Secret remedies : $b What they cost and what they containBritish Medical Association
Science
Secret remedies : $b What they cost and what they contain
British Medical Association
Patent medicines
subject of a work on scrofula by a Mr. Morley, which was written for
the sole purpose of restoring the much injured character and use of
vervain, so that it is evidently a herb which has suffered much from
detraction. Mr. Morley directed the root of the plant to be tied, with
a yard of white satin ribbon, round the neck where it was to remain
until the patient was cured. The modern vendor does not indulge in
these refinements.
In submitting the following analyses it should be stated that a mixture
or powder, dispensed according to the prescription obtained by the
analysis, produced in each case a preparation closely resembling in
appearance and taste that sold by the secret medicine vendor; further,
the mixtures possessed the same specific gravity as the originals.
OZERINE.
“Ozerine,” prepared by a chemist in Ireland, is described as an
unfailing remedy for epilepsy, fits, or falling sickness. The bottle
examined had no medicine stamp affixed.
The formula ascertained by analysis is as follows:
Potassium bromide 120 grains.
Ammonium carbonate 16 ”
Burnt sugar q.s. to colour.
Chloroform water to 1 fluid ounce.
Potassium bromide (111 grains) and potassium chloride (9⅓ grains) were
found by analysis, but as some potassium bromide containing a large
percentage of chloride had recently been in the market the latter was
not regarded as an intentional addition.
_Dose._—One teaspoonful before breakfast and dinner, and two at bedtime.
The price charged for a bottle containing 8 fluid ounces was 4s. 6d.;
the estimated cost of contents was under 4d.
W. AND J. TAYLOR’S CELEBRATED ANTI-EPILEPTIC MEDICINE.
This preparation, sold in this country through an export agent in
London, is said to be “simple, efficacious, harmless, and cheap.” The
effrontery of the following paragraph, extracted from a circular which
was wrapped round the bottle, is amusing in view of the analytical
results:
The principal drug is to be found in nearly every
surgery, and yet not one doctor in a hundred would
think of using it in Epilepsy, simply because he has no
precedent to act upon—he is not directed by any of the
great medical writers to prescribe or administer it in
this disease; he knows not of its being so used, and he
has not tried it himself, and thus he remains unaware
of the one grand means of curing Epilepsy, even with
the very drugs necessary at his elbow.
The formula ascertained by analysis was:
Tincture of iodine ¾ minim.
Potassium bromide 13 grains.
Ammonium bromide 4 ”
Water to 1 fluid ounce.
The mixture contained the proportion of iodine indicated in the above
formula; but as it also contained traces of iodide, it was probable
that tincture of iodine was used in its preparation. It may, however,
have been prepared from an aqueous solution of iodine and potassium
iodide.
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