HUMBUGIANA. certificates which, in the month of March, 1837, had already been filed, yet they will give some faint idea of the universal usefulness of the mixture for all diseases which afflict the human family. We make no remarks upon the certificates; the style is good, and if true that the mixture did so much, there is no doubt but the sales would be large. I. And, first, of our subject in relation to MEDICINE. Medicine is, or ought to be a science. For the Medical profession we have the highest possible respect. No class of men are more important benefactors of mankind. Nowhere have been found more illustrious instances of knowledge, talent, devotedness, and philanthropy. Not the less, however, has that honorable profession been infested by quackery and humbug. Nor has this been confined to that despicable class of quacks, who, without knowledge or experience, or a single qualification for the healing art, foist their odious drugs upon a credulous public, and live by the miseries and gullibility of mankind. Such thin-skinned monsters of the ooze and the mire" are impervious to every weapon, and insensible to all shame. What, then, is a QUACK? A quack is one who sells a pretended nostrum, the preparation of which is kept secret, but the term may be applied to every practitioner who, by pompous pretences, mean insinuations, and indirect promises, endeavors to obtain that confidence which neither success nor experience entitles him to. There is no disease of dreaded name for which the quack cannot furnish a cure. Asthma and consumption are disarmed of their terrors; gout is now but a harmless bugbear; and if any suffer or die of cancer, it must be the fault of their own obstinacy or incredulity. The diseases of children, with such savans, need give little concern; there are anodynes which allay the pain of teething; there are worm lozenges which no reptile can resist, and there are cosmetics which infallibly cure and beautify the skin. Laborious investigation of the causes of disease is unnecessary; the quack doctor does not wait to see his patient, who has only to send a letter describing his case, with the usual fee, of course, and the remedy will find its way to the most distant corner in the Union. Even this trouble may often be dispensed with; a patient has merely to consider for himself whether his skin or his stomach is in fault, and pills, and cordials, and balsams of unerring efficacy are to be found in every village and town ready to his hand. Of the truth of these statements there cannot be a doubt, as numberless cases are to be seen every day attested in our newspapers, by those who have tried them, and whose benevolence prompts them to publish, for the benefit of mankind, the advantages they have experienced in themselves or their families. Let us look into this for a moment. These attestations, though honestly given, are given generally in ignorance. A person is afflicted with a certain combination of symptoms to which medical men, or the unskilled, assign a particular name, as fever, dropsy, scurvy: he recovers his health after the use of some particular medicine, and is perfectly convinced the medicine cured him. He rejoices in his success, and confidently recommends the same drug to his friend, who is said to labor under the VOL. 1.-24 369 1 same disease. But there is here a double fallacy. The first patient cannot be sure that he had the disease he supposes, and he cannot be certain that the remedy cured him. As it is doubtful whether the second patient is afflicted in a similar way, the same medicine may not be applicable to him. When we consider the endless variety of the human constitution, its delicate and almost evanescent changes in health and disease, it must be obvious that a remedy which will suit one person may be very unfit for another; and that a medicine which to-day is salutary may be attended with disastrous results if repeated to-morrow. In popular language, and even in the language of physicians, it may be said with truth, that ten persons have the same disease, as small-pox, fever, or a cold, but it will require correct and accurate observation to discriminate the differences of each, and to apply the remedies which are proper to them. But by the same patent medicine, and in the same dose, 80,000 cases are said to be cured in a year; and patients indiscriminately are invited to apply a composition in a case which they call a disease of some particular name, though a skilful physician would consider a totally opposite remedy as necessary. Besides, there is something in the moral aspect of a secret remedy that ought to put mankind on their guard against it. The possession of health is to all so valuable, pain and suffering are so dreadful, that it is the duty of every one to communicate every assistance in his power to relieve it. With all the industry and accumulated knowledge of ages, there are too many diseases which baffle all the skill of the profession, and there must be something suspicious about those who, affirming themselves to be in possession of a remedy for cancer or consumption, conceal the knowledge of it to their own bosoms. It may be asserted then with perfect safety, that credulity with respect to quack medicines, is not free from danger. We know that there are some patent medicines which are harmless and insignificant, and their only effect is to amuse the patient with delusive hopes, and to trifle away the time during which the constitution could bear the employment of active remedies. To acquire a competent knowledge of the structure of the human frame, to become acquainted with the diseases to which it is liable, and the remedies for these diseases, require study and talent; and it is matter of regret that the course of education requisite to obtain a license to experiment on the bodies of our fellow-creatures, is so circumscribed. We hope the time has come when it will be decreed that the course of education necessary for the medical profession will be more liberal and enlarged; and since it is considered one of the learned professions, let its professors therefore be learned. In our next we shall resume the subject in its relation to education. 370 CHARLESTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 450 MERCANTILE AND AGRICULTURAL MISCELLANIES. 1.-CHARLESTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. KER BOYCE, President. Officers. GEO. A. TRENHOLM, 2d Vice-President. CHAS. EDMONDSTON, 1st Vice-President. W. B. HERIOT, Secretary and Treasurer. On the purchase and shipment of produce on foreign account. On drawing bills for the same On the purchase and shipment of produce on domestic account.. On drawing bills for the same On the purchase and shipment of produce, either on foreign or domestic account, with funds in hand.......... On sales of foreign consignments.. On guaranty of the same.. per cent. 24 21 21 " in bills, with guaranty .... in bills, without guaranty. 21 21 21 21 21 21 23 21 On ships' disbursements, with funds in hand.... drawing bills... For endorsing bills of exchange (domestic)... (foreign)... ....... .... On goods consigned to, or lodged with merchants for sale, and afterward or- On effecting insurance, on amount insured.. On collecting money by power of attorney, if litigated.... On cargoes of vessels in distress, where the goods are bonded, lodged in the custom house, or stored and afterward re-shipped, on amount of invoice On remitting for the same in bills, without guaranty.. 21 21 Mending. Mending, furnishing bagging and twine........ 10 Drayage Wharfage. And storage, while awaiting shipment, of 8 cents per week on bales, and whole and half casks, for the first and last weeks, and 4 cents for all the intermediate weeks. On all other goods, the charges actually paid in each particular case. Standard of Freights. When vessels are freighted by the ton, and no special agreement is made respecting the proportion of tonnage, the following standard shall regulate, viz., that the articles, the bulk of which shall compose a ton, to equal a ton of heavy materials, shall be in weight as follows: Coffee, in casks, 1568 lbs. net; in bags, 1830 lbs. net. All heavy dye-woods, rice, sugar, and all other heavy goods, 2240 lbs. net. Beef, pork, fish (pickled), tallow, 6 barrels, Pitch, tar, and turpentine, of the capacity of 32 gallons each, 6 barrels. Oil, wine, brandy and other liquors, reckoning the full contents of casks, 200 gallons. Grain, in casks, 22 bushels. Salt, in casks, fine, 36; coarse, 31 bushels. Sea coal, 29 bushels. Mahogany, square timber, plank, boards, bale goods and dry goods, in casks, boxes and trunks, 40 cubic feet. Dried hides, 1120 lbs. net. Raw Silk, 896 lbs. net. Tobacco, ton, 1600 lbs. net. Measurement of Goods. Goods of Measurement on freight from other ports, delivered here, if deemed incorrectly measured, may be re-measured here by the Port Wardens, or other proper persons agreed on for that purpose, whose measurement shall be final and conclusive, and the charge incurred by measuring shall be paid by him who is found in error. Adopted, March, 1823. Losses on Goods by Fire, &c., and by Bad Debts. Loss of goods arising from fire, robbery, theft, or accident, shall in all cases be borne by the owner thereof; unless a breach of orders to insure has been made, or negligence and inattention practised by the consignee or his agents. Losses by bad debts in the sale of goods shall always be borne by the owners, unless sold contrary to written orders, or there be an express agreement to guaranty. * Adopted, March, 1823. Goods sold by Weight and by the Thousand. Goods sold by the weight to be sold by the 100 lbs., instead of 112 lbs.; or by the ton of 2,000 lbs., instead of 2,240 lbs.-Adopted, March, 1825. Staves, hoops, &c., by the short thousand.-Adopted, May, 1839. Custom as to the Staple Productions of the State. RICE.-The standard weight of a barrel is 600 lbs. net. When a wharfinger weighs a barrel, the turn of the scale is allowed, and a draft of 4 lbs. per barrel. The tare is ascertained by weighing three barrels of a small parcel, and five of a large parcel, if required. The purchaser pays 50 cents for each barrel, and for CHARLESTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 452 any re-cooperage after having been once coopered, unless a special agreement is made to the contrary. COTTON.-In bags and square bales, turn of the scale and one per cent. draft, but no tare for all necessary baling and roping, except for wooden hoops, the actual tare of which is allowed.—Adopted, March, 1825. What shall be a Delivery of Goods by the Master of a Vessel In the absence of any express law on the subject, the Chamber recommends that the following regulations be adopted by all interested. That a notification in all the daily newspapers of the city, or other proper notice be given by the consignees or agents of vessels, at what time a vessel will be ready to discharge, and at what wharf; stating, also, that if goods shall be landed, and not taken in charge by the consignee or his agent, the master or agent of the vessel shall, at sunset, put such goods into the charge and possession of the Wharfinger, who shall then store the same, at the expense and risk of the respective owners or claimants; and such delivery shall be sufficient to discharge the master from all future responsibility, and entitle him to his freight money. That in order more effectually to prevent disputes in regard to the proper delivery of goods from along-side the discharging vessel, it be recommended to ships' agents to have, respectively, a clerk to deliver the goods, and to record the same in a book to be kept for that purpose. When goods are to be delivered to a drayman, an order shall be written by the consignee for such delivery, in which shall be inserted the name of the drayman and the number of his license. Adopted 8th February, 1839. Drafts and Tares to be allowed to the Purchasers of Imported Articles for internal consumption. Sugars, in hhds., per cent. draft, and 12 per cent. tare. Sugars, in boxes, per cent. draft, and 15 per cent. tare. Sugars, in flour barrels, per cent. draft, and 20 lbs. each, tare. Sugars, in flour barrels, each, tare. per cent. draft, and (if filled in Charleston) 18 lbs. Sugars, in bags of grass, per cent. draft, and 2 per cent. tare. Coffee, in mats or bales,per cent. draft, and 3 per cent. tare. Pimento, in bags of linen, 2 per cent. tare. Pimento, in casks, Custom House draft, and 16 per cent. tare. Pepper, in bags of linen, 2 per cent. tare. Teas, Custom House draft and tare. Indigo, of foreign growth, Custom House draft, Tare in casks, 15 per cent.; in barrels, 12 per cent.; in seroons, 10 per cent.; in bags, 3 per cent. Cotton, of foreign growth, covered with linen, Custom House draft, 2 per cent. tare. All other articles, Custom House draft and tare. Cheese, Candles, Chocolate, Soap, and all small articles sold by weight, the actual tare. Liquors are gauged by Gunter's scale, agreeably to the act of Congress. Custom House Drafts and Tares. DRAFTS. The following allowances are made by law for drafts on articles subject to duty by weight: On any quantity of 1 cwt...... On any quantity above 1 cwt. and not exceeding 2 cwt.. Act of 2d March, 1799, Section 58. ... 1 pound. |