o are getting away from the
use of drugs has said that eighty-five per cent of all illnesses get
well of their own accord, no matter what may or may not be done for
them. In a very remarkable article from this same doctor's pen, in
which he speaks of the huge undertaking which physicians must assume
in order to clear away the _materia medica_ rubbish of the ages, he
states that the greatest struggle which the coming doctor has on his
hands is with drugs, and the deadly grip which they have on the
confidence and affections both of the profession and of the public.
Among his illuminating remarks about the drug system, I found two
drastic statements, which should serve to lift the veil from the eyes
of the chronic drug taker. These are, first, 'Take away opium and
alcohol, and the backbone of the patent medicine business would be
broken inside of forty-eight hours,' and, second, 'No drug, save
quinine and mercury in special cases, will cure a disease.' In words
which he quotes from another prominent physician, 'He is the best
doctor who knows the worthlessness of most drugs.'

"The hundreds of drugs listed in books on _materia medica_ I find are
gradually being reduced in number to a possible forty or fifty, and
one doctor makes the radical statement that they can be cut down to
the 'six or seven real drugs.' Still further light has been thrown
upon the debasing nature of the drugging system by a member of the
Philadelphia Drug Exchange, in a recent hearing before the House
Committee on municipal affairs right here. He is reported as saying
that it makes little difference what a manufacturer puts into a patent
medicine, for, after all, the effect of the medicine depends upon the
faith of the user. The sick man who turns to patent medicines for
relief becomes the victim of 'bottled faith.' If his faith is
sufficiently great, a cure may be effected--and the treatment has been
_wholly mental_! The question of ethics does not concern either the
patent medicine manufacturer or the druggist, for they argue that if
the sick man's faith has been aroused to the point of producing a
cure, the formula of the medicine itself is of no consequence, and,
therefore, if a solution of sugar and water sold as a cure for colds
can stimulate the sufferer's faith to the point of meeting his need,
the business is quite legitimate. 'A bunch of bottles and sentiment,'
adds this member of the Drug Exchange, 'are the real essentials for
working hea