ANTIPON.
This preparation is sold by a Company with offices in London. The bottle in which it is sent out holds a little over 6½ fluid ounces and costs 2s. 6d. It bears no label, but has the word “Antipon” blown in the glass. A circular enclosed with the bottle gives a number of rules on the subject of dietary, together with statements as to the merits of the article, from which the following extracts are taken:
As a really permanent cure for corpulence, combining remarkable fat-reducing properties with tonic principles of the highest quality, “Antipon” is justly regarded by the most competent authorities as one of the most valuable discoveries in modern therapeutics, solving once and for all the vexed question of the radical cure of obesity without harmful after-effects. “Antipon” absolutely and definitely replaces all the weakening and frequently dangerous processes, systems and medicines which have hitherto done duty as remedies for the disease of obesity. It provides the medical practitioner and the public with a powerful and entirely harmless specific not hitherto within their reach.
Within a day and a night of taking the first dose there will be a reduction of weight varying from 8 oz. to 3lb., in extreme cases even more. The subsequent daily decrease will be persistent until normal weight and dimensions are attained, when the doses may be discontinued.
Directions for Use.—Take two dessertspoonfuls in half a wineglassful of water, immediately after meals.
N.B.—After taking dose, cork the bottle securely.
Analysis showed the liquid to be a solution of citric acid in water, of the strength of 39·3 grains in a fluid ounce; a red colouring substance was also present, and O·4 per cent. of alcohol, the latter being doubtless introduced with the colouring. The red colour could be perfectly matched with cochineal, but the behaviour towards alkalies and other reagents showed differences; cochineal, with the addition of a little methyl orange, however, showed in most respects a similar behaviour.
The estimated cost of ingredients for 6½ fluid ounces is 1⅓d.
RUSSELL’S ANTI-CORPULENT
PREPARATION.
This preparation is sold from an address in London and like the previous one, was in a bottle bearing no label; the letters “F.C.R.” were blown in the glass, and the bottle, which held 12½ fluid ounces and cost 6s., was enclosed in a perfectly plain case, with no printed matter accompanying it. A pamphlet on the subject of the medicine was posted separately to the person ordering it; in this it was explained that:
Acting upon the many suggestions received, principally from ladies, the bottles are packed quite plainly, and without the ordinary trade labels usually found upon medicines, etc. The box is quite devoid of advertisements or anything whatever likely to denote its contents. The servants and others attached to the household may therefore be safely entrusted to open the box; inquisitiveness, if present, will not be rewarded.
In this pamphlet very detailed directions were also given for taking the medicine, and for diet and exercise. It was stated that:
In a very short space of time, say twenty-four hours, a considerable quantity of the most unhealthy fat will have been removed from that part of the system most in need of relief from the adipose matter oppressing it (the quantity varies from 8 oz. to 2 lb., or even more).
The dose is one tablespoonful in a half-wineglassful of water, within, say, ten minutes after each meal.
Analysis showed the liquid to consist of a solution of citric acid in water, containing 37 grains in a fluid ounce. The orange colour was found to be due to iron, which was present to the extent of 0·012 per cent.; and 0·4 per cent. of alcohol was also found. Addition of this proportion of iron in the form of the ammonio-citrate was found to give a practically identical colour, and the formula is approximately:
| Citric acid | 37 | grains. |
| Iron and ammonium citrate | ¼ | grain. |
| Rectified spirit | 2 | minims. |
| Water | To 1 | fluid ounce. |
The estimated cost of the ingredients for 12½ fluid ounces is 2·1d.
ABSORBIT REDUCING PASTE AND
J. Z. OBESITY TABLETS.
These two preparations are sold by a “Hygienic Skin Specialist.” The paste, or, perhaps, both preparations, appear to be also known under the name of “Zobeide,” as the paste was supplied in response to an order for “Zobeida,” and the jar bore a label giving a so-called “analysis” (which it is needless to say was no analysis) beginning, “We have carefully examined the Zobeide Tissue Absorbers and Paste.” The price of the paste was 3s. 6d., and the jar contained just over 2 ounces. The directions on the label were:
Rub in a circular direction, at night, where needed, for five minutes or more; firm, even movements, and only use as much as the skin will absorb.
