THE MEDICO-PHARMACEUTICAL CRITIC & GUIDE WILLIAM J. ROBINSON, PH.G., M.D, EDITOR. 1 year, $1.00 Single copy, 25c. Foreign $2.00 The Editor of this Journal writes his own editorials. He says what he wants to say and in the way he wants to say it without reference as to what Mrs. Grundy will say or think. The Editor is responsible for his own opinions only. He always tells the Truth or what he considers to be the Truth, but as he lays no claims to infallibility, he will be grateful to his readers if they will take the trouble to point out his errors. Vol. XII It is better to make a mistake in trying to tell the truth, NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1909 Editorials and Editorialettes. Commendable Work by the J. A. M. A. No. 1 We have had in the past, and we shall probably have in the future, much to criticize in the management of the Journal of our national association and of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry. (The two are so closely interwoven, that it is useless to try to separate them.) But "honor to whom honor is due" has always been our motto and it is with particular pleasure that we call attention to a new, recently inaugurated series of exposés in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which cannot fail to be of immense benefit to the medical profession, and to a still greater extent, to the public. We refer to the exposés of the so-called medical institutes, medical companies and other fraudulent quack concerns, which in this country, more than in any other, have been cheating and robbing the poor sick and fattening on the helplessness and credulity of the hopelessly incurable. In the entire realm of fraud and humbug, there is no more cruel, no more heartless fraud, no more detestable humbug, than the so-called "medical institute." Utterly ignorant, utterly conscienceless, these quacks send out broadcast the most extravagant promises, in order to get the victims of various, usually chronic diseases into their hands. When the patient, to whom all kinds of "guarantees" are given, has been caught in the toils, there begins a system of terrifying, bullying, bleeding and blackmailing, which is truly infernal in its fiendishness. When the patient has been bled to the last drop, when the "institute" managers see that no more money can be gotten out of him, he is dropped. If it is a personal treatment "institute," orders are given to no longer admit that patient; if it is a correspondence concern, the letters are thrown in the waste basket. If a patient becomes obstreperous, and demands his money back according to the "guarantee,' he is threatened with legal proceedings, additional bills are presented him for alleged services, etc., etc., and, as not one person in a thousand is willing to go to court, and as nobody is anxious for notoriety, the patient drops his case there and then, and the "institute" looks for other victims. Of course, these ignorant pretenders encroach upon the legitimate sphere and income of the medical profession; but this aspect of the case is a matter of very minor importance, compared with the terrible, often irreparable injury inflicted upon the sick and suffering. Very often the patients' chances for recovery are completely destroyed by these quack concerns. The entire medical profession will therefore be a unit in warmly commending and supporting this new departure in the activity of the management of the American Medical Association. This work is immeasurably more important, than that of jabbing and hammering manufacturers of good ethical products of perfectly open and well-known composition, merely because the bottle has the name blown in it, or has a circular around it, or because some poetic language is used in describing the virtues of the product. While great diversity of opinion exists in the rank and file of the profession as to the necessity and usefulness of this kind of work, some even fearing that a great part of it is for the purpose of helping the manufacturers of "just-as-goods," there can be no two opinions as to the great and deep necessity, as to the true philanthropy, the true humanitarianism of the work of exposing the nefarious scoundrels, who under various guises prey upon the sick. Here, we repeat, the entire profession-the regular physicians, the homeopaths, the eclectics, etc.-will be a solid unit in applauding the work of the J. A. M. A. And what is more, the intelligent laity will join in the applause. The Journal seems to think that it owes an apology to its readers for taking up so much space with the exposures of the quack concerns. No apology is needed. True, we, physicians, know full well the character of these institutions, and it is the laity, and not the medical profession, that is in need of enlightenment. But the lay newspaper or magazine will not undertake the work; many of these fake institutes are advertised in the lay press and the publisher will, of course, in the vast majority of cases, not run the risk of offending the advertiser. So it remains for the medical press to undertake the work. And once printed in our press, it can be brought to the attention of the laity in various ways. When we printed the exposures of the Koch Consumption Cure, Warner's Safe Cure, Liquozone, Duffy's Malt Whiskey, |