PREPARATIONS FOR ECZEMA AND OTHER SKIN AFFECTIONS.
A selection from the numerous proprietary articles advertised for the
cure of skin diseases, including ointments, lotions, dusting powders,
and medicines to be taken internally, is described in this chapter.
It will be seen from the extracts from advertisements which are given
that the claims made for the respective preparations are to a large
extent contradictory and mutually destructive, as, for example,
“sulpholine lotion is the only external skin remedy,” “eczema and
all skin ailments are completely cured by sulpholine lotion,” and,
on the other hand, “the potent ingredients of a remedy, which are
necessary to the successful cure of eczema, cannot be contained in
the form of a liquid. Lotions, besides containing mercury, must
necessarily contain some alcohol or water, which are irritants and
should be rigidly avoided.” (The apparent implication that all
lotions contain mercury is novel and surprising.) It is not always
even necessary to take statements from rival makers in order to find
contradictions; statements made by one firm in different parts of
their advertisements are sometimes quite inconsistent, as in the
case described below where on one page it is stated that “there is
not one among the many healing extracts used which is not highly
lauded by skin specialists the world over,” and on the next page of
the same pamphlet “several of the medicaments used in the ointments
and blood tablets are very rare and not in use in Great Britain, and
do not form any part of the British doctor’s medical outfit.” One
of the commonest inconsistencies, of course, is that between the
extravagant prospects of speedy cure held out to attract in the first
place, and the far more guarded statements made when the patient has
paid for the article and is beginning to find out for himself what
its curative powers amount to. The first preparation mentioned below
furnishes an example of this; in a Press advertisement readers are
assured that “just a drop or two of D.D.D., the Guaranteed cure for
Eczema and all Skin Diseases, applied to the burning skin, and that
torturing, endless, nerve-racking itching is at an end”; “not only
does D.D.D. stop all irritation and pain immediately--we guarantee
it--but the cures that invariably follow are permanent,” while in
a pamphlet supplied with this very article it is stated that “the
person fortunate enough to become familiar with D.D.D. Prescription
in the early stages of his disease may commit the error of being
impatient of cure.... The eruption may have appeared only on a few
spots of his body, but this is evidence that the disease germ is
lodged in his skin. The germs will grow and multiply and spread; ...
it may take some time to dislodge the germs from his skin.... Is it
not worth careful study, a few months’ patience, to be rid of that
horrible malady?”
A limited company, which uses the name of “Dr. Cassell,” sends
a list of questions to be answered and endeavours to persuade
sufferers that it deals with them just as a qualified practitioner
would do: “When you consult a doctor, he first inquires into the
causes leading up to your trouble, then carefully examines all the
symptoms and indications. Upon the results he forms his diagnosis,
which in turn suggests the treatment. We do exactly the same when
you return the examination form filled up.” The trifling omissions
of the years of study, training, and experience requisite for a
medical qualification, and of personal examination of the patient,
are treated as of no consequence; naturally, some illuminating
diagnoses may be looked for under such circumstances, as in the case
described, where having received the answer “Eczema” to the question
“What are you suffering from?” and after “carefully studying” the
answers to this and other questions, the company gravely informs the
patient “You are suffering from a severe and disagreeable form of
eczema.”
D.D.D.
The preparation sold under this name is supplied by a firm in London at
2s. 3d. and 4s. 6d. per bottle; a 2s. 3d. bottle was found to contain
2.1 fluid ounces.
A Press advertisement is headed:
Psoriasis, Dry and Wet ECZEMA, and all skin diseases cured by D.D.D.,
the new liquid remedy, which gives instant relief, and a positive
cure when everything else has failed.
and the following claims are made:
Just a drop or two of D.D.D., the Guaranteed Cure for Eczema and
all Skin Diseases, applied to the burning skin, and that torturing,
endless, nerve-racking itching is at an end.... Not only does D.D.D.
stop all irritation and pain immediately--we guarantee it--but the
cures that invariably follow are permanent--the disease never returns.