The paste was a pink ointment, containing 93 per cent. of a fatty basis, 4·8 per cent. of a substance which agreed in its characters with dried bile, and was evidently ordinary “purified ox-bile,” and a little carmine, the remainder being moisture. Further examination of the fatty basis showed a considerable proportion of beeswax, and the analytical results obtained agreed with a mixture of:
| Beeswax | 23 | parts. |
| Lard | 46 | ” |
| Rapeseed (colza) oil | 31 | ” |
It is not possible, however, to assign an exact formula to a mixture of fatty substances like this. The composition of the paste was approximately:
| Purified ox-bile | 5 | per cent. |
| Beeswax | 22 | ” |
| Lard | 44 | ” |
| Oil | 29 | ” |
| Carmine | q.s. | |
| A trace of perfume was also present. | ||
The estimated cost of ingredients (2 ounces) is 3d.
The tablets are sold in boxes, containing 25, price, 2s.
The directions were:
Two at night dissolved in the mouth as an ordinary lozenge.
The tablets were flat oval lozenges weighing 19 grains each. Analysis showed their composition to be as follows:—
| Sulphur | 24 | per cent. |
| Ginger, about | 4 | ” |
| Sugar | 61 | ” |
| Acacia gum | 8 | ” |
| Moisture | 3 | ” |
The estimated cost of the ingredients for 25 lozenges is ½d.
XL REDUCING PILLS AND
REDUCING LOTION.
Hughes & Hughes’s XL Reducing Pills and Ointment are advertised from an address in a seaside town. The pills are sold in boxes containing 28, price 2s. 9d. a box. The preparation was described, in a circular enclosed with the box, as:
A remedy at once safe, speedy, and efficacious, and of marked value from the health point of view, as it combats the special ills to which the corpulent have a liability. It is very easy to take, the pills being tasteless, and does not necessarily oblige any special course of diet.
The directions were:
2 pills, twice a day, after principal meals.
The pills were coated with French chalk, and coloured pink on the outside. After removal of the coating they had an average weight of 3 grains. Analysis showed them to contain a vegetable extract, powdered ginger, powdered liquorice, iron, potassium, phosphate, and iodide; in addition to the mineral constituents just named, the ash showed all the constituents of the ash of extract of bladderwrack; various other tests applied to the pills indicated this extract to be present, and failed to show any other ingredients. The quantities of the respective substances were determined as accurately as possible, and the formula found to be approximately:
| Potassium iodide | 0·15 | grain. |
| Iron phosphate | 0·35 | ” |
| Powdered ginger | 0·2 | ” |
| ”liquorice | 0·1 | ” |
| Extract of Fucus vesiculosus | 2·2 | grains. |
| In one pill. | ||
The estimated cost of the ingredients for 28 pills is 1¼d.
The Reducing Lotion for external use only with the XL reducing Pills is sold at 4s. 6d. a bottle, containing 2¼ fluid ounces.
Directions for Use.—To a little of the lotion add three or four times the amount of water (to a spoonful, three or four spoonfuls of water). The lotion is in a highly concentrated form, and equals a bottle four times the size. The lotion should be applied night and morning, gently, without rubbing, by means of the hand, or a piece of rag, to the part desired. Any part that is abnormally enlarged can be so treated, except the face, to which it should not be applied. The XL lotion will not irritate the most delicate skin, but it should not be used when there is any scratch or abrasion.
Analysis showed the presence of chloride, bromide, and iodide of potassium, glycerine, and a small quantity of a resinous substance in combination with alkali. The amount of the last constituent was very small, the resinous substance only amounting to 0·08 per cent.; it was somewhat bitter, with little colour, and showed no characteristic reactions or properties by which it could be identified. The proportions of the other ingredients were found to be:
| Potassium iodide | 9·7 | grains. |
| ”bromide | 13·5 | ” |
| ”chloride | 6·9 | ” |
| Glycerine | 105 | minims. |
| Water | To 1 | fluid ounce. |
The estimated cost of the ingredients (2¼ fluid ounces) is about ¾d.