The Ely miner., 1915-05-07
WORTHLESS ''CURES"
tuberculosis Could not be Cured by
Preparations Investigated

t. After investigating under tt
&c !. food and drugs act a large numbt
of preparations advertised as cor
: sumption cures, the U. S. Depart
e ment of Agriculture has not bee
:, 6 able to discover any that can in an
' sense be regarded as cures" fo
a tuberculosis. Some contain drug
n that may at times afford temper
ary relief from the distressing sym
toms of the disease, but this is all
Since the passing of Federal legis
lation prohibiting the shipment il
interstate commerce of medicina
, preparations for which false ant
fraudulent claims are made ther,
has been marked tendency t.
label these preparations remedies
instead of cures" or infalliblt
cures" as they used to be called
In many cases, however, they car
not even be regarded as remedies
! A cherry balsam,' for exam
pie, for the cure" of "consum D.
ton" and 'hemorrhage of the
lungs" which it was represented
would strike at the very root of
the disease was found on analy-
sis to be nothing but solution 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" con-
sisted of five different preparations
which the credulous patient was to
take separately. These were first,
the medicine proper, the essential
ingredients of which were found to
be morphine, cinnamic acid, and
arsenlc-not very safe mixture to
take habitually; second, a tonic
which was supposed to contain iron
but did not; third, a cough mix
ture' made up of alcohol. ch1oro-I
form, and codeine, which is a
derivative of opium or morphine;
fourth, mixture which contained
some quinine, and a solution of
water and alcohol; and, fifth,
codeine tablets. Even the strong
est constitution could hardly stand
a prolonged course of such a treat
ment.
In the marketing of such prepar-
ations considerable ingenuity is |
frequently shown. One of the
main objects is to persuade the
patient that he is receiving, at a
comparatively low price, the indi-
vidual attention of a trained special
st. For this purpose. symptom
blanks are employed. These CON
ain number of questions about
The patients symptoms, the num-
Der varying from a dozen or so to
IS many as 70 or 80. The patient
S led to believe that the information
which he furnishes in reply to these
questions will be carefully con-
1dered before any medicine is
prescribed tor him, though every
physician knows that an accurate
diagnosis can not possibly be made t
q this way. AS a matter of fact
zone is attempted and the degree I
+ attention which these Individual t
eports receive can be measured by a
be fact that cases have come under c
he observation of the department
i which mail-order concerns doing [
business of this kind have receiv- :
d as many as 1000 letters a day.
After the patient has submitted
is diagnosis report" he is urged
purchase supply of the
led1clne. If he does so, he is
len urged to purchase more. If 4
e states that he has experienced
o beneficial effects, he is told that e
e has not taken enough, and this
recess is likely to continue until S
lie limits of his credulity have
cen reached. If, on the other &
and, he decides at the beginning
ot to purchase the medicine, it is s
kelly to be offered to him at sue
lower prices until he is at
st induced to believe that he can
ot afford to ignore such bargain.
his is carried to such an extent
lat a treatment. the original q
ice of which is SIS, may be
Tered at the end of six months for
so. n
AS matter of fact the successful
of tuberculosis requires
uch more than the mere giving of
edlclne and, moreover, what will
lip one case will not necessarily s.
Up another. Claims that are B
solutely unwarranted are no
nger permitted on the labels of q
shipped in interstate
mmerce, but the wording may be
ch as to convey a misleading i'm
ess1on without the use of absolute
Elements. Thus these prepara-
ms continue to find sale despite y
fact that little trouble on the q
TT of the prospective purchases
II reveal their worth1essness.