MORE SECRET REMEDIES.* IN our issue of December 18th, 1909,

we published a review of a book called Secret Remedies : What they Cost and What they Contain, consisting of analyses carried out for the British Medical Association of well-known proprietary medicines. That volume is now followed by a second, which affords precisely the same mixture of entertaining and painful reading—entertaining when it reflects on the gullibility of the public in cases where no great harm is done, painful when one thinks of the real suffering cruelly and wickedly inflicted on the ignorant poor by specious promises to cure terrible incurable diseases. The second volume is called More Secret Remedies, and its appearance is opportune now that a Select Parliamentary Committee is sitting to inquire into the whole question of secret remedies and proprietary medicines.

We sincerely hope that when the Committee come to write their report and make recommendations they will bear in mind the gravity of the economic side of this question. It appears that the amount of money spent on quack medicines in Great Britain every year is well over two millions sterling. If we put the expenditure at only two millions it would, as one witness before Sir Henry

Norman's Committee said, suffice to pay for the upkeep of 40,000 hospital beds. In those hospital beds the patients, treated with unremitting skill and care, would have a good prospect of complete recovery. As it is, the return for the money is a merely negative result at the best, and too often serious permanent injury is done owing to a delay in seeking proper medical treatment. Not nearly enough attention has been

• More Secret Remedies What they Cost and What they Contain. Based on Analyses made for the British Medical Association. London : British Medical Association, 429 Strand, W.C. net.'

paid to this 'disastrous -waste of money by ignotant • people.

Of twelve the greater part of it is spent by the very poor. They believe that all that they read in print is true, and when they see, as they think, the opportunity of curing a disease cheaply by means of a two-shilling bottle of some miraculous compound (is not the portrait of the last person oared actually published in the newspapers, with name and address, to prove the genuineness of the ease ?) they have no notion of putting a -larger sum of money unnecessarily into the doctor's pocket. Miss Loane, in one of her remarkable books, says that in poor households the waste of money on quack medicines is almost worse than that on gambling. It is very easy to imagine how ignorant people when once they fall into the hands of the quack medicine " fiends," as they are called in America., are held there fast and sure. Suppose the case of a man with an epileptic wife. The unhappy man reads an advertisement about some wonderful cure discovered by accident in; let us say—it would be equally untrue of 'all places in the world—the prairies of Western America. The discoverer announces that having cured himself by a happy chance he feels it his duty to pass on the good news to suffering humanity. Only a stamp need be sent for the information. In return for the stamp comes a mass of eloquent testimony from people who have been cured—testi- monials from persons who may be vain, corrupt, or ignorant, but who readily sell or lend their names for one motive or another— and the recipient cannot doubt the marvellous narratives on the printed page. The secret remedy is very likely expensive. Perhaps the wretched man, earning twenty-five or thirty shil- lings a week, buys bottle -after bottle of rubbish costing ten shillings each. When his persistence shows signs of relaxing the quacks are on to him with new arguments—the danger of stopping in the middle of the cure, and so forth. The man might 'as well be in the bands of the money-lenders. This sort of imposture is enormously aided by its air of mystery. A common formula is that the discovery has been made by a hermit in the great Desert of Arabia or by an explorer of the Inca ruins in Peru. We invent these things, but the reality is not less preposterous. It is strange that uneducated people should prefer such remote wonders to those of the laboratories fn London, Paris, and Berlin ; but there it is, and it is' high time that the evil was stopped. One of the widely advertised cures for cancer mentioned in the first volume published by the British Medical Association was found to be chiegy composed of diluted and slightly impure alcohoL Apart from the air of mystery which, as we have said, is all on the side of the quacks, there is no doubt that ignorant people have a profound belief in the efficaciousness of pouring medicine into their bodies. Compared with this habit, dietary treatments, the "regiment of health," as Bacon calls it, and even surgery appear as makeshift cures. They think of copious doses of medicine as expelling the disease. If they talked of the conquest of disease in the military terms which were fashionable in the eighteenth century, they would prob- ably say that the copious doses were making an attack in mass on the enemy. The writer knew an agricultural labourer a few years ago who was taking three different proprietary medicines simultaneously—among them was Mother Seigel's Soothing Syrup—under the impression that if one did not cure his trouble another would. Happily, in this country there is little blackmail in connexion with the sale of quaek medicines, though itis common enough in some countries. The sufferer is induced to confide to the quacks details of his illness, which he would not care- to have circulated among his friends and relations. When the quack has extorted as much as possible by the sale of his nostrum he falls back on the trick of extorting money by threats of exposure.