The following are extracts from a pamphlet enclosed in the package,
entitled “Cause and Cure of Skin Diseases”:
D.D.D. is no ordinary patent medicine, but the prescription of the
skin specialist, Dr. D. D. Dennis, who used the compound now known
as D.D.D. successfully for years on all patients suffering with skin
diseases. On urgent advice of his patients, Dr. Dennis was prevailed
upon to have the compound put up as a proprietary article for sale
through drug stores....
In spite of the “guarantee” quoted above that D.D.D. stops all
irritation and pain immediately, a caution is given against
discouragement:
Occasionally in bringing the disease to the surface, D.D.D. will
spread the eruption temporarily over a much larger area. THIS IS NOT
A SIGN THAT THE MALADY IS GROWING MORE SERIOUS, BUT ON THE CONTRARY
IT SHOWS THAT THE DISEASE IS BEING UPROOTED.
It appears that more patience may be required, even when the sufferer
is only “in the early stages,” than the advertisement quoted might have
led him to suppose:
The person fortunate enough to become familiar with D.D.D.
Prescription in the early stages of his disease may commit the error
of being impatient of cure.... The eruption may have appeared only
on a few spots of his body, but this is evidence that the disease
germ is lodged in his skin. The germs will grow and multiply and
spread; ... it may take some time to dislodge the germs from his
skin.... Is it not worth careful study, a few months’ patience, to be
rid of that horrible malady?
“The germs” are, of course, freely utilized to give an air of
scientific knowledge:
The reader familiar with the deeper questions of medical science
knows that there is still some dispute among the best authorities on
the germ theories, but it is pretty well understood now, largely as a
result of Dr. Dennis’s discoveries, that eczema is purely and simply
a germ disease caused by germs that lodge in the skin. According
to the germ theory, there must be several species of eczema germs,
causing the several diseases known as eczema, psoriasis, ringworm,
dandruff, etc. The germs are all of the same type, and produce
ailments with varying symptoms, all eczematous. The germs live only
in the skin, feeding on the oily ingredients of the epidermis.
It might be interesting to know where “Dr. Dennis’ discoveries” were
published.
D.D.D. is put up in two forms, called “D.D.D. Ordinary” and “D.D.D.
Strong”; the “Ordinary” was taken for analysis. The directions for this
are:
The remedy may be applied in various ways; it is best, however, to
rub the skin as little as possible while making the application;
hence we recommend it to be applied by saturating a piece of
absorbent cotton with D.D.D. and dabbing this gently on the parts
affected, or applying it with a small camel hair brush, so that the
pores will absorb the remedy.
Analysis showed the liquid to be composed as follows:
Salicylic acid 0.75 part
Phenol 1.18 parts
Methyl salicylate (oil of wintergreen) 1.00 part
Glycerin 9.28 parts
Alcohol 65.10 parts by measure
Water, to 100 parts by measure
It had a slight yellow colour, which may have been due to a trace
of colouring matter, or may have been developed from the oil of
wintergreen.
The alcohol is by far the most costly ingredient, and the estimated
cost of ingredients for 2.1 fluid ounces is 3³⁄₄d.
HOMOCEA.
This preparation is made by a limited company in London. A 1s. 1¹⁄₂d.
tin contained about ³⁄₄ ounce, and a 2s. 9d. tin about 2¹⁄₂ ounces. It
is recommended for a very large number of disorders, as is shown by the
following extracts from a circular enclosed in the package:
Homocea ... Ointment ... is far and away the best remedy known for
Open Wounds, Sores, Cuts, Ulcers, Bad Legs, Burns, Scalds, Chaps,
Wasp, Bee, and Insect Stings, Earache, Inflamed Spots, Skin or Flesh
Troubles of all sorts, Broken Chilblains, etc. In treating any of the
above lay Homocea lightly with the finger, or spread some on clean
rags or lint and apply to the parts affected. For Bruises, Blotches,
Chaps, Chilblains (unbroken), Eruptions, Swellings, Mumps, Croup,
Sore Eyes, Rashes, Ringworm, Jelly Fish Stings, Sunburns, etc., etc.,
smear or gently rub in Homocea where required.
