Evening star., 1937-03-06
STARS. MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
ny THOMAS r HENRY
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Take the American pharmacopeia.
close your eyes and select a few drugs
at random. Mix them together in some
water.
Then select 80 or 40 common maladies,
without any consideration Of how they
may be related to each other.
Advertise the mixture to cure all the
diseases.
That used to be way to get rich
quick. 1t isn't any more, but the fact
seems to need some advertising. Good
old American ways are discarded slowly.
Nowadays the Food and Drug Ad-
ministration Of the Department OF Agri-
culture is watching over the health and
purses of the more gullible element OF
the population with restless vigilance,
aided by laws with teeth in them"
Each month the makers Of con-
siderable list Of useless or ineffective
patent medicines are hauled into court
and forced to prove their claims or take
their products on the market. 1t may
require years to educate the public. but
the quacks are being made to face the
law and each month q list Of the fines
and suspensions is published.
Perhaps the most astounding reyela-
ton Is the naivety of the claims-the
long lists of totally unrelated maladies
for which mixtures Of sweetened and
perfumed waters are offered as nostrums.
The faker must take a chance anyway.
He might as well offer to cure q hundred
things as one, 50 long as his product Is
of no value anyway. Why be concerned
with the common sense Of physiology?
It is as easy to suggest to the hypo-
chondriac 10 ordinarily fatal diseases
as to suggest one or two.
One solution of plant extracts in water
and alcohol was offered as a sure-flre
cure for "all diseases Of the blood, heart
trouble, sciatica, sinus trouble. rheuma-
tism, snake and insect bites. mumps.
malaria. diabetes. pneumonia, smallpox,
tonsilitis, influenza, grippe, lockjaw,
cholera, hemorrhages. appendicitis. dis
temper in animals, ptomaine poisoning,
arthritis and various tropical diseases"
A sirup containing licorice and plant
extracts was offered for the home treat
ment of so diseases and abnormal con-
ditionS of the stomach, inteStines, liver,
kidneys and gall bladder. A colored and
favored solution of EPSON salts was
advertised as a cure for indigestion,
coated tongue, headache, chronic ma
laria, rheumatism, impure blood. tired
feeling, influenza, dysentery and cholera
infantum. A solution of iron sulphate
in water was being sold for so serious
diseases. including skin eruptionS, dia-
betes, rheumatism, pyorrhea and various
venereal diseases.
One recently seized product containing
alcohol, turpentine. camphor gum and
water made prodigious claims Of being
beneficial for coughs, sore throat, diar-
rhea, chills, bilious colics, cholera
morbus, urinary diseases, neuralgia. dys-
pepsia. grippe, toothache, piles. sores OF
all kinds, rheumatism, asthma, earache.
dysentry. inflamed or weak eyes, Group
and prolapsus uteri"
There apparently has been a lucra-
tive business in many kinds OF hair
tonics." Thus perfumed water solution
of sulphur, borax, ammonia and sodium
bicarbonate was offered as cure Tor
ringworm, dandurff, falling hair, scalp
irritations, psoriasis and eczema.
A mixture Of kerosene and certain
volatile oils was sold as a cure for snake
oil" to cure "aches and pains, muscular
rheumatism, lumbago, corns burns,
scalds, diarrhea, cramps. sore throat, In.
fiuenza, colds, pneumonia and Group
A mixture of iron sulphate and ether
with q few other ingredients was falsely
repreeented - an antiseptie Tor sores,