Our readers may be amused to read some of the results of the further analyses published by the BritishMedical Associa- tion. We do not assert that any harm is done by the particular remedies we mention. " Phosferine" is described as follows

This widely advertised-preparation is supplied at is. lid. and 2s. 9d. by a limited company in London. A ls. lid. bottle was found to contain 2 fluid drachms, and a 2s. 9d. bottle just over 1 fluid ounce. Phosferine is described in an advertisement as ' The Greatest of all -Tonics. A. Proven Remedy for Nervous Debility, influenza, Indigestion, Sleeplessness, Exhaustion, Neuralgia, Maternity Weakness, Premature Decay, Mental Exhaustion, Loss of -Appetite, Lassitude, Neuritis, Faintness, Brain Fag, Anemia, Backache, Rheumatism Headache, Hysteria, Sciatica, and disorders consequent upon a reduced state of the nervous system.' In a circular enclosed in the package it is stated: that Phosferine is a potent strengthening medicine, withal gentle- in its action and perfectly harmless; being akin to gastric Juice, it rests and restores the digestive organs and regulates the bowels. to normal action. The publics cannot be too strongly warned against the many purging medicines advertised for indigestion,. etc., which are not only a fruitful source of piles, but injure the' coating of the stomach and sap the very gastric juice Nature is straining herself to supply. Unlike other tonic medicines, Phos- ferine does not injure the teeth or upset the stomach and cause. constipation ; on the contrary, -it will be found beneficial in these conditions. Phoeferine may be taken at all times with benefit;: there is no possible objection to its oontinned use either as am appetiser or a general strengthening and nerve remedy.' Some- what varying directions are given as to the quantity to be taken, for different ailments, the dose being stated as from five to tem drops, to be taken from twice to four times a day. Analysis showed the presence of alcohol, quinine, phosphoric acid, and a.. little sulphuric acid; a trace of sodium salt was found, but this- was probably an accidental impurity in the phosphoric acid ; no- other ingredient could be detected. Expressing the acids as the dilute acids of the British Pharmacopoeia, and the quinine as the ordinary official sulphate, the formula arrived at is—

Quinine sulphate ... ... 0.67 part.

Diluted sulphuric acid 2.5 parts by measure.

Diluted phosphoric ... 54.6 „ Alcohol 8.1 „ „

SP

The estimated cost of the ingredients for 1 fluid ounce (2s. 9d._ bottle) is id."

The following is an account of "Tatcho" (the "George R.- Sims " Hair Restorer) :—

"It appears from the label that there are three varieties of this much-advertised preparation, known as `Tatcho' oily, 'Tatcho non-oily, and `Tatcho' (concentrated). The non-oily, described as A brilliant spirituous tonic, free from all grease,' was taken for- analysis. A bottle of this, containing 51 fluid ounces, was priced. 2s. 9d. It is thus described: 'The certain, trusty, genuine, right, honest hair-grower. There is no other. Without " Tatcho " loss of hair is inevitable, but Mr. Geo. R. Sims has altered all that. If your hair has become scanty or grey, get "Tatcho" to-day. In will bring back the hair of your youth, make a new being of you,. and give you a new grip upon life.' The label and wrapper bear- the following :—

Quinine ...*. . . _ 0.006 part Pormaldehyde solution (40 per cent) 0.88 part Colouring matter (brownish-yellow) and perfume... traces Alcohol — ... 2.4 parts by measure Water, sulcient to produce 1C0 parts by measure

The estimated cost of the ingredients for fluid ounces is id."-

We notice that the analysis of " Koko," another hair- restorer, is almost exactly the same as that of " Tatcho." At. the end of the book there is a reproduction of an entertaining correspondence between a member of the public and the pro- prietors of Seigel's Syrup.

