The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 2 of 2Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Science
The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 2 of 2
Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry (American Medical Association)
Patent medicines
In short, Formamint is recommended for the treatment or prevention
of almost everything, from a bad breath to such grave conditions as
scarlet fever, diphtheria and tuberculosis, conditions in which a
delay in proper treatment--for instance, in diphtheria, a failure to
administer antitoxin--may result in the death of the patient.
A series of investigations was therefore undertaken in order to
discover whether the extravagant claims regarding the germicidal power
of Formamint could be verified.
Experimental Data
Two fifty-cent bottles of Wulfing’s Formamint were purchased in the
open market and were kept well stoppered to prevent deterioration.
Qualitative tests showed the presence of formaldehyd and the amount was
determined quantitatively by the hydrogen peroxid method as given by
Sutton.[23] The results were respectively, 1.99 per cent. and 2.03 per
cent. of formaldehyd.
[23] Sutton: Volumetric Analysis, Edition 10, p. 390.
[Illustration: Two Formamint advertisements reproduced in miniature
typical of those appearing in a certain type of medical journals.]
Some determinations were made of the germicidal power of Formamint
in vitro, that is, under controlled laboratory conditions. A
twenty-four-hour plain agar culture of _Staphylococcus aureus_ was
washed off in 10 c.c. of sterile 0.85 per cent. sodium chlorid
solution. A 1:100,000 dilution of this was made in each of three flasks
containing 100 c.c. of sterile saliva. Flask 1 contained 1 per cent. of
Formamint, Flask 2, 5 per cent.; Flask 3, containing no Formamint, was
kept as a control. At intervals samples were removed and dilutions made
and plated in duplicate on standard agar. The plates were incubated
twenty-four hours at 37 C., and plates containing less than 200
colonies were counted. The results are given in Table 1. After seven
days there was no appreciable difference in the plates.
Another test was made by adding a 1 per cent. Formamint solution to
plain agar plates inoculated with _B. coli_. A twenty-four-hour plain
agar culture of _B. coli_ was washed off in 10 c.c. of sterile 0.85 per
cent. sodium chlorid solution. A 1:1,000,000 dilution was made of this
and 1 c.c. added to each plate. Varying amounts of 1 per cent. solution
of Formamint were added to each plate. They were incubated seventy-two
hours at 37 C. After seven days’ incubation the count was the same. The
results are given in Table 2.
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