For Piles (bleeding or blind) Homocea stands alone amongst remedies.
It affords immediate relief at all times, and in many cases
absolutely cures.
For Internal Piles the insertion of Homocea Suppositories is
recommended.
Cold in the Head is cured by putting Homocea up the nostrils and
rubbing the bridge of the nose well with the Ointment at night.
Soft Corns and Bunions are cured by applying Homocea as a pad, to be
kept on day and night.
Eczema (in many forms), Hay Fever, Prickly Heat Jigger, and Veldt
Sores, Warts, etc., cured by Homocea.
Homocea will cure the Bites and Stings of Mosquito, Gnats, Sand
Flies, and, better still, will prevent these pests from attacking
you, if the face, neck, hands, and other exposed parts of the body
are smeared with the Ointment.
It is impossible to bring within the compass of a short circular all
that Homocea in its various forms will do, but we claim, without
fear of contradiction, that there are few of the ordinary everyday
ailments incidental to the human frame that Homocea, if promptly and
properly applied, will not immediately alleviate and cure.
The efficacy of Homocea is easily and unanswerably explained. It
kills inflammation immediately it comes in contact with it, and you
can readily understand why pain vanishes and wounds heal so quickly.
Analysis showed the presence of eucalyptus oil in considerable
proportion, with beeswax, a soft fat, and a very small quantity of
ammonia; evidence was also obtained of a small proportion of another
essential oil, apparently oil of lemon, though, as essential oils are
complex in composition, it is not possible to speak positively on
this point. Other medicinal ingredients were found to be absent. The
quantities of the ingredients found were determined as accurately as
possible, and the results gave the following formula:
Oil of eucalyptus 25 per cent.
Oil of lemon 0.2 „
Beeswax 25 „
Fat 49 „
Solution of ammonia 0.8 „
The characters of the fat agreed with those of a mixture of lard and
cocoanut oil in about equal parts. An ointment prepared according to
this formula was practically indistinguishable from the original.
Estimated cost of ingredients for 2¹⁄₂ ounces (2s. 9d. tin), 2¹⁄₂d.
ECZOLINE TREATMENT.
This “treatment” is supplied by a firm at Swindon, and consists of
ointment, tablets, and soap; the two former were taken for examination.
An advertisement contains the following somewhat disconnected
expressions:
A wonderful Remedy. Eczema, Rashes, Pimples, Spots, Sores, Ringworm,
Chaps, Chilblains, Rough Skin, Bad Legs. Stops all irritation at
once. Cured by the Eczoline Treatment. Worth its weight in gold.
_Eczoline Ointment._--A 1s. 1¹⁄₂d. box contained about 1 ounce. On the
box it is described as
A positive cure for Eczema, and good for all skin diseases.
Analysis showed the presence of zinc oxide, sulphur (flowers),
glycerin, a little water, and a fat which agreed well in its characters
with lard, with a trace of oil of lemon; no other constituents were
found. The quantities of the respective ingredients were determined,
and the results gave the following formula:
Flowers of sulphur 39 per cent.
Zinc oxide 3.7 „
Glycerin 13.5 „
Lard 39.8 „
Water 4 „
Oil of lemon a trace
Estimated cost of ingredients for 1 ounce, ¹⁄₂d.
_Eczoline Tablets._--A 1s. 1¹⁄₂d. box contained 43 sugar-coated
tablets, having an average weight, without the coating, of 5.2 grains
each. These are described on the label as
For Cooling, Purifying, and Strengthening the Blood. Dose--One or two
Tablets three times a day after meals.
Analysis showed the tablets, from which the coating had been removed to
consist of
Ferrous sulphate 16.5 per cent.
