The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

:
10 The Health Bulletin July, 192:
now-a-days to get a boy to devote much
time to reading good books was to
place a cigarette and a book side by
side and forbid tlie boy to read the
book, but help himself to the cigarette.
Tell the boy the cigarette was good for
him but the book dangerous. His
speech was an essay on human nature.
Sometimes we think if physicians would
pass resolutions in the medical society
meetings urging people to buy and consume
patent medicines, it might be a
good way to put the brakes on the widespread
use of useless and harmful socalled
drugs.
The manufacturer of various concoctions
for promiscuous sale to the
public bases his success on the universal
custom prevailing in the past of
"tonics" and "blood purifiers" for every
ailment. What adult living has not had
his share of "spring tonics" forced
down an unwilling young throat by a
stern and conscientious parent. Castor
oil was king of the terrors. It led the
procession of sulphur and molasses,
sarsaparilla, sassafras, bone set tea,
ague remedies and so on. After all,
this was homemade stuff. It was for
the most part harmless. When the
"Course" was over the parent thought
his duty discharged and the young
victim enjoyed comparative immunity
from further such indignities that year.
True, if a youngster so much as sniffed
or sneezed a time or two, he was immediately
rubbed down and greased all
over with hot tallow or suet or hog's
lard and forced to drink about a quart
of flax seed tea before being put to
bed under all the spare quilts in the
house. Today the substitute for all this
stuff is purchased at a good price. It
bears a fancy label and has a wonderful
name. The liquids have a beautiful
color and the salves have an odor to
be remembered when one box is gone
and another needed. What is more important
the daily and weekly papers
carry attractive advertisements the
year round, frequently illustrated by
the picture of some smiling neighbor
who has just been snatched from the
edge of the grave by using a bottle of
So-and-So's Life Saver, when "all the
doctors had failed" of course. In order
to find out for yourself whether or not
people are buying all these products,
you do not have to wait until one of
the millionaire manufacturers dies and
the size of his fortune is listed, or for
one of them to be loudly protesting at
the corporation or income tax ; but simply
look in your own and your neighbor's
medicine closet and check up.
Some fifteen or twenty years ago the
reformers, would-be-reformers and so
on made a valiant war on the whole
grand fraud. For a time it looked as
if the public would wake up and do
some thinking. After the battle was
over and while the "reformers" were
celebrating their "victory," the "patent"
medicine i>eople like the good machine
politicians they are quietly closed
ranks, came back as "big business,"
"vested interests" and so on and are
today probably more prosperous than
ever. And as usual the consuming publie
pays the bill. So from a health
standpoint the present habit of spending
money for brilliantly advertised
medical concoctions of all kinds, is
much more harmful than the old time
sulphur and molasses era.
The conclusion of the whole matter
is that the use of plenty of pure water
internally and externally administered,
together with outdoor work or exercise
in the sunshine and fresh air; and a
commonsense diet balanced to suit the
season, and the individual will do more
toward "toning up" than all the patent
medicines in kingdom come.
LENGTHENING THE SPAN OF LIFE
A syndicate writer on medical subjects
has the following paragraph in a
recent publication
"It has been stated that the average
span of life in this country has increased
in the last century from thirtythree
years to over fifty years. If this
is true what are the causes
"First, the control of epidemic diseases,
illustrated by the preventive
measure of vaccination which has practically
eliminated smallpox. Other
scourges such as typhoid fever, diphtheria
and measles are now largely prevented
by control of infectious sources
and well organized health departments.