The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1915-04-07
INVESTIGATE CON
SUMPTION CURES.
Government Experts Study Patent
Medicinee to Give information
for Benefit of Public.
TUBERCULOSIS "REMEDles"
No Real Cure Possible From Any Of
Patent Preparations Investigate
ed by Government Scientist

Patent Preparations Investigate
ed by Government Scientist
Washington, d. c., April Especial
to the Reyiew)-After investigating
under the food and drugs act. a large
number of preparations advertised as
consumption cures, the department Of
agriculture has not been able to dis.
cover any that can in any sense be re-
garded as "cures" for tuberculosis.
Some contain drugs that may at times
afford some temporary relief from the
distressing symptoms of the disease.
but this is ell. Since the passage Of
federal legislation prohibiting the
shipment III interstate commerce OF
medicinal preparations for which false
and fraudulent claims are made, there
has heen a marked tendency to label
these preparations remedies" instead
of cures" or "infallible cures" as
they used to be called In many cases,
however, they can not even be re-
garded as remedies.
A cherry balsam," for example, for
the cure" OF consumption" and
"hemorrhage OF the lungs" which it
was represented would Strike at the
very root of the disease. was found
on analysis to be nothing but o solu-
tion in water and alcohol of opium,
sugar, benzaldehyde, inorganic salts
and coloring matter 1t contained no
cherry bark extract or balsam.
A more elaborate cure" consisted
of five different preparations which
the credulous patient was to take sep
arately. These were first, the medl-
cine proper, the essential ingredients
OF which were found to be morphine,
cinnamic acid and arsenic-not very
safe mixture to take habituaKy; sec
ond, q tonic which was supposed to
contain iron, but did not; third, a.
cough mixture" made UP of alcohol,
chlorogorm and codeine which is de-
rivative of opium or morphine; fourth,
!, mixture which contained some qul-
nine, and a solution OF water and al
cOhol: and fifth. codeine tablets. Ey-
en- the strongest constitution could
hardly stand prolonged course OF
such a treatment.
In the marketing of such prsha-a
ticns considerable ingenuity Is fire..
quently shown. One of the main oh.
jects is to persuade -the patient that
he is receiving at comparatively low
price, the individual attention Of a
trained specialist For this purpose,
symptom blanks are employed. These
contain a number of questions about
the patients symptoms, the number
varying from dozen or SO to as many
as 70 or so. The patient is led to be-
lieve that, the information which he
furnishes In reply to these questions,
will be carefully considered before
any medicine is prescribed for him,
though every physician knows that an
accurate diagnosis can not possibly
be made in this way. AS a matter Of
tact none is attempted and the degree
of attention which these individual re-
ports receive can be measured by the
fact that cases have come under the
observation Of the department IN
which mail order concerns doing q bus
iness of this kind have received as
many as 1000 letters day.
After the patient has submitted his
diagnosis report" he is urged to p,lr-
chase supply Of the medicine. II he
does SO, he is then urged to purchase
more. If he states that he has expert
enced no beneficial effects he is told
that he has mot taken enough, AMI
this process is likely to continue un-
til the limits Of his credulity have
been reached. Ii, on the other hand.
he decides at the beginning not to
purchase the medicine 1t is likely to
be offered to him at successfully low
eT prices Until he is at last induced
to believe that he cannot afford to ig-
more such bargain. This is carried
to such an extent that q treatment"
the original price of which is $25, may
be offered ut the end of six months
for $3.50.
As matter Of fact the successful
treatment of tuberculosis requires
much more than the mere giving Of
medicine and. moreover, what will help
one case will not necessarily help an
other. Claims,that are absolutely un
warranted are no longer permitted on
the labels of medicines shipped in in
terstate commerce, but the wording
may be such as to convey o mislead-
ing impression without the use of abb
solute statements. Thus these prep,
arations continue to find a. sale de-
spite the fact that a little trouble ON
the part OF the prospective purchaser
will reveal their worthlessness.
E.