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Show THE HARM IN PATENT MEDICINES. It is some time ago' since the typhoid fever epidemic; and we do not remember if the state board of health were charged with any shortcomings. shortcom-ings. If so, they now have a chance to restore confidence con-fidence damaged through adverse criticism, in the stand they engage to take against the multiplicity of quack nostrums sold as , patent medicines. Dr. Beatty, secretary of, the! board, advised that the state chemist analyze samples of patent medicines secured from various drug stores in this city, and that a pamphlet be published for general distribution, distribu-tion, showing up the vilencss of these fake preparations. prep-arations. The secretary's" recommendations were adopted. To a large extent this investigation is in lino with the examinations going on in behalf of temperance. tem-perance. We mean, through scientific analysis and not through the crazy methods of Carrie Nation. Before us is a copy of the "Fourth Keport of tha Committee of Fifty on Various Aspects of the Liquor Question," "covering the physiological aspects as-pects of that question. Treating of the physical effects of alcohol, the experiments of Dr. Abel lead him to conclusions with which the committee agree. He says that alcohol, in moderate quantities quan-tities (the doctor emphasizes moderate quantities) does not appreciably affect the action of the heart itself, either in the way of stimulation or depression. depres-sion. Parenthetically he remarks that in very large quantities, such as result in helpless intoxication, intoxi-cation, alcohol is a direct and powerful depressant of the heart. Dr. Abel says alcohol does not affect af-fect the walls of the arteries and veins, nor the arterial blood pressure. In largo quantities the action ac-tion is depressing upon the nerve centers which control the arteries and the action of the heart. Alcohol stimulates the respiratory functions, highly high-ly flavored wines, etc., producing more pronounced action than plain alcohol. The action of alcohol on the nervous system is one of its most important import-ant and most unfortunate characteristics. It is this action which leads to the "craving" for drink. Alcohol stimulates muscular work, but a paralyzing par-alyzing action always succeeds the stimulation, and further doses do not renew.the stimulation equally; hut some depressing effect- also follows the use of tea, coffee or kola. Tlic action of alcohol in the brain is the primd cause of alcoholic consumption. "Elderly people and invalids may receive benefit from moderate drinking, and there are riany, in whom the exacting ex-acting duties and friction of life cause mental tension and overwrought nerves, who find a good restorative in a glas3 of wine taken with dinner at close of day; but the use of alcohol is not a necessity neces-sity of social life, and. there is no reason why alcohol al-cohol should not be abolished from the world, and the craving which it satisfies turned into somQ other channel." - The paper on "temperance drinks" is interesting, interest-ing, if not B3 important as some. The statistics " ' ! "."' ' -- T show an enormous consumption of these beverages; bever-ages; for instance, in Massachusetts at least 300,-000 300,-000 bottles of Ayer's Sarsaparilla are sold annually,- "and as this contains over 26 per cent of alcohol, al-cohol, it is clear that many are partaking pretty freely of an alcoholic drink without perhaps being aware of it." A very large variety of drinks coti-taining coti-taining a greater percentage of alcohol than ordinary or-dinary wines and beers are consumed in rigorous total abstinence circles, one of its foremost advor cates permitting her picture to be used as an advertisement of one of the most alcoholic of these drinks. Tables give a list of forty-two such preparations, prep-arations, containing from G per cent, as a minimum, mini-mum, to 42 per cent, as a maximum, of alcohol. Mentioning a few at random, we find: Paine's Celery Cel-ery Compound, 21 per cent; Hootland's German Bitters, "entirely free from alcoholic stimulants," 25 per cent alcohol; Hostetter's Stomach Bitters, 24 per cent; Warner's Safe Tonic Bitters, 35 per cent; Ayer's Sarsaparilla, 20 per cent; Hood's Sarsaparilla, Sar-saparilla, 18 per cent; Liebig Company's Beef Tonic, 23 per cent. The conclusions reached by the series of topics top-ics under the head of alcohol and alcoholism should be good reading for the most sane of temperance advocates. It ought to be a bracer for publishers who sell their columns to patent medicine venders, in order that such people may easily extort a dollar dol-lar for stuff not worth the glass in the bottle which contains it. If anything ails you, or ails the children, far better is it to apply the "old woman's medicine," and throw patent physic out of tho window. A humane thought suppresses sup-presses the quotation to "throw physic to the dogs." . 1 A prominent Denver lawyer whose name ju3t now we fail to recall, save that it begins with "Me," comes back from a visit to Col. George B. McCIellan, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New. York. The Denver lawyer at one time was a member of the Democratic National committee, commit-tee, representing Colorado, and what he says may be regarded as expressing Colorado's Democratic sentiment. He told the Associated Press at New York that the voice of the west would go out for McCIellan as the Democratic nominee for president. presi-dent. Among the names talked about and appearing appear-ing in newspapers as probable candidates for what seems a forlorn hope, it is passing strange the name of McCIellan was not mentioned" until the Colorado lawyer called public attention to it. Why not McCIellan? It's a good Scotch name, and belongs be-longs to the son of a father who made history in our Civil' war. Somebody said before McKinley was elected that no "Mc," nor no red-headed man was ever president nor would ever be president. In western parlance, he did not "call the turn." McKinley was twice elected president, and, if our reading be not at fault, Thomas Jefferson was a red-headed president. Utah Democrats favor McCIellan, Mc-CIellan, for we note tho departure of ex-Senators Joe Rawlins and Frank Cannon for New York to take, part in the municipal campaign in that city. 4 i |