Sulphur (precipitated) 56 „
Talc 3.4 „
Starch 7.3 „
Extractive 16.8 „
The extractive was bitter, and showed the reactions of extract of
cascara sagrada, but it was not bitter enough or dark enough to consist
only of this extract, and appeared to be a mixture of cascara sagrada,
and an inert extract, the former constituting about 5 per cent. of the
substance of the tablets.
Taking the whole of the extract as being of the same price as extract
of cascara sagrada, the estimated cost of the ingredients for 43
tablets is ¹⁄₂d.
DR. CASSELL’S MEDICINES.
These are supplied by a limited company in a town in Lancashire. This
firm is described on its notepaper as “Sole Agents for Great Britain,
India, Africa, Australia, and all European Countries for Dr. Cassell’s
Specialities,” and the “Specialities” appear to be really of American
origin. The form of advertisement which appears to be most in favour is
a small announcement of
An indispensable illustrated book written by an expert, dealing in
a clear, common-sense way with a safe and speedy home cure of Skin
Diseases of all kinds, with special chapters on Diseased Blood,
Ulcers, Bad Legs, and “The Woman Beautiful,”
to be sent free on application. A request for a copy of this brought
a pamphlet of 31 pages, together with a “self-examination form,” and
a letter urging that the form should be filled up and returned. In a
further circular the following statement is made with regard to the
mode of procedure:
When you consult a doctor he first inquires into the causes leading
up to your trouble, then carefully examines all the symptoms and
indications. Upon the results he forms his diagnosis, which in turn
suggests the treatment.
We do exactly the same when you return the examination form filled
up; we carefully examine it, and from the answers you give to the
questions we are able at once to select for you, from the numerous
Ointments, Powders, Mixtures, and Medicated Tablets manufactured for
this Company from the formulas of that world-famed specialist, Dr.
Cassell, a treatment perfect in every detail with the requirements of
your case.
It is further stated that:
There is not one among the many healing extracts used which is not
highly lauded by skin specialists the world over.
Which seems rather inconsistent with the statement on the next page
that:
Several of the medicaments used in the Ointments and Blood Tablets
are very rare and not in use in Great Britain, and do not form
any part of the British doctors’ medical outfit, yet are of such
incalculable value as to constitute the basic strength and great
healing virtue of the treatment.
The “self-examination form” was as follows; the words in italics are
the answers which were filled in:
QUESTIONS.
Date 19
Name in full .......................
Address in full ....................
Age. _37._ Sex. _Male._
Occupation. _Groom-Gardener._ Stout or thin? _Medium._
Married or single? _Single._ How long suffered? _About two years._
Are you able to work? _Yes._ If not, how long have you been disabled.
What are you suffering from? _Eczema._
What was your previous health? _Good._
Where are you affected? _Arms worst; also neck and shoulders._
What do doctors call your trouble? _I don’t know._
Have you been treated for it? _Not by doctors._ If so, how? _I have
used some lotions._
Have you attended any hospital? _No._
Is your general health good? _Yes._
Are you constipated? _No._
Have you indigestion? _No._
Do you stand much? _Yes._
Are you in contact with much heat? _No._
Do you perspire freely? _Yes._
Are your hands much in soap and water? _No._
Do you use much soda? _No._
Does your employment entail contact with gritty or irritating
material, and if so, what? _No._
Have you much itching? _Yes._
Have you a scaly eruption? _No._
Is the part red or inflamed? _Yes._
Is there any discharge? _Sometimes._ If so, what colour is it, and
does it smell? _Like water._
Have you any bleeding from the part? _No._
Have you any pain? _Yes._
Is your trouble inclined to spread? _Yes._
Do you suffer from varicose veins? _No._
Do little blisters form? _No._
Did the trouble start with a pimple? _No._
Have you any rash? No. If so, where? _No._
Have you a sore throat? _No._
Have you recently had measles or any fever? _No._
Have you ever suffered from any specific blood disease? _No._ If so,
what?
