Transcriber’s Notes:
Underscores “_” before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_
in the original text.
Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals.
Old spellings have been preserved.
Typographical and punctuation errors have been silently corrected.
SECRET REMEDIES,
WHAT THEY COST AND WHAT THEY CONTAIN.
BASED ON ANALYSES MADE FOR THE
BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.
LONDON:
BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION,
429, STRAND, W.C.
1909.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I.—Catarrh and Cold Cures 1
II.—Cough Medicines 9
III.—Consumption Cures 20
IV.—Headache Powders 37
V.—Blood Purifiers 42
VI.—Remedies for Gout, Rheumatism and Neuralgia 50
VII.—Kidney Medicines 66
VIII.—Diabetes 76
IX.—Obesity Cures 83
X.—Skin Diseases 105
XI.—Medicines for Baldness 114
XII.—Cancer Remedies 117
XIII.—Remedies for Epilepsy 124
XIV.—Soothing, Teething and Cooling Powders for Infants 130
XV.—Remedies for Ear Disease and Deafness 134
XVI.— ” Eye Diseases 142
XVII.— ” Piles 147
XVIII.—Preparations for Rupture 158
XIX.—Cures for Inebriety 162
XX.—Cure Alls 170
APPENDIX 182
INDEX 185
PREFACE.
One of the reasons for the popularity of secret remedies is their
secrecy. It is a case in which the old saying _Omne ignotum pro
magnifico_ applies. To begin with, there is for the average man or
woman a certain fascination in secrecy. The quack takes advantage
of this common foible of human nature to impress his customers. But
secrecy has other uses in his trade; it enables him to make use of
cheap new or old-fashioned drugs, and to proclaim that his product
possesses virtues beyond the ken of the mere doctor; his herbs have
been culled in some remote prairie in America or among the mountains
of Central Africa, the secret of their virtues having been confided to
him by some venerable chief; or again he would have us believe that his
drug has been discovered by chemical research of alchemical profundity,
and is produced by processes so costly and elaborate that it can only
be sold at a very high price.
The British Medical Association considered, therefore, that it would
be useful if not instructive to make analyses of some of the secret
remedies, the virtues of which are so boldly advertised, especially
in popular monthly magazines and weekly newspapers, and in diaries
and almanacks pushed under the front door or dropped over the area
railings. The results are given in the following pages; they have been
classified under various heads, according to the particular kind of
disorder for the cure of which the preparation is more particularly
vaunted. The claims in some instances are so comprehensive that it has
not always been easy to assign the nostrum its proper place, and for a
few it has been necessary to institute a chapter on Cure Alls.
An inquiry of the kind is, from the analytical point of view, tedious
and often difficult; for though the analytical chemist can easily and
quickly identify the nature of inorganic salts in a mixture or powder,
and estimate their amount, most vegetable drugs which exert any
appreciable effect on the body owe their power to the presence of an
alkaloid or glucoside. The active principle of opium, for instance, is
morphine; that of cinchona bark, quinine; that of belladonna, atropine,
and so on, and the chemist can recognise any alkaloids present in a
mixture or pill. It is otherwise, however, with vegetable extracts and
colouring matters, for which pharmaceutical science has not yet been
able in all cases to supply easily applicable and conclusive tests,
because for the most part they contain no active principle and are
used in pharmacy for their agreeable odour or bitter taste, as vanilla
or sorrel are used in cookery. Of the accuracy of the analytical data
published there can be no question; the investigation has been carried
out with great care by a skilled analytical chemist, who has controlled
his results in various ways, one being that in every doubtful case
the formula obtained by analysis has been tested by making it up
and comparing the appearance, taste, and physical properties of the
imitative mixture with those of the secret preparation sold to the
public.
The articles in this volume have not been confined to a mere dry
statement of the results of analysis. Care has been taken to reproduce
the claims and exuberant boasts of the vendors, and the contrast
between them and the list of banal ingredients which follow must strike
every reader. This juxtaposition of analytical facts and advertising
fancies is instructive and sometimes entertaining, the fancy is so free
and the fact so simple.
It must not be assumed that the concoctors of these mixtures and
powders and ointments show any particular skill in the compounding of
drugs. On the contrary, they appear curiously indifferent to taste and
appearance, and perhaps count on the belief, common among the poorer
classes at least, that the nastier a drug the more effective it is.
