The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English / or, Medicine Simplified, 54th ed., One Million, Six Hundred / and Fifty Thousand

by Ray Vaughn Pierce

CHAPTER II.

REMEDIES FOR DISEASE.

It will be our aim, throughout this book, to prescribe such remedies as are within the easy reach of all, and which may be safely employed. Many of those of the vegetable class are indigenous to this country, and may be procured in their strength and purity, at the proper season, by those residing in the localities where they grow, while all others advised may be obtained at any good drug-store. We shall endeavor to recommend such as can be procured and prepared with the least trouble and expense to the patient, when it is believed that they will be equally as efficacious as more expensive medicines.

PROPRIETARY MEDICINES.

Having the invalid's best interests in view, it will often happen that we cannot prescribe better or cheaper remedies nor those which are more effective or easily obtained, than some of our standard preparations, which are sold by all druggists. We are aware that there is a popular, and not altogether unfounded prejudice against "patent medicines," owing to the small amount of merit which many of them possess. The term "Patent Medicine" does not apply to Dr. Pierce's remedies, as no patent has ever been asked or obtained for them, nor have they been urged upon the public as "cure alls." They are simply favorite prescriptions, which, in a very extensive practice, have proved their superior remedial virtues in the cure of the diseases for which they are recommended.

From the time of Hippocrates down to the present day, physicians have classified diseases according to their causes, character or symptoms. It has been proved that diseases apparently different may often be cured by the same remedy. The reason for this singular fact is obvious. A single remedy may possess a variety of properties. Quinine, among other properties has a tonic which suggests its use in cases of debility; an antiperiodic, which renders it efficient in ague; and an anti-febrile property, which renders it efficacious in cases of fever. The result produced varies with the quantity given, the time of its administration, and the circumstances under which it is employed. Every practicing physician has his favorite remedies, which he oftenest recommends or uses, because he has the greatest confidence in their virtues. The patient does not know their composition. Even prescriptions are usually written in a language unintelligible to anybody but the druggist. As much secrecy is employed as in the preparation of proprietary medicines. Does the fact that an article is prepared by a process known only to the manufacturer render that article less valuable? How many physicians know the elementary composition of the remedies which they employ, some of which never have been analyzed? Few practitioners know how morphine, quinine, podophyllin, leptandrin, pepsin, or chloroform, are made, or how nauseous drugs are transformed into palatable elixirs; yet they do not hesitate to employ them. Is it not inconsistent to use a prescription the composition of which is unknown to us, and discard another preparation simply because it is accompanied by a printed statement of its properties with directions for its use?

Various journals in this country, have at different times published absurd formulæ purporting to be receipts for the preparation of "Dr. Sage's Catarrh Remedy" and Dr. Pierce's standard medicines, which, in most instances, have not contained a single ingredient which enters into the composition of these celebrated remedies.

In the manufacture of any pharmaceutical preparation, two conditions are essential to its perfection, viz: purity and strength of the materials, and appropriate machinery. The first is insured, by purchasing the materials in large quantities, whereby the exercise of greater care in selecting the ingredients can be afforded; and the second can only be accomplished where the business is extensive enough to warrant a large outlay of capital in procuring proper chemical apparatus. These facts apply with especial force to the manufacture of our medicines, their quality having been vastly improved since the demand has become so great as to require their manufacture in very large quantities. Some persons, while admitting that our medicines are good pharmaceutical compounds, object to them on the ground that they are too often used with insufficient judgment. We propose to obviate that difficulty by enlightening the people as to the structure and functions of their bodies, the causes, character, and symptoms of disease, and by indicating the proper and judicious employment of our medicines, together with such auxiliary treatment as may be necessary. Such is one of the designs of this volume.

PROPERTIES OF MEDICINE.

It is generally conceded that the action of a remedy upon the human system depends upon properties peculiar to it. The effects produced suggest the naming of these qualities, which have been scientifically classified. We shall name the diseases from their characteristic symptoms, and then, without commenting upon all the properties of a remedy, recommend its employment. Our reference to the qualities of any remedy, when we do make a particular allusion to them, we shall endeavor to make as easy and familiar as possible.