What is your usual diet? _Porridge, bread and butter, coffee, meat
and potatoes, beer, cheese._
Do you eat much oatmeal, shellfish, or tinned food? _A good deal of
oatmeal porridge._
Are you a teetotaler? _No, but very moderate._
Are you worse more at one season than another? _No._
What is your own opinion as to the cause? _I don’t know._
Here fill in any other details you may think of use.
As the question, “What are you suffering from?” was answered by the
word “eczema,” it was not altogether surprising to be told in the
letter which was received in reply:
Your Examination Form has been duly received and carefully studied.
You are suffering from a severe and disagreeable form of eczema.
The letter proceeds with a warning that it is
inadvisable to use ordinary salves, lotions, etc., indiscriminately,
as you will readily realise that what will suit one person will
not necessarily suit another, and many doctors don’t appear to
reconise [_sic_] the fact that the complaint should be treated both
locally and constitutionally, therefore their treatment often proves
ineffective. We make a special point of treating every case entirely
upon its merits, and yours is one in which Dr. Cassell’s combined
treatment will produce speediest and most brilliant results.
It appears, however, that even these “speediest and most brilliant
results” are not very speedy, as a further paragraph states:
Although it may take a few months to effect a permanent cure, we are
quite confident, if you make up your mind to have yourself properly
treated now, it will save much suffering and expense in the future.
The letter further intimated that the treatment would consist of a
dusting powder, tablets to be taken internally, and an ointment, and
that the charge would be 12s. 6d.
As no reply was sent at once, this was followed about a week later
with another letter, offering to send the medicines for 9s. 6d., and
containing the statement:
We are quite safe in guaranteeing a cure in your case provided you
make up your mind to persevere for a reasonable length of time.
The sum required was then sent, and the articles named were received.
The powder, in a pill-box, weighed a little less than 1 ounce; the
bottle of tablets contained 90, of average weight 6 grains; and the pot
of ointment contained just over 1 ounce. They were accompanied by an
intimation that a further supply would cost 9s. 6d., and the following
directions:
Ointment. Wash the hands thoroughly clean in hot water and apply a
little of the Ointment to the affected parts every night on retiring.
It is not necessary to use a great quantity, the chief thing being to
have it evenly distributed on the parts requiring treatment.
Powder. A small portion should be dusted on with a piece of clean
lint every morning on arising.
Tablets. One to be swallowed whole in water three times daily,
between meals.
_Cassell’s Dusting Powder._--This was labelled “Antiseptic Dusting
Powder No. 2.” Analysis showed it to contain boric acid, talc, maize
starch, and powdered slippery elm bark. The proportions of the first
two ingredients were determined and the other two estimated as
accurately as possible, and the formula given below was obtained. A
powder prepared in accordance with this formula agreed in all respects
with the original, except that the latter had a faint perfume and a
creamy tint; the traces of colouring matter and perfume were far too
minute to be identified.
Powdered talc 60 per cent.
Powdered boric acid 20 „
Powdered maize starch 17 „
Powdered slippery elm bark 3 „
Estimated cost of ingredients for 1 ounce, ¹⁄₃d.
_Cassell’s Blood Cleansing Tablets._--The label was marked “Price 4s.
6d. a bottle,” and, as stated above, the bottle contained 90 tablets of
about 6 grains each.
Analysis showed the tablets to contain:
Phenolphthalein 0.75 per cent.
Potassium iodide 1.25 „
Sugar 81 „
Talc, approximately 11 „
Calcium carbonate and sulphate, approximately 2 „
Water 1 „
Extractive 3 „
The extractive showed no distinctive characters by which it could be
identified; the tablets had a faint anise-like odour; no alkaloid or
other active principle was found. The dose of phenolphthalein in one
tablet is 0.045 grain, the usual dose being 1 to 8 grains; the dose of
potassium iodide in one tablet is 0.075 grain, the official dose being
5 to 20 grains.
If the extract present is taken as being of the same price as extract
of taraxacum, the estimated cost of the ingredients for 90 tablets is
¹⁄₂d.
