THE PROPAGANDA
FOR REFORM IN Proprietary Medicines

VOLUME 2

Part I

Reports of the Council

Part II

Contributions from the Laboratory

Part III

Journal Contributions: Proprietary Products

Part IV

Journal Contributions: Miscellany

PRESS OF AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, FIVE HUNDRED
AND THIRTY-FIVE NORTH DEARBORN STREET,—CHICAGO

1922

Copyright, 1922
by the
American Medical Association

PREFACE TO VOLUME 2

There were nine editions of the first volume of The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines. The ninth edition contained the most important reports of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry and of the Chemical Laboratory. It contained also those articles from The Journal of the American Medical Association (up to, and including, 1916) which dealt with the problems of proprietaryship in medicine and the furtherance of rational drug therapy.

The present volume contains similar material covering the period from January, 1917, to April, 1922, inclusive. Like Volume 1, this volume is divided into four parts:

Part I. The Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry: This section presents the principles and rules which govern the Council in the examination of medicaments, together with articles and reports bearing on the work of the Council, and the most important reports of the Council from 1917 to April, 1922, inclusive.

Part II. The A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory: This section, besides presenting the aims and objects of the Association’s Chemical Laboratory, also outlines some of the Laboratory’s work which is of particular interest to physicians.

Part III. Contributions from the Journal: Proprietary Products: This part contains articles on proprietary medicinal preparations and the methods by which they are exploited, which have appeared in The Journal A. M. A.

Part IV. Contributions from The Journal: Miscellany: In this section are articles dealing with matters of interest to the medical profession but not coming strictly under the classification of proprietary medicinal preparations.

A comparison of the material that has appeared in Volume 1 of The Propaganda for Reform with that which appears in this volume will reveal the changing conditions in the proprietary medicine field. Many of the reports in the first volume brought out the fact that medicinal preparations were at that time foisted on the profession with false claims of composition; reports of this character are less conspicuous in the present volume. Many of the reports in Volume 2 deal with unwarranted therapeutic claims, especially those advanced for animal organ preparations, serums, vaccines, preparations for intravenous medication, etc. The present volume will also be found of interest in its portrayal of the changed conditions in the proprietary medicine business brought about by the World War.

Special attention is directed to the index in this volume. It is, in effect, a bibliography, including references not only to articles in this book but also (1) to articles which appeared in Volume 1; (2) to articles on the same general subject in The Journal of the American Medical Association, and (3) to the articles appearing in the annual reports of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry and of the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory, but not reprinted in either volume of the Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines.

PREFACE TO VOLUME 1: NINTH EDITION

From time to time The Journal of the American Medical Association has published the reports of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry and the Chemical Laboratory, as well as other matter on proprietary medicines. Repeated requests for some of the matter have led to the compilation of “The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines,” which, in the present volume, attains its ninth edition.

The seventh, eighth and ninth editions have been compiled on slightly different principles from their predecessors. The therapeutic reform work of The Journal and of the Association’s Chemical Laboratory was at first confined almost entirely to the criticism and analysis of the so-called ethical proprietaries. This was right; the medical profession owed it to the public to combat the nostrum evil within its own ranks.

As the more flagrant evils of the “ethical proprietary” question were mitigated, the Association has turned the light on the more widespread and dangerous “patent medicine” evil. The articles devoted to “patent medicines” or quackery being naturally of greater interest to the general public than to the medical profession, the number of inquiries from laymen regarding various quacks and nostrums has steadily increased. It has been thought best, therefore, to publish separately all of the matter from The Journal relative to quackery and to those nostrums exploited only or chiefly to the public, and to include in the Propaganda for Reform practically none of the matter that is of direct interest primarily to laymen. In one or two instances in which the subjects were of equal interest to the profession and to the public, matter that has already appeared in “Nostrums and Quackery” is also given here; but as a general rule the contents of the ninth edition of “The Propaganda for Reform” are of strictly professional interest. Those physicians who are desirous of obtaining in convenient form the matter dealing with “patent medicines” should order the book “Nostrums and Quackery” or the various pamphlets on the same subjects that have been issued since “Nostrums and Quackery” came from the press.

The ninth edition of “Propaganda for Reform” contains a number of new articles, greatly increasing the size of the book. It also contains one novel feature which greatly enhances its value. The index includes references not only to articles in the book, but also to matter on proprietaries not accepted by the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry which appeared in The Journal of the American Medical Association and elsewhere. This index makes of this edition of “Propaganda for Reform” a very full work of reference on proprietaries which are undeserving of recognition. It should be understood, however, that not all articles indexed are condemned; some are merely discussed and compared.

RESOLUTION ENDORSING THE WORK OF THE COUNCIL ON PHARMACY AND CHEMISTRY

Presented at the San Francisco Session and Signed by All the Members of the House of Delegates in Attendance

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