There is, at any rate, the excuse for this belief that the effort to
subdue the repugnance to the draught produces a glow of virtue which
may perhaps have a certain stimulating effect on the mind; the patient
having not only spent his money but suffered some discomfort, is
anxious to justify his faith by assuming himself to be the better for
the double sacrifice.
It is not, however, only the poorer classes of the community who have
a weakness for secret remedies and the ministration of quacks; the
well-to-do and the highly-placed will often, when not very ill, take a
curious pleasure in experimenting with mysterious compounds. In them it
is perhaps to be traced to a hankering to break safely with orthodoxy;
they scrupulously obey the law and the Church and Mrs. Grundy, but will
have their fling against medicine. Usually, however, people of these
classes take to some system. It used to be electricity or hypnotism or
some eccentricity of diet; nowadays it is more often Christian Science.
Judging from the relative number of secret remedies advertised for
different complaints, it would seem that the most attractive fields
for exploitation by the “patent” medicine man are afforded by those
diseases which are widely prevalent, and sufficiently serious to cause
considerable suffering and incapacity, inasmuch as such disorders lend
themselves to sensational descriptions of the dire consequences which
will follow if the one and only real and certain cure is not purchased.
The estimates of cost given throughout the volume refer only to the
ingredients, the prices of the various drugs being those quoted in
an ordinary wholesale drug list, and take no account of the cost of
bottles, boxes, wrappings and packages, very often a much more serious
source of expenditure. The stamp duty levied by the Inland Revenue
under an old Act of Parliament must also be taken into consideration,
but, ostensibly at least, it is paid by the purchaser, for the full
price of a nostrum is usually 1s. 1½d. or 2s. 9d. and so on, the extra
1½d. or 3d. representing the value of the stamp. “Store prices” have,
however, invaded this, like most other fields of enterprise.
CHAPTER I.
CATARRH AND COLD CURES.
The analyses here given of some of the proprietary articles which the
public are induced to buy for the cure of ordinary colds and catarrh
furnish a good example of the absurdity of the barefaced pretensions
in which nostrum mongers indulge, for minor ailments are by no means
neglected by the makers of nostrums; if the price to be obtained is
somewhat lower than in the case of more serious disorders the cost
price can be reduced in an equal or greater proportion. Alarming
accounts, too, of the evils to be expected if resort be not had to the
advertised articles are not wanting. Thus, in the advertisement of one
of the articles described below, it is stated that catarrh “invariably
creates biliousness, constipation, pleurisy, asthma, bronchitis,
catarrhal fever, and consumption”; also that “it is estimated that
over 20,000 people died in the United Kingdom last year of consumption
caused by catarrh.” The remedy put forward for this malignant disease
is shown by analysis to consist of a solution of a pinch of common salt
with a trace of carbolic acid, the actual cost of the quantity sold for
a shilling being one-thirtieth part of a farthing. The probability that
many people would regard a slight cold in the head as not requiring a
resort to a “specialist in chronic disease in every form” such as the
proprietor of this preparation, is turned to account by a disparaging
reference to the medical profession. “Catarrh,” we are told, “in its
chronic form (and the complaints arising from it) is a malady which has
not, up to the present time, received that attention and research from
the medical faculty which it deserves. Most practitioners have given
it merely a passing thought, or poohed at it as a mere cold which
would soon pass off, and perhaps give some light tonic to tone up the
stomach.” Another of the “remedies” described well illustrates the way
in which the public is deluded by such “specialists”; camphor, quinine
and ipecacuanha are frequently employed as domestic remedies in the
early stages of a cold in the head, and persons who believe in their
usefulness can no doubt be induced to buy a “cold cure” which professes
to contain them in combination with other drugs, presented in a form
convenient and agreeable to be taken; but in the tablets which are
represented as consisting of cascara, bromide, quinine, ipecacuanha,
camphor and bryonia, analysis did not reveal any appreciable traces
of cascara, bromide, quinine, ipecacuanha, or camphor. The principal
ingredients actually present were cinchonine, an alkaloid found in
the bark from which quinine is prepared but cheaper than quinine, and
acetanilide, a chemical better known under the name antifebrin, both in
very small doses.
Many proprietary medicines of varied kinds are recommended for colds
among a host of other complaints for which they are stated to possess
curative powers. Apart, however, from such inclusive recommendations,
a considerable number are put forward expressly and primarily for cold
and catarrh, and it is a selection of these which is here described.
DR. LANE’S CATARRH CURE.
This is prepared and sold by a Company giving an address in London. The
price is 1s. a bottle, containing 2½ fluid ounces.
Much printed matter is supplied with this preparation, and a few
extracts are here given:
Catarrh, in its chronic form (and the complaints
arising from it), is a malady which has not, up to the
present time, received that attention and research
from the medical faculty which it deserves. Most
practitioners have given it merely a passing thought,
or poohed at it as a mere cold which would soon pass
off, and perhaps give some light tonic to tone up the
stomach. And therein lies the fatal error, for Catarrh
is a disease that cannot be trifled with, as millions
can only too surely testify.
... to let any part or organ of the system become
diseased breeds the seeds of a host of other
complaints, as all the organs of the body are in
sympathy with each other. The cause of this is easily
explained in a case of Catarrh.... It invariably
creates Biliousness, Constipation, Pleurisy, Asthma,
Bronchitis, Catarrhal Fever, and Consumption.
It is estimated that over 20,000 people died in the
United Kingdom last year of Consumption caused by
Catarrh.
The speciality of myself and Associate Physicians is
chronic disease in every form. Our library was selected
to this end, and the Herbal World explored for this
purpose—the successful treatment of chronic disease.
We have never seen one out of five hundred of the
patients whom we have cured. Most cases can be treated
just as well at a distance as if we saw them in person;
as our experience enables us to judge correctly from
a written description the nature and extent of the
disease under which the patient is labouring.
The preparation is described on the wrapper as:
The _Only Reliable_ and Effective Preparation for
the Permanent and _Radical Cure_ of this most
dangerous disease.
The directions on the label are:
For Catarrh.—Pour one-half teaspoonful in the palm of
the hand, close one nostril with the finger, and inhale
the liquid through the open nostril with sufficient
force to carry the spray down into the throat. Inhale
another half teaspoonful through the other nostril
in the same way; it is not advisable to swallow the
Catarrh Cure—however, it is perfectly harmless if you
chance to do so. Use night and morning and in extreme
cases three times a day.
Analysis showed the composition of the liquid to be:
Phenol (carbolic acid) 0·4 part.
Sodium chloride (common salt) 3.3 parts.
Water to 100 fluid parts.
The traces of impurities usually present in common salt were also found.
The estimated cost of the ingredients in 2½ fluid ounces is
one-thirtieth of a farthing.
VAN VLECK’S CATARRH BALM.
This balm is supplied by an American Company having an address in
London. The price charged is 4s. 6d. for a package containing 1⅛ oz.
In an accompanying circular it is stated that:
This preparation is perfectly harmless, readily
absorbed, and through its healing, soothing action
affords immediate relief and quickly cures Catarrh of
the Nose and Head, Catarrhal Deafness, Hay Fever, Cold
in the Head, La Grippe, Tonsillitis, Sore Throat and
all inflamed, irritated conditions of the nose and
throat.
The “Balm” was an ointment, contained in a collapsible tube. The
directions on the label are:
First clear your head out thoroughly by blowing your
nose, then squeeze out from the tube a piece of Dr.
Van Vleck’s Catarrh Balm about the size of a pea, on
the end of the finger, and rub it well up into each
nostril, hold the other nostril and snuff it up until
you can feel it all the way up through the air passages
in your head. For severe Catarrh in the Head and Cold
in the Head also rub thoroughly over the outside of
the nose and across the forehead and on the sides of
the head just below the temples. For Catarrhal Sore
Throat and Tonsillitis rub thoroughly on the outside of
the throat and swallow at bedtime a small piece about
the size of a pea. Do not get it into the eyes. This
preparation is perfectly harmless, readily absorbed,
and through its healing, antiseptic, soothing action
affords immediate relief.
The substance consisted of soft paraffin containing a small quantity
of phenol and about 2 per cent. of a mixture of volatile oils. Oils
of eucalyptus, pumilio pine, and yellow sandal-wood were recognized,
and the respective proportions of these were estimated by comparing
mixtures of known composition with the original. The results obtained
gave the following formula
Phenol 0·6 part.
