Medicine: Lydia Pinkham's New Dress

Before the old Pure Food & Drugs Act was passed in 1906, the label on Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound proclaimed the tonic "A Sure Cure for Prolapsus Uteri or Falling of the Womb, and . . . All Weaknesses of the Generative Organs of Either Sex." Since 1906 the label has been modified several times to sidestep run-ins with Federal authorities.

Last week the Journal of the American Medical Association remarked that Lydia Pinkham had changed her dress again. In keeping with vitamin fads the preparation is now labeled "Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable...