OSBORNE’S MIXTURE FOR EPILEPSY.

This mixture is stated to be prepared in a small town in England.

The following is an extract from a circular accompanying the bottle:

It scarcely ever fails to prevent the fits, loss of consciousness, convulsions, nervous twitchings, &c., of epilepsy, while at the same time it acts as a most valuable tonic; it allays irritation of the nervous system, purifies the blood, strengthens the frame, improves the general health, and helps to check the progress of disease on the intellectual faculties, and may be taken by the most delicate.

The formula ascertained by analysis was:

Potassium bromide	166	grains.
Sugar	48	” (= syrup Ʒj).
Burnt sugar	q.s.	to colour.
Peppermint water to 1 fluid ounce.

Traces of fixed ammonia were also present.

Dose.—One large teaspoonful morning and night.

The price charged for a bottle holding 5 fluid ounces was 2s. 9d.; the estimated cost of the contents is about 3d.

“PROFESSOR” O. PHELPS BROWN’S
VERVAIN RESTORATIVE ASSIMILANT.

This preparation is recommended by the vendor—

“for the positive and speedy cure of epilepsy or fits, dyspepsia, indigestion, all derangements of the stomach and bowels, and for every form of debility, no matter from what source it may arise. An unequalled tonic and nervine.”

The formula ascertained by analysis was:

Decoction of Vervain (2 oz. to a pint)	4	fluid	drachms.
Port wine	1	”	”
Rectified spirit	2	”	”
Water to 1 fluid ounce.

The dose was stated to be one dessertspoonful three times a day before eating.

The mixture contained 25·75 per cent. of absolute alcohol by volume, and reacted towards lead acetate and lead sub-acetate exactly like a specimen prepared according to the above formula. It also contained the same amount of extractive, and had the same specific gravity.

The price is 2s. 9d. for a 6-oz. bottle. The estimated cost of the contents is about 5d.

TRENCH’S REMEDY FOR
EPILEPSY AND FITS.

This is, or was, made by a company giving an address in Ireland. The package examined had no medicine stamp affixed.

Liquid Preparation.—The following formula refers to the liquid preparation supplied for use in the United Kingdom.

The formula ascertained by analysis was:

Potassium bromide	70	grains.
Ammonium bromide	10	”
Sugar	72	” (= syrup Ʒjss).
Fuchsia	q.s.	to colour.
Water to 1 fluid ounce.

The dose was stated to be one teaspoonful in the morning and two at night; the price for a 3-oz. bottle is 3s.; the estimated cost of the contents was about 1d.

“Concentrated Form.”—This was supplied for export to the colonies, was a moist coarse brown crystalline powder in hermetically-sealed tins, with directions enclosed for dissolving in water. A quarter package (the smallest supplied) contained 11¼ ounces, and was directed to be dissolved in one pint of warm water. The resulting mixture was found to measure 25 fluid ounces. From the formula given below it will be seen that the mixture thus prepared differed from the one issued for home consumption in two important particulars: (a) ammonium bromide was absent, (b) the dose of potassium bromide was considerably larger than that of the total bromides in the latter. Is this a form of colonial preference? or is it that our brothers beyond the sea are more robust and hence proof against the depressing influence of potassium salts? The formula of the powder ascertained by analysis was:

Potassium bromide	61	parts.
Moist brown sugar	39	”

The calculated composition of the finished mixture was:

Potassium bromide	120	grains.
Moist brown sugar	77	”
Water to 1 fluid ounce.

The dose of the mixture directed to be taken was one teaspoonful in the morning and two at night.

The price charged for a quarter package was 15s., but the estimated cost of the contents is about 8d.

Such then are these secret remedies for epilepsy; with one exception they are weak preparations of well-known drugs supplied at considerably more than the usual cost, and administered without that careful adjustment of dose to the needs of the particular patient which is, after all, the most essential part in the treatment of epilepsy by bromide salts. The exception contains an old-fashioned herb once praised by the superstitious but abandoned time and again even by them; it has never been shown to possess any definite therapeutic properties and was long ago discarded by the medical profession because it was found useless.