The Great American Fraud: The Patent Medicine EvilAdams, Samuel Hopkins
Science
The Great American Fraud: The Patent Medicine Evil
Adams, Samuel Hopkins
Patent medicines; Quacks and quackery
United States District Attorney Mellette, of the western district of
Indian Territory, writes: "Vast quantities of Peruna are shipped into
this country, and I have caused a number of persons to be indicted for
selling the same, and a few of them have been convicted or have entered
pleas of guilty. I could give you hundreds of specific cases of 'Peruna
drunk' among the Indians. It is a common beverage among them, used for
the purposes of intoxication."
The other reason why Peruna or some other of its class is often the
agency of drunkenness instead of whisky is that the drinker of Peruna
doesn't want to get drunk, at least she doesn't know that she wants to
get drunk. I use the feminine pronoun advisedly, because the remedies
of this class are largely supported by women. Lydia Pinkham's variety of
drink depends for its popularity chiefly on its alcohol. Paine's Celery
Compound relieves depression and lack of vitality on the same principle
that a cocktail does, and with the same necessity for repetition. I
know an estimable lady from the middle West who visited her dissipated
brother in New York--dissipated from her point of view, because she was
a pillar of the W. C. T. U., and he frequently took a cocktail before
dinner and came back with it on his breath, whereon she would weep over
him as one lost to hope. One day, in a mood of brutal exasperation, when
he hadn't had his drink and was able to discern the flavor of her grief,
he turned on her:
"I'll tell you what's the matter with you," he said. "You're
drunk--maudlin drunk!"
She promptly and properly went into hysterics. The physician who
attended diagnosed the case more politely, but to the same effect,
and ascertained that she had consumed something like half a bottle of
Kilmer's Swamp-Root that afternoon. Now, Swamp-Root is a very creditable
"booze," but much weaker in alcohol than most of its class. The
brother was greatly amused until he discovered, to his alarm, that his
drink-abhorring sister couldn't get along without her patent medicine
bottle! She was in a fair way, quite innocently, of becoming a drunkard.
Another example of this "unconscious drunkenness" is recorded by the
_Journal of the American Medical Association_: "A respected clergyman
fell ill and the family physician was called. After examining the
patient carefully the doctor asked for a private interview with the
patient's adult son.
"'I am sorry to tell you that your father undoubtedly is suffering from
chronic alcoholism,' said the physician.
"'Chronic alcoholism! Why, that's ridiculous! Father never drank a
drop of liquor in his life, and we know all there is to know about his
habits.'
"'Well, my boy, its chronic alcoholism, nevertheless, and at this
present {018}moment your father is drunk. How has his health been
recently? Has he been taking any medicine?'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account