice in their own interests more than that of their patients, the average physician represents the highest order of civilization. He knows at the start that his profession is not likely to bring him heavy financial return. He goes into it with his
eyes open. He is under the strictest rules and regulations and cannot maintain his standing in their associations or with the public if he does not practice legitimately. He has every facility at his command, and although he is not always successful, he is far better to produce results than one who has not been properly educated and who lacks experience in association with other doctors and who has not had hospital practice. Every reputable
physician has not only graduated from a medical school but was given opportunity to practice in hospitals and elsewhere before he became a family physician. The so-called specialist began as a family physician and gives his time somewhat exclusively to one disease or to surgery. The surgeon, while a regular physician, specializes in surgery, and comparatively few family practitioners will handle a serious surgical case except in emergencies. They
refer the patient to the skilled surgeon. The physician is both a curer and preventer of disease. I would advise everyone, no matter how healthy he may be, to consult a reputable physician once a year, and to be overhauled, so to speak. Most troubles can be obviated if taken in time. A symptom seemingly serious to the one having it may be of little consequence, and yet it may be the forerunner to an incurable disease. If a good physician is consulted
in time, he may either obviate the trouble or prevent its rapid increase. No one should attempt to diagnose his own condition. Even the physician will not do so for himself because no one can tell by his feelings what exactly is the matter with him or what better be done. The physician when sick consults other physicians if his troubles are of any seriousness. The expense of an annual examination need not exceed two or three dollars, and some physicians
will make it for a dollar. They are likely to locate any trouble, although it may have just appeared, and the symptom be slight. They will prescribe a treatment which cannot fail to be of benefit to those who consult them. Therefore, I say, visit a good physician at least once a year, irrespective of your health. In every city and in many of the towns are practicing alleged physicians or doctors who claim to be unusually expert and able
to cure where others fail, or even to cure what cannot be cured. Some of them are graduates of medical schools and are really good physicians, but most of them are irresponsible and without real ability. Their methods frequently make the patient feel that he is being cured and rapidly. They use appliances and drugs which have an immediate effect, usually to the patient's injury, or they practice the same as regular physicians do and give the patient false encouragement.
It seems to me obvious that no so-called outside practitioner who is not a member of the associations can possibly possess any information or know of any method of treatment which the regular physicians are unfamiliar. These charlatans play upon the feelings of the patient and it is said that some of them keep him sick for financial reasons. Therefore, I warn the reader against any physician who is not a member of one of the two great associations
and who is not recognized by the profession at large. Even though some of them are skillful, it is safer to employ a physician of standing than one who makes a business of practicing and who is not answerable to the rules and regulations enforced by the associations and who cannot, because of his removal from them, obtain and enjoy the privilege of consultation with other members of his craft. Do not take chances with your body. Better risk the few
mistakes made by physicians than by your own doctor. End of section 33
