The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1915-04-15
TUBERCULOSIS "REMEDiES"THAT
ARE WORTHLESS
G. II. Stoddart,
Auditor.

After investigating under the Food
and Drugs Act, a large number of pre-
parations advertised as consumption
cures, the Department of Agriculture
has not been able to discover any that
can in any sense be regarded as
cures" for tuberculosis, says a Wash
ington dispatch. Some contain drugs
that may at times afford some tenn
porary relief from the distressing SYM
ptoms of the disease, but this is all.
Since the passage of federal legisla-
ton prohibiting the shipment in inter
tons for which false and fraudulent
claims are made, there. has been q
marked tendency to label these pre-
parat'ons remedies" or "infallable
cures as they used to be called. In
many cases, however, they can not
even be regarded 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 a solu-
ton in water and alcohol of opium,
sugar, b~enzaldehyde, 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 separ-
ately. These were first, the medicine
proper, the essential ingredients of
which were found to be morphine,
cinnamic acid and arsenic-not a very
very safe mixture to take ~habitually;
second, a tonic which was supposed
to contain iron but did not; third, a
cough mixture" made up of alcohol,
chloroform, and codeine which is a
derivative of opium or morphine;
fourth, a mixture which contained
some quinine, and a solution of water
and alcohol; and fifth, codeine tab
lets. Even the strongest constitution
could hardly stand a prolonged course
of such a treatment.
In the marketing of such prepare
tons considerable ingenuity is fire.
Quently shown. One of the main OBJ
jects is to persuade the patient that
he Is receiving, at a 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 a dozen or so to as many
as 70 or 80. 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 &C
curate diagnosis cannot possibly be
made in this way. AS a matter OF fact
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 a
business of this kind have received as
many as 1000 letters a day.
After the patient has submitted his
diagnosis report" he is urged to pur-
chase a supply of the medicine. If he
does SO. he is then urged to purchase
more. If he states that he has exper.
fenced no beneficial effects he Is told
that he has not taken enough, and
this process Is likely to continue until
the limits Of his credulity have been
reached. II, on the other hand, he de-
cides at the beginning not to purchase
the medicine 1t is likely to be offered
to him at successfully lower prices