Quacks, false remedies and the public health / [David Walsh].

  • Walsh, David
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Quacks, false remedies and the public health / [David Walsh]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    qr to relieve the pain of an unrecognised cancer, instead of going to a medical man, who would recognise the disease at once and send the patient to a surgeon? Indigestion is often an early symptom of consumption, and many a consumptive patient has thrown away all chance of recovery by taking some of the much adver- tised and worthless cures for dyspepsia. Ulcer of the stomach, cancer of liver, stomach and bowel, appen- dicitis, and other serious internal complaints give rise to abdominal pain and discomfort, and are in nine cases out of ten ascribed by sufferers to “indigestion.” The facts furnished by the British Medical Asso- ciation are of extreme value, inasmuch as they furnish evidence founded on the findings of analytical chemistry that cannot be disputed. They supply a basis, therefore, for testing the claims of the remedies thus analysed by the unfailing light of chemical science. In that way alone it is in many cases possible to show that the vendor is selling his wares on the strength of impossible claims. For example, Warner’s Safe Cure is sold “for kidney and liver and Bright’s disease and jaundice’”’ (label). 2: was found to contain (a):— Potassium nitrate, 50 gr. Oil of gaultheria, 4 minim. Rectified spirit, 5 fluid drachms. Liq. ext. of taraxacum, 1o fluid drachms Glycerine, 4 fluid drachms. Water, 8 fluid ounces. From a medical point of view it may be asserted that the above mixture could not by any possibility cure Bright’s disease, while the 10 per cent. of alcohol (approximately) contained therein would be absolutely injurious. Any person affected with chronic kidney disease who bought that medicine would therefore be purchasing not only a worthless but an injurious remedy. The Australian Royal Commission (§685) (3) gives the following formula for the same nostrum :— “Warner’s Safe Kidney and Liver Cure (on sale in Australia).—In Germany each maker of patent medi- cines must furnish the Government with the formula for the patent he makes. This is the one furnished by Warner for ‘ Safe Kidney and Liver Cure.’ Each bottle contains :—Ext. lycopus virginicus, 308 gr.; ext. hepatica (herb), 322 gr.; ext. gaultheria, 73 gr.; potassium nitrate, 39 gr.; alcohol, go per cent., 2} OZ. 3 {a) ‘“ Secret Remedies.” Brit. Med. Assoc., London, 1909, p. 73. (5) “Report on Secret Drugs, Cures, and Foods,” Government of the Commonwealth of Australia. Vol, J, p. 185.