" We have received from a correspondent particulars of letters which have passed between the proprietors of Seigel's Syrup and himself. They are characterized by a direct terseness on his side, and the opposite qualities on the other, that make them somewhat entertaining reading. The correspondence opens with a letter from the makers of this nostrum, which is self-explanatory : 'Dula; Sia,—We reteived to-day by post a wrapper which bait enclosed one of our Mother Seigel pamphlets addressed to your and on which the sender had copied the stupid so-called analysis- of our Syrup from the publication of the British Medical Associa- tion. You also copy the still• more silly averment, "cost of 3 fluid. ounces of ld.," and your own comment on the whole is, "Nice profit at 2s. 6d. ! What humbug ! ! " As you seem to be incline& to believe whatever you read, we desire to say : That the pretended. analysis is positively absurd ; that it does not remotely resemble the actual formula of our medicine, which really contains over a. dozen vegetable or herbal extracts ; that it costs much more than I of ld. for 3 fluid ounces ; that it is actually worth more than it sells for as an effective curative remedy ; °that it is not a "hum- bug" ; that humbugs do not last forty years and still continue as business successes in all parts of the world as our preparation does. From your penmanship we think it not unlikely that you. are a medical practitioner, in which event your animus becomes quite intelligible. If you are a layman, please consider 'fairly our assurance that the published analysis (?) is merely an effort of the " Doctors' Trust," or "Medical Practitioners' Trade Union to injure successful rivals. Don't let them humbug You!'

It is of course quite possible that the preparation in question 'really contains over a dozen vegetable or herbal extracts,' even though the statement follows the phrase 'as you seem to be incline/ to believe whatever you read. There is nothing in the report of the analysis as set forth .in Secret Remedies to the contrary ; but in, that case the dozen extracts must have been present in too small quantity to be recognizable by chemical or physical tests, which reveal most active drugs, even in traces. In the introduction to CERTIFICATE.

I guarantee that this Preparation is made according to the Formula recom- mended by me. GEO. B. Sues.

The directions are: 'Sprinkle a few drops on the head each morn- ing, and brush the hair thoroughly after application.' Analysis showed the composition to be:— that Volume it is pointed out that vegetable:extracts which con- tain no active principle cannot always be recognized by analysis, and a similar caution is repeated several times; but to any one :acquainted with the nature of drugs it is obvious that such limi- tation of the powers of analysis is of little moment, since active drugs can almost always be recognized with certainty.

The reply to the above letter was the remark that : The solo .question is whether the public is more likely to be humbugged by the British Medical Association, which is certainly a responsible body of experts, or by the unknown vendors of a quack medicine.' And the writer adds: Most of these abominations hail from America. Did yours originate there ?'

The makers reply to this in a long letter containing various assertions about their article in nine numbered paragraphs, although they commence by saying : We have no desire to con- • tinue a correspondence which would probably not be accepted in a fair and reasonable spirit on your aide.' And they omit to answer the one question that was asked as to the country of origin • of the syrup. In acknowledging this letter the recipient says : As regards your letter generally if the British Medical Associa- tion have issued false statements damaging to you and to your .concoction your remedy is patent. If you and all the other quack medicine dealers, specified in the 184 pages of Secret Remedies and in the pages of Truth Cautionary List, choose to "take it dying down," the fair presumption is that the statements are true.' 'The makers do not appear to have found a further reply, and so the correspondence closes."

What ought the recommendations of the Select Committee 'to be ? We hold that the most important point is to deprive proprietary medicines of the right of secrecy. A patent

medicine is one of which the prescription is known. Let :all proprietary medicines become in the technical sense patent medicines. The public will then know exactly what they are buying. To kill the mystery would be to Inock the bottom out of a large part of the trade. We do mot deceive ourselves by thinking that the trade will be ended -easily. Its power over the Press, which with the exception .of a few highly scrupulous journals derives a great revenue from it, is enormous. But surely we can confidently appeal for action to a Liberal Government which takes a peculiar pride in its alleged freedom from capitalistic influences. If the present Cabinet is genuine in its professions the power of the purse will not count at all when it comes to deciding what measures to take to rescue poor people from a ruinous and often very cruel system of imposture.