The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 1 of 2Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Science
The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 1 of 2
Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Patent medicines
The varying claims regarding the content of volatile and non-volatile
matter throw doubt on the entire composition of Dioradin, for if the
statement as to these is wrong the rest of the statement regarding
composition cannot be given credence.
In the first submission of Dioradin about 89 per cent. of
non-volatile matter was claimed but in the report of the analysis by
the Lederle Laboratories, which accompanied the resubmission, only
about 72 per cent. was found. Later the Lederle Laboratories reported
that an examination of a new specimen of Dioradin had shown about
90 per cent. of non-volatile matter. The discrepancies between the
composition claimed for Dioradin and that found for the product in
the first Lederle report has shown that the agent was quite ignorant
of the composition of the product which he was selling.
INDEFINITENESS OF THE IODIN CONTENT
The label on the trade package of Dioradin first submitted to the
Council stated that the product contained iodoform; a similar
statement was made in the submission of the product; the circular
accompanying the first submission stated that “iodin salts” were
contained in the product while the iodin content was referred to
further on in this circular as “combinations of evasive iodin
terpins.” In Bernheim’s papers, which have been used to advertise
Dioradin, and which are referred to in the same circular, the iodin
compound is called “iode peptonisé,” which, according to information
stated by the American agent to have come from Budapest, is to be
translated “iodized peptone.” What is the meaning of this confusion?
One would naturally suppose that the preparation to be sold in this
country contains iodoform in an ether-oil solution while the one used
by Bernheim and Dieupart[44] was stated to contain an _ethereal_
solution of “iodized peptone.” This is another mystification, for
an ethereal solution of any kind of peptone would be a novelty. The
matter is of some importance, for Bernheim and Dieupart lay great
stress on the difference between “peptonized iodin” and other iodin
(loc. cit., p. 333) and of the superiority of ethereal over oily
solutions (loc. cit., p. 334). The American agents, however, in
the second submission, state that this is all a mistake; that the
Dioradin used by Bernheim is the same Dioradin which was submitted to
the Council; and that this does not contain, and never did contain,
the ethereal solution of “iode peptonisé” to which Bernheim attached
so great importance. Bernheim (report to Medical Congress of Lyons)
himself has come to the same conclusion; for five months after his
first paper he believes that the “special salt of radium” (_sic_)
is the principal agent; so that the “peptonized iodin” must be
unimportant, and in a cablegram of July 4, 1912, he now informs
the Dioradin Company that the formula was incorrectly given in his
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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