Quackery Unmasked/Chapter XXII
CHAPTER XXII.
THE PRESS.
If I were asked what single cause contributed most to lead astray the public mind upon the subject of medicine and promote criminal quackery, I should answer, The Press. I think I may say, without fear of contradiction, that in no age or country has the nostrum business been carried to so great an extent as in the United States at the present time. Our free schools, of which every American ought to be proud, where all, who will, may acquire the substantial rudiments of a thorough education, are often so improved as to give the pupils only a smattering knowledge of a variety of subjects. By such means, many a man is prepared to become "Jack at all trades," and ready to embark in almost any enterprise that appears encouraging. A very little medical knowledge, and a great deal of self-conceit, prepare him for a quack doctor whenever circumstances encourage it. If he sees Brandreth making a fortune with pills, he, too, can make pills; or perhaps he knows of some other panacea, in the form of balsam, syrup or plaster, which is far better. And so long as there is money to be made by this nefarious business, there are thousands prepared to embark in it. But nothing can be done without the Press;—enterprise must stop here, and the skill of the wizard be hushed in darkness, unless the Press will publish it to the world. But the American Press allows no man's light to be hidden under a bushel, so long as he has the necessary means to bring it out, and always manifests a readiness to embrace any cause that has sufficient pecuniary merits. In all other respects the managers of the Press appear about as unscrupulous as the engines themselves.
I would by no means abridge the largest liberty of the Press, consistent with the public good. In the United States, the newspaper Press is bound by no rules, and under no restrictions except such as arise from self-interest. In this condition, when strongly urged by mercenary considerations, it may be made to labor to disseminate falsehood, contaminate the public mind, and spread delusion and error over the face of society, to the positive injury of the great mass of people; and this is the obvious effect of all the newspaper advertisements of quack practitioners and quack medicines. The public generally are not aware that the newspaper Press is everywhere thus subsidized and suborned, and therefore are easily deceived, It is supposed that there are about three thousand newspapers in the United States, and most of them advertise more or less nostrums; and I think we may safely say, that such advertisements are the chief support of at least one-half of the whole number of papers. The gross amount paid annually for such advertisements almost exceeds belief. There are many printing establishments in our large cities, each of which receives annually several thousand dollars for this service; and this is everywhere considered the most profitable part of the newspaper business. Not long ago, a single illiterate quack, in the city of Boston, paid one daily paper three thousand six hundred dollars a year for his advertisements. It is impossible to ascertain the whole amount paid annually in the United States for quack advertisements. If we add to the ordinary newspaper advertisements, the cost of bills, circulars, almanacs and other gratuitous publications that are thrown broadcast over the country, thick as autumnal leaves, the aggregate will probably exceed a million of dollars. It is said that the famous Dr. Brandreth often paid annually nearly one-tenth of that sum. The Swaims, Moffats, Townsends, Wrights, and a host of others, have probably paid, severally, nearly or quite as much, and the renowned Perry Davis has not probably been outdone by any one of the class. These and many others have amassed princely fortunes by the sale of nostrums. Encouraged by their success, great numbers of others are pursuing a similar course, and are reaping the same golden harvest. And all this is done because the American Press is under no legal or moral restraint, and is ever ready, for money, to aid impostors in deceiving and defrauding the public. By these means, men with a smattering of medical knowledge, or none at all, often become rich, whilst many learned and worthy men remain poor for no other crime than being honest.
The enormous sum paid for advertising, is only one item in the whole amount which is paid annually by the people of the United States for quack medicines. There are many other large items. The ignorant charlatan, unable to write his own advertisements, has recourse to some professed expert, whose well-disciplined imagination is ever ready to conjure up such pompous falsehoods as are best calculated to gull the public. These expert fabricators must be paid liberally, because quackery would make but a meagre appearance without them. Now, if we add to the items already enumerated, the numerous other incidental expenses that are incurred by the manufacture, transportation and sale of such preparations, the gross amount will probably exceed ten millions annually. And what essential benefit do the people of the United States derive from this enormous tax? Viewed in the most favorable light, it is no better than a total loss to the consumers. In some rare instances patients may have been temporarily benefited, but in a large majority of cases no essential good has been done, and often the very reverse has happened. Brandreth's pills have occasionally been serviceable as a cathartic, but in many instances the dose has been repeated until a habit has been established which required their continual employment, so that hundreds of individuals have been doomed to perpetual constipation, with all its incidental miseries, by the injudicious use of these pills. If the article is some pretended Balsam of Wild Cherry, Cherry Pectoral, or other cough preparation, containing opium and antimony in disguise, as nearly all nostrums of that class do, the patient is often essentially injured, and perhaps hastened to his final exit, whilst a momentary narcotism induces him to suppose he is being cured; and the general effect of all such preparations is to create a habit that makes their continual repetition necessary.