_Cassell’s Ointment._--This was labelled “Ointment No. 2,” and the
pot contained just over 1 ounce. Analysis showed it to contain oils
of wintergreen and eucalyptus, lanoline, a fat or oil, soft paraffin,
boric acid, a small quantity of alkali, and a powdered vegetable
tissue. The latter appeared to consist chiefly of a bark; it was
carefully compared with a number of powdered drugs, but was not
found to agree with any drug in ordinary use; it showed a good deal
of resemblance to powdered krameria root, and agreed exactly with
it in the colour changes caused by various reagents, and while not
identical with either of the species of krameria compared with it, the
resemblance suggested that it might be from a nearly related plant. The
proportions of the different constituents were determined as closely as
possible, and the following formula was arrived at:
Boric acid 8 per cent.
Borax 2 „
Oil of eucalyptus 2 „
Oil of wintergreen 3 „
Anhydrous lanoline 4 „
Oil (? olive) 8 „
Soft paraffin 63 „
Powdered drug 7 „
Water 3 „
An ointment prepared in accordance with this formula, with krameria
root as the drug, closely resembled the original.
SULPHOLINE LOTION.
This lotion is prepared by a limited company in London. A 1s. bottle
contained 2 fluid ounces. This preparation is advertised in the
following terms:
Eczema and all skin ailments are completely cured by Sulpholine
Lotion, which directly attacks all forms of Eczema, Eruptions,
Pimples, Acne, Spots, Blackheads, or Disfiguring Rashes, leaving the
skin in the soft, clear, supple, attractive condition designed by
Nature.
And in a pamphlet enclosed in the package it is further stated that
Sulpholine Lotion is the only external skin remedy.
There is no phase of Eczema, chronic or acute, red, dry, scaly, or
pustular (moist), psoriasis, pityriasis, impetigo, prickly heat,
tetter, salt-rheum, or even superficial scorbutic ulcerations, but
Sulpholine will grapple with, and in most cases completely eradicate,
leaving the skin its natural, clear, smooth, pliable surface.
The directions on the label are:
To be damped on with a handkerchief or piece of cotton wool, and
allowed to dry. One application of the Lotion should be at bedtime.
Analysis showed it to contain:
Sulphur, precipitated 3 parts.
Zinc oxide 2.1 „
Calcium sulphate 0.6 part.
Glycerin 9 parts.
Strong rose water, to 100 parts by measure.
The rose water is by far the most expensive ingredient, and the
estimated cost of ingredients for 2 fluid ounces is 1¹⁄₄d.
CADUM.
Supplied by Omega, Limited. A 1s. 1¹⁄₂d. tin contained just over 1 oz.
This is described in a circular enclosed in the package as:
The New Medical Discovery for the Treatment of Eczema, Psoriasis,
Ringworm, Acne, Pimples, Blackheads, Itch, Facial Eruptions, Salt
Rheum, Shingles, Herpes, Hives, Prickly Heat, Boils, Rash, Itching
Piles, Cuts, Sores, Burns, Chafing, Sunburn, Scabies and other Skin
Troubles.
Its origin is thus described:
The discovery of Cadum, the wonderful new skin remedy, was not the
result of mere chance or accident, but of patient, painstaking
investigations, extending over a long period, by an eminent chemist
who became possessed of the conviction that the old method of taking
internal remedies to cure external diseases was erroneous. After a
careful study of all the best-known products, it was discovered that
an extract from a particular part of a well-known tree possessed
superior antiseptic and curative properties, and exerted a powerful,
beneficial effect on the skin tissues. It was, however, found that
this valuable vegetable extract possessing such desirable qualities
was difficult to compound with other ingredients necessary to present
it in a form convenient to use. After further investigations and
experiments, a method of special treatment was devised by which
this seemingly insurmountable difficulty was overcome, resulting in
a unique combination of ingredients, possessing to a marked degree
valuable therapeutic properties, the like of which has never before
been produced.
