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
A real remedy for rheumatism, backache, muscular
rheumatism, sciatica, gout, lumbago, cramps, stiffness
of joints, kidney disorders, dropsical swellings, etc.
These Pills act directly on the organic and muscular
parts of the body, and bring instant relief to tired,
aching, and painful muscles and joints.
In the circular enclosed with the pills it was stated that:
The ingredients ... are known only to the proprietors.
They are not to be found either in the _British
Pharmacopœia_ or in any surgery in the land. It was
not your doctor’s fault that he did not cure you, it
was his misfortune—he did not know how. He had not
these remedies in his possession. We offer you the
opportunity of using them and recovering your health.
Gower’s Green Pills, though an eminently scientific
pill, do not act like magic. The days of miracles have
gone by. They act surely, but sometimes slowly in cases
of Rheumatism of long standing.
In taking these pills we would like it to be thoroughly
known that if your disease is one of long standing you
cannot be completely cured with one or two boxes. A
rheumatic sufferer who has tried most remedies and has
been tortured with pain for five years cannot expect
to be a new man in five weeks. If it takes as many as
a dozen 2s. 9d. boxes to cure a case like this, the
sufferer cannot but consider it the best investment
that he ever made in his life.
The directions were:
One dose to be taken three times a day, before or after
meals. Three Pills are one dose.
The pills were coated with talc, with a small quantity of a green
colouring matter. After removal of the coating the pills had an average
weight of 1·2 grains. Analysis showed them to contain soap (about 36
per cent.), an alkaline salicylate (about 37 per cent.), extractive,
and vegetable tissue. No alkaloid was present; the extractive was dark
in colour, without bitterness or other characteristic taste, and showed
no properties by which its source could be identified; microscopic
examination of the tissue showed the presence of two powders, one of
which agreed well in its characters with powdered cimicifuga root,
while the other bore much resemblance to jalap, but not enough to
warrant the statement that it was jalap. The total amount of vegetable
powder was about 20 per cent., of which about one-third appeared to be
cimicifuga; 11 per cent. of silicious ash was also present.
DR. COLLIE’S OINTMENT.
This ointment, supplied by a Scottish Company at the price of 1s. 9d.
for a box containing 1¾ ounces, is advertised in the following terms:
Try Dr. Collie for Rheumatism. His ointment positively
cures while you sleep. You don’t rub it in, but apply
just like a poultice. It draws out the cause of your
trouble, and a speedy cure ensues. Try Dr. Collie’s
Ointment—Instant relief for Sciatica, Lumbago, and
swollen joints.
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