CAPSULOIDS.
The price was 2s. 3d. for a box containing 36 capsuloids.
On the outer package it was stated that:
Our special process used in making Capsuloids is never used and never has been used outside our Laboratory. It is known only to the Capsuloid Company, Ltd., and has never at any time been communicated to any other person or firm. This material is then enclosed in little pear-shaped gelatine capsules which are made of the finest and purest gelatine. As a result of our special process, Capsuloids have that particular and remarkable effect upon the hair through the medium of the blood which is so well and widely known. There is no other preparation which possesses anything like the same effect.
Capsuloids not only cause the death of those harmful germs which we have proved to be the cause of falling out and prematurely grey hair, but they also restore the injured growing cells of the hair roots, and nourish them, and cause them to multiply so that the roots become firm and grow rapidly, producing thick and luxuriant hair, and where there has been premature greyness, it is also cured. Recent scientific investigation has definitely proved this, and has demonstrated that hair cannot be made to grow by using external preparations.
Directions. To stop falling out of the hair and to restore the colour to prematurely grey hair, adults should take two, or in very severe cases three, capsuloids before eating or with the first part of each meal, three times daily. The doses for younger persons is one or two with each meal. Capsuloids never cause constipation or indigestion, nor do they in any way upset the stomach, or any part of the system.
A booklet of 20 pages was enclosed in the package, in which the above statements were repeated and further elaborated with the aid of a diagram of the root of a hair, with blood-vessels, oil gland, “growing cells containing harmful germs,” etc.
The capsuloids were elongated gelatine capsules containing a dark material, the average contents of one weighing 3·4 grains. The material yielded 32 per cent. to a solvent suitable for extracting fats, and this portion proved to be a mixture of about equal parts of a neutral oil and a fatty acid, agreeing in their characters with olive oil and oleic acid, respectively. Extraction of the residue with alcohol then removed 10 per cent. of an aromatic balsamic substance, generally resembling Peruvian balsam, but lighter in colour; a mixture of equal parts of Peruvian balsam and purified storax gave a substance practically identical. The residue, insoluble in both solvents, was a red-brown powder, which was found by its characters to be dried haemoglobin. Careful search was made for arsenic, alkaloids, and other ingredients, but nothing else was detected. The results indicated the following formula for the contents of the capsules:
| Haemoglobin | 1·97 | grain. | ||
| Olive oil |  | of each | 0·54 | ” |
| Oleic acid | ||||
| Balsam of Peru | | of each | 0·54 | ” |
| Purified storax | ||||
| In one capsule. | ||||
The estimated cost of materials for the contents of 36 capsules is 1d.
Other dealers have paid the company the sincere compliment of imitation, and various similar articles appear to be largely sold. The following particulars are taken from price lists and advertisements intended for retail chemists; as haemoglobin is referred to as the principal constituent in each case, they were not submitted to analysis.
CAPSULATED HAEMOGLOBIN OVALS
FOR THE HAIR.
“Capsulated Haemoglobin Ovals for the Hair. Contain 2½ grains of Pure Haemoglobin.”
They were supplied by a firm in a south country seaside town, labelled with name and address of the retailer. The wholesale price quoted was for tubes of 25, 4s. per dozen.