THE SODA FOUNTAIN AND ITS ATTENDANT

EVILS.

BY J. A. COMBS, M.D., LOCUST GROVE.

I have read with increasing interest and pleasure the articles which have appeared from time to time in the Journal of the American Medical Association exposing the flagrant frauds of the nostrum evil, which has attained to such great proportion in our country.

It is also encouraging to notice that some of our best lay journals and magazines and some of the better class of daily papers are directing some attention to the subject and in a few instances have thrust some keen and telling darts at this hydra-headed monster of deception.

At first glance it is almost impossible to conceive how these frauds, so numerous and so harmful, can be so successfully launched and perpetrated on so many intelligent people. When we remember the many alluring guises it assumes, the wonder is not so great that it is able to prey alike upon the ignorant and the learned, the credulous and the skeptic, the pauper and the millionaire, the "bum" in the street and the lady in satin, the sinner in the pew and the pastor in the pulpit. It is a lamentable fact that this nefarious evil is kept going even through our own profession. It is well known that ignorant, lazy, and unscrupulous holders of medical diplomas, though in some cases men who know better and are actively engaged in a decent and paying practice, use and endorse these secret nostrums. Should we, then, marvel that an unsuspecting public, who have a right to consider the physician as the guardian of the public health, should

really believe that the patent preparation is all right, and is a panacea for every ill? The greatest encouragement to this evil has probably been through the ignorance and avarice of our own profession. But many hopeful signs are now making their appearance. Up-to-date medical men are beginning to realize more and more that their position in the matter is closely watched and no self-respecting physician can afford to prescribe or in any way endorse these nostrums. Another hopeful sign I note with no small degree of interest is that the general public is being put on notice in various ways as to the bad effects of these preparations.

Some of our State legislatures are considering legislation directed against the manufacture and sale of these fraudulent concoctions. In many other ways this subject is being brought before the reading and thinking public.

But with all our efforts thus far against this evil there is still a need of a closer organization of our forces and a better general understanding among us of our methods of advance.

In addition to the lack of close organization and definite understanding among the forces which are endeavoring to rid the country of this vulgar product of quackery, in my opinion there is a very important phase of the subject being neglected, viz.: the patent or secret drinks sold at the soda-water fountain.

This brings us directly to the subject under discussion. It is commonly and justly conceded that the medical profession is the guardian of the public health, so it becomes our sacred trust and binding duty to warn and advise the public in every way possible against this nostrum curse, including the various patent, or secret drinks usually dispensed at the soda-water fountain.

Most of these drinks contain some drug which effects the nervous system to a more or less marked degree, and

we are all aware that no one can take a nervine for any great length of time without injury to the nervous system. Moreover, it is the opinion of some of our profession that these patent drinks have opened a new and prolific source for the development of the various forms of nervous affections.

These nervines, compounded as they are, and taken in an ice-cold medium into a stomach filled with food which it is trying to digest, is, in my opinion, a potent factor in the production of some of the forms of digestive disturbances which are always annoying to the patient and sometimes baffling to the doctor.

One eminent author says that a very fruitful source of these digestive disorders is due to the habit of taking too much ice-cold substance into the stomach during and immediately after our meals, and especially is this true if these substances contain excessive amount of sugar and the harmful ingredients usually dispensed at the sodafountain. In discussing the subject of chronic gastritis in his text-book on the practice of medicine, Dr. Osler makes use of the following words: "One of the most powerful enemies of the American stomach in the present day is the soda-water fountain, which has usurped so important a place in the apothecary shop.” This statement coming from an authority of Dr. Osler's standing should cause us to think seriously about this colossal evil which has sprung among us with such marked avidity, and continues to "flourish like a green bay tree."

Another thing which may be justly urged against the soda-fountain is its filthiness. This feature may be observed in its fullest bloom in the smaller towns where there is no water-works, and in the lowly streets of the cities.

In small towns without water-works the boy who attends the noisy squirter of polluted carbonated water will

frequently use the same water for cleaning (?) the glasses until it is as thick as frog-spawn with filth and flies. We must not forget that these disease-conveying creatures are always in full attendance upon these shrines that have been erected to gratify the whims of an artificially produced appetite of the American spendthrift. Dr. J. C. Wilson, Professor of Medicine at the Jefferson Medical College, says that he has noticed that "The sodafountain is attractive to girls at the giggling age, to lads that are 'fly,' and to flies themselves."

Owing to their filthiness the poorer class of soda-fountains may be, and are, probably the means of conveying disease from one person to another.

Another serious objection which may be urged against the soda-fountain is the fine opportunity it affords for the illicit sale of whisky and other narcotics. This phase is called to our attention not only by the faithful officers of the law, but also by the suspicious crowd that "hangs around."

One of the surest and most dreaded results from the soda-fountain narcotics is the creation of an appetite which will take stronger and more harmful drinks to satisfy. In my opinion many a boy has begun at the sodafountain a habit of drinking and treating which has taken him through the beer garden, and the barroom, the low dives, the opium joint, the gambling den, the house of ill repute, and finally to disgrace and ruin.

Not only does the soda-fountain offer a menace to our sons, but also to our daughters. Narcotics have the same. effects upon our daughters as upon our sons, the only difference being is the fact that with our daughters the opportunities for satisfying and cultivating the appetites are not so numerous and so dangerous. But through the influence of the soda-fountain the number of dangerous opportunities for our girls is fast increasing.

We are living in an age of fad and fancy. It occurs to me that we are fast departing from the "strict proprieties" of our safe and cautious old-time fathers and mothers, and have become extremely "liberal" in our views of social life and customs.

The custom of our daughters mingling with all classes of people and drinking at these public places of dope and filth is a long step towards practices that are worse.

With the increase of foreign immigration there will surely come an increase in the wine parlors, and the beer gardens. It may be expected that the daughters of America reared in the atmosphere of "liberality" of thought and "freedom" of deed and trained to endorse these places of dope will themselves begin to practice the vilest habits of dissipation.

The last objection which I shall urge against the sodafountain is an act, the occurrence of which is the least frequent and least probable of all, yet it is the most heinous in its character. It is the opportunity given to unscrupulous young men for doping our daughters for the purpose of taking criminal advantage of them. Of course, this would have to be worked very smoothly, but we should remember that "smooth" individuals are increasing rapidly.

In studying the subject we find that the soda-fountain has nothing for which to commend itself, either to the profession or the public, but the following serious objections may be justly urged against it:

I. It fosters the nostrum evil.

2. It is a fruitful source of nervous and digestive disturbances.

3. By its filthiness it may be, and probably is, the means of spreading infectious diseases.

4. It offers opportunity for the illicit sale of whiskies and other narcotics.