Directions are given for the use of this preparation in some thirty
affections of the skin.
Analysis showed the presence of zinc oxide, sulphur, boric and
salicylic acids, oil of cade, and a paraffin basis. The proportions
of the several ingredients were determined as accurately as possible;
since oil of cade is variable in composition, and there is no direct
means of determining its quantity in such a mixture, this was estimated
from a number of comparisons with known mixtures, and the figure given
is certainly not far from exact. The formula arrived at is:
Zinc oxide 11.3 per cent.
Flowers of sulphur 8.0 „
Boric Acid 3.1 „
Salicylic acid 0.8 „
Oil of cade 7 „
Hard paraffin 10 „
Soft paraffin 60 „
Estimated cost of ingredients for 1 ounce, ¹⁄₃d.
POSLAM.
This is supplied by the Emergency Laboratories, New York. A 2s. 3d. tin
contained ²⁄₃ ounce.
It is described in a circular enclosed in the package as
The Newest Medical Discovery for the treatment of Eczema and all
other skin affections.
Some further extracts from this circular are as follows:
It is a singular fact that, notwithstanding the great strides that
have been made in medicine for the past decade or two, skin diseases,
and particularly eczema--the worst of them--are about as little
understood by the medical profession to-day as they were a generation
back.
Eczema is one of the most prevalent diseases, and statistics shows
that at least _50 per cent. of humanity have it in some form or
other_. It may be that physicians have failed to give this trouble
the proper amount of study because, not being a fatal disease,
they have considered it unimportant enough to wilfully neglect its
thorough diagnosis.
Another reason may be that the _advertised preparations for eczema
have been so exploited as to convey wrong impressions about the
disease_, ascribing it to causes most ridiculous, and harping on the
erroneous idea that it is a blood trouble, only curable by internal
remedies. Doctors, in the absence of any recognised specific for the
disease, have given either internal remedies or ordered the use of
special soaps, both of which courses show that the average medical
man is helpless to combat the growing trouble of skin diseases....
LOTIONS AND INEFFECTUAL “REMEDIES.”--_The potent ingredients of a
remedy, which are necessary to the successful cure of eczema, cannot
be contained in the form of a liquid. Lotions, besides containing
mercury, must necessarily contain some alcohol or water, which are
irritants and should be rigidly avoided._....
_There is no need of an extended course of treatment in the cure of
eczema. If the remedy is the right one, its effects will be apparent
immediately, and the progress of its work may be noted daily._....
POSLAM, THE CURE.--_The success of Poslam in the cure of eczema
and all kindred skin diseases, has been absolute since its first
introduction to the public and the medical profession. It is entirely
different from anything yet used, and as a remedial agent in skin
diseases, may be said to be positively infallible in its action._
Hitherto there has been a common base to all ointments and salves
that were supposed to be “remedies” for eczema. _Poslam has a base
of its own, and contains no grease, poisons, mercury, or any other
harmful constituent._
The general directions are:
Apply Poslam twice daily, night and morning, directly to the parts
affected.
Do not rub or irritate, but apply gently.
Analysis showed the presence of zinc oxide, sulphur, starch, salicylic
acid, oil of birch tar, oil of cade, lanoline, and soft paraffin.
Since oil of birch tar and oil of cade are both very complex bodies
of variable composition, it is not possible to determine exactly the
quantities present in such a mixture; it is even possible that some
samples of oil of birch tar might possess the properties observed,
without the presence of oil of cade, and the latter is given in the
formula with this reservation. The various ingredients were determined
or estimated as exactly as possible, and the following formula was
arrived at:
Zinc oxide 12 per cent.
Flowers of sulphur 8 „
Maize starch 18 „
Salicylic acid 1.5 „
Oil of cade 1.5 „
Oil of birch tar 8 „
Anhydrous lanoline 25.5 „
Soft paraffin 25.5 „
Estimated cost of ingredients of ²⁄₃ ounce, ¹⁄₂d.