The public good does not require the sale of a single nostrum. Leaving the cost out of the account, the mischief which these things produce far exceeds all the benefit that can be derived from them; and if the whole mass of this trash, with all the lying publications now filling the shelves and counters of ten thousand shops, could be collected into one grand colossal pile for one immense bonfire, the day of the conflagration would deserve to be celebrated as a jubilee throughout all time. But the public have so long been accustomed to the use of articles of this sort, that many consider them almost indispensable. It is thought to be a matter of prudence and economy to have some of the more common articles ready for use in any emergency, by which the delay and expense of calling a physician may be obviated. If the sick or their friends could always understand the nature of the diseases which they attempt to treat, what remedies were indicated, and how to use them, then certainly there would be no need of employing physicians; but this knowledge cannot be acquired without years of study and observation, and therefore unprofessional men cannot be supposed to possess any considerable amount of it. There are some common articles, such as castor oil, and a few others, that may safely be put into the hands of the common people; but all active compounds should be excluded from the nursery, or labelled, Noli me tangere.
There may be different opinions respecting the extent to which domestic medication should be carried, but there can be no question that a good medicine is better than a poor one. Whatever medicines are thus employed, should always be of the safest and most reliable kind—such as long experience and the great body of educated physicians have found useful. The United States Dispensatory contains formulas sufficient for all ordinary purposes; and if these were carefully prepared by competent apothecaries, and kept ready for use, they would be far better than the filthy and uncertain preparations now found in the shops. In Great Britain and France, and I believe most other European governments, all apothecaries and their clerks are required by law to be educated, examined and licensed; and even then, they are not allowed to deal in any medicines except such as have been approved of, and made officinal by the regular faculty. This is a wise provision, and serves not only to protect the public against such fatal mistakes as frequently occur here, but it also shuts the door against the swarms of nostrum dealers, which in this country is wide open.
The American governments often manifest a disposition to favor quackery, and allow the largest liberty to impostors and humbugs of all sorts; and some of the States have, at different times, made large appropriations in money to aid quack institutions. This state of public opinion is believed to arise chiefly from a morbid impression made by newspaper publications. Such publications tend also to outrage common decency, debauch the public mind, and corrupt the sentiments and manners of the people. The same paper that brings the President's Message, or other important information, on one page, exhibits on another the most indecent advertisements—cures for numerous female complaints, also for certain private disorders of both sexes. Modesty is ignored and chastity is mocked at—the thoughts become depraved—the passions are excited, and libertinism is the consequence. The marriage contract, once held sacred and inviolate, ceases to be respected and becomes weak as a spider's web, and that implicit confidence which the parties once reposed in each other becomes shaken, or perhaps is given to the winds. Such publications are nuisances, wherever they are seen. The family newspaper should contain nothing that is inconsistent with the most scrupulous virtue. It should in all respects be pure as the mountain snow, and no obscene word should be allowed to pollute its columns. It should be fit to grace the parlor or drawingroom of the most fastidious female. The public seem not to be aware of the immense influence that such publications have upon human life. Every thoughtful mother and every virtuous daughter should commit every newspaper to the flames the moment she finds any such stain upon its pages. Let this be done, and such vile prints will soon disappear from common observation, and be found only in the sinks of harlots. No law would be required to suppress them, if female sanctity, thus abused and profaned, would rise in its might and consign them to darkness and infamy.
Here is an opportunity for woman to exert her influence in defence of her own honor—'tis in her power to stay the tide of infidelity, to chasten the sentiments and reform the manners of the public. If she will, she can do it — her arm is stronger than the Press, and her power, once exerted in behalf of virtue, is paramount to all human laws. With her own hand she can wipe the stain from her country's escutcheon, and show the world that American females will not tolerate the least approach to profanity.
It is not supposed that the publishers of newspapers are worse than other men. As a class, they are intelligent, and high-minded, and we think there are many among them who would willingly reject all such advertisements if the practice could become universal. This evil has made its encroachments insidiously, and advertisements and publications which are now regarded with indifference, would a century ago have been deemed obscene publications, and subjected their authors to severe penalties.