The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1915-04-15
TUBERCULOSIS
REMEDIES THAT
ARE W0R[
NO REAL CURE POSSIBLE FROM
ANY OF THE PATENT PREPAR-
TONS INVESTIGATED BY Gov
ERNMENT SCIENTIST.

Washington, D. CATER investi-
eating under the Food and Drugs Act,
Il large number of preparations adver-
tiscd as consumptive cures, the De-
partment Of Agriculture has not been
able to discover any that can in any
sense be regarded as "cures" for tu-
%berculosis. Some contain drugs that
may at times affrod some temporary
relief from the distressing symptoms
of the disease, but this is all. Since
the passage Of the federal legislation
prohibiting the shipment in interstate
commerce Of medicinal preparations
for which false and fraudulent claims
are made, there has been a marked
tendency to label these preparations
remedies" instead of "cures" or Gin
fallible cures" as they used to be
called. In many cases, however, they
a 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 solution in
water and alcohol of opium, sugar,
benzaldehyde, inorganic salts and COL
oring water. It contained no cherry
bark extract Or balsam.
A more elaborate "cure" consisted
of five different preparations which
the credulous patients was to take sep
arately. These were first, the medi-
cine proper, the essential ingredients
of which vas found to be morphine,
cinnamic acid and arsenic-not a very
safe mixture to take habitually; Sec
ond, a tonic which was supposed to
contain iron but did not; third, a
cough mixture" made up of alcohol,
c%hloroform, and codeine which is a de-
rivativc Of opium and morphine;
fourth a mixture which contained
some quinine, and a solution of water
and alcohol; fifth, codeine tablets.
Even the strongest constitution could
hardly stand a prolonged course of
such a treatment.
In the marketing of such prepara-
tons considerable ingenuity is fer
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 questinos about
the patients symptoms, the number
varying from a dozen or more to as
many as 70 or so. The patient is led
to believe that the information which
he furnishes in reply to these ques-
lions, will be carefully considered be-
fore any medicine is prescribed fol-
him, though every physician knows
that an accurate diagnosis cannot pos.
sibly be made in this way. AS matte,
Of fact none is attempted and the de.
gree of attention which these individ.
ual reports receive can be measured
by the fact that the cases have come
under the observation of the depart.
ment in which mail order concerns
doing a business of this kind have re.
ceived as many as 1000 letters a day
After the patient has submitted hi
diagnosis report" he is urged to pur.
chase a supply Of the medicine. If h,
does so, he is urged to purchase more
If he states that he has experienced NJ
beneficial effects he is told that he ha:
not taken enough, and this process il
likely to continue until the limits o:
his credulity have been reached. If
on the other hand, he decides at tn,
beginning not to purchase the medi
cine it is likely to be offered to him a
successfully lower prices until at las
he is induced to believe that he can
not afford to ignore such a bargain
This is carried to such an extent tina
a treatment, the original price o
which is $25, may be offered at the en-,
of six months for $3.50.
AS a matter of fact the successful
treatment of tuberculosis require
much more than the mere giving o
medicine, and, moreover, what will
help in n S will not necessaril,
help another. Claims that are abso
lutely unwarranted are no longer pc,
mitted on the tables of medicine
shipped in interstate commerce, bu
the wording may be such as to conve
a misleading impression without tn
use Of absolute statements. Thu
these preparations continue to fin
a sale despite the fact that a littl
trouble on the part of the prospective
purchaser will reveal their worthless
ness.