OZERINE.
“Ozerine,” prepared by a chemist in Ireland, is described as an unfailing remedy for epilepsy, fits, or falling sickness. The bottle examined had no medicine stamp affixed.
The formula ascertained by analysis is as follows:
| Potassium bromide | 120 | grains. |
| Ammonium carbonate | 16 | ” |
| Burnt sugar | q.s. | to colour. |
| Chloroform water to 1 fluid ounce. | ||
Potassium bromide (111 grains) and potassium chloride (9⅓ grains) were found by analysis, but as some potassium bromide containing a large percentage of chloride had recently been in the market the latter was not regarded as an intentional addition.
Dose.—One teaspoonful before breakfast and dinner, and two at bedtime.
The price charged for a bottle containing 8 fluid ounces was 4s. 6d.; the estimated cost of contents was under 4d.
W. AND J. TAYLOR’S CELEBRATED
ANTI-EPILEPTIC MEDICINE.
This preparation, sold in this country through an export agent in London, is said to be “simple, efficacious, harmless, and cheap.” The effrontery of the following paragraph, extracted from a circular which was wrapped round the bottle, is amusing in view of the analytical results:
The principal drug is to be found in nearly every surgery, and yet not one doctor in a hundred would think of using it in Epilepsy, simply because he has no precedent to act upon—he is not directed by any of the great medical writers to prescribe or administer it in this disease; he knows not of its being so used, and he has not tried it himself, and thus he remains unaware of the one grand means of curing Epilepsy, even with the very drugs necessary at his elbow.
The formula ascertained by analysis was:
| Tincture of iodine | ¾ | minim. |
| Potassium bromide | 13 | grains. |
| Ammonium bromide | 4 | ” |
| Water to 1 fluid ounce. | ||