Sandal-wood oil 0·5 ”
Oil of pumilio pine 0·7 ”
” eucalyptus 1.2 parts.
Soft paraffin to 100
The estimated cost of the ingredients for 1⅛ oz. is ½d.
DR. MACKENZIE’S “ONE DAY” COLD CURE.
This is supplied by a Company described as of London and New York. The
price charged for a box containing 30 tablets is 1s. 1½d.
This preparation is described on the package as:
The Best Cure! For the Worst Cold!
A Speedy Cure in all Cases of Cold, Influenza, Headache,
and all Neuralgic Affections.
Nature’s Remedy.
Dose.—One tablet to be swallowed with a little water
every two hours until relieved.
As a preventive, one every four hours.
Not for Children.
The tablets were coated with sugar coloured with ferric oxide
(so-called chocolate coating); after removal of the coating they had an
average weight of 2 grains. Analysis showed them to have the following
composition:
Cinchonidine sulphate 0·83 grain.
Acetanilide 0·71 ”
Camphor 0·10 ”
Talc 0·21 ”
Water 0·15 ”
The estimated cost of the ingredients for 30 tablets is 1¼d.
KEENE’S “ONE NIGHT” COLD CURE.
This also is supplied by a Company giving its address as New York and
London. The price charged is 1s. 1½d. a box, containing 30 tablets.
This is recommended in the circular enclosed in the box in the
following terms:
Keene’s One Night Cold Cure will break up any cold
overnight; or money refunded! Influenza cured in three
days. Guarantee Label around every Box. If Keene’s
One Night Cold Cure fails to Cure your Cold, your
money will be cheerfully returned on presentation of
Guarantee Label.
Keene’s One Night Cold Cure is in Tablet form and
contains nothing injurious, being chiefly composed
of Quinine, Cascara, Camphor, and other Ingredients
adopted by the Leading Medical Authorities for Colds in
the Head, Throat, and Lungs.
The “guarantee label” is worded as follows:
GUARANTEE.
If Keene’s “One Night” Cold Cure fails to effectually
break up any ordinary cold, return this Guarantee with
box to your Chemist and he will refund price paid.
Cascara—Bromide—Quinine—Ipecac—
Camphor—Bryonia—tablets. 7½d. per box.
The Keene Co.
Irving A. Keene, Treasurer.
The tablets were coated with sugar, coloured with ferric oxide
(so-called chocolate coating). After removal of the coating they had an
average weight of 2·07 grains. Analysis showed that they contained no
bromide, no quinine, except the minute trace occurring as an impurity
in the cinchonine found, and no camphor in sufficient quantity to be
detected; there was no evidence of any extract or other preparation
of cascara, and if any were present, the quantity did not exceed a
small trace; the alkaloid found did not give the slightest indication
of ipecacuanha alkaloid; extract of bryonia may have been present,
as it has no distinctive characters serving for identification. The
ingredients found were:
Cinchonine sulphate 0·21 grain. (approx.).
Acetanilide 0·32 ” ”
Calcium carbonate 0·25 ” ”
Starch 0·34 ” ”
Extractive and excipient 0·87 ” ”
In one tablet.
The extractive and excipient possessed no characters indicating the
substance from which it was derived; it contained a small proportion
of alkali in organic combination, equivalent to 1·2 per cent. of dried
sodium carbonate in the tablet, and the mineral constituents usually
present in vegetable extracts. The estimated cost of the ingredients
for 30 tablets is ¼d.
MUNYON’S CATARRH TABLETS AND SPECIAL CATARRH CURE.
These two preparations, which have been at one time or another very
extensively advertised, are supplied by a Homœopathic Company. They are
stated to be manufactured in U.S. of America. The price charged for the
tablets is 1s. a package, containing 17 tablets.
This preparation is recommended in the circular which accompanies it in
the following terms:
CATARRH POSITIVELY CURED.—Are you a sufferer
with catarrh? Have you taken all sorts of drugs and
patent nostrums? Are you tired of paying big doctor
bills without being cured? Are you willing to spend two
shillings for a cure that permanently cures catarrh
by removing the cause of the disease? If so, ask your
chemist for a shilling bottle of Munyon’s Catarrh Cure
and a shilling bottle of Catarrh Tablets. The
Catarrh Cure will eradicate the disease from the system
and the Tablets will cleanse and heal the afflicted
parts and restore them to a natural and healthful
condition.
On the package it is stated that:
When used in conjunction with the CATARRH
CURE, they cure discharges from the head and
throat, dryness, soreness and scabs in the nose,
pains in the head, and all symptoms of Catarrh.
The directions are:
Dissolve one Tablet in 20 teaspoonfuls of warm water
and use this solution for thorough cleansing of the
nose and throat, night and morning. Inject through the
nostrils with Munyon’s Atomizer or by snuffing.
The tablets had an average weight of 6 grains. Analysis showed the
composition to be:
Sodium bicarbonate 1·87 grains.
” chloride 1·81 ”
Borax, partly dehydrated 2·20 ”
Phenol (carbolic acid) trace.
Gum 0·12 grain.
in one tablet. The amount of borax was equivalent to
2·58 grains of the fully hydrated salt.
The estimated cost of the ingredients for 17 tablets is one-twentieth
of a penny.
Besides the “Catarrh Cure” referred to in the above as intended for use
with the tablets, there is a “Special Catarrh Cure” which costs 4s. a
package containing 460 pilules.
On the package it is stated that:
It cures the most aggravated cases of hawking and
spitting of mucus, stuffy or oppressed feeling in
the head, dryness or scabs in the nose, gloomy, dull
spirits, difficulty of breathing, dropping of mucus
from the head into the throat, and liability to take
cold easily.
The directions are:
Take four pellets every hour. Half quantity for children.
The average weight of the pilules was ½ grain. On first opening the
bottle containing them a slight smell of alcohol was noticeable, but
the loss of weight on drying was only 0·08 per cent. No medicament of
any kind could be detected, nor any substance but sugar; determination
of the amount of the latter showed 100 per cent. to be present.
From the odour of alcohol observed it is not unlikely that the pilules
had been “medicated” by treatment with some dilute tincture, but if so,
the amount of medicament so imparted was infinitesimal.
The estimated cost of 460 pilules is one-tenth of a penny.
BIRLEY’S ANTI-CATARRH.
The price charged for this fluid, sold by a London Company, is 1s. 1½d.
a bottle, containing nearly 3 fluid ounces.
The bottle was accompanied by four pages of printed matter headed “The
Birley Monthly Report,” in which the “Anti-Catarrh” was included in
a “List and Prices of Dr. Birley’s Compounds of Free (or Unoxidised)
Phosphorus,” and described as “Special Remedy for Catarrh and
Influenza.” The following extracts are from the same circular, under
the heading “The Wonders of Phosphorus.”
Free (or unoxidised) Phosphorus, whose chief seat or
situation is in the brain, is one of the most important
elements contained in our bodies. Without Free
Phosphorus there can be no thought, and very probably
no life....
One thing is proved beyond doubt, that the degree of
intellectual thought depends upon the amount of Free
Phosphorus in the brain, and just as the Phosphorus is
unduly wasted, so does the brain power weaken....
Free Phosphorus, it is thus shown, must be the saving
agent—no other means is possible. This one element
must be replaced.
The directions are:
For an ordinary cold take one teaspoonful every two
hours until better, then every third and fourth hour,
and finally night and morning.
For severe attacks, commence by taking a dose every
hour until better, then gradually increase the period
between each dose as attack abates. For Children, give
half doses.
Analysis showed the presence of:
Sugar (partly as “invert sugar”) 74 parts.
Tartaric acid 1·15 parts.
Phosphoric acid 0·07 part.
Alcohol trace.
Water to 100 fluid parts.
No free phosphorus could be detected, but the odour when the bottle was
first opened suggested the presence of a trace. From the presence of
a trace of alcohol it appears probable that an alcoholic solution of
phosphorus had been added, and that the phosphoric acid had been formed
by its oxidation. If the phosphorus found were in the free state each
fluid drachm would contain about ¹/₈₀ grain. The liquid was of a light
straw colour, probably produced by addition of a trace of colouring
matter.
The estimated cost of the ingredients for 3 fluid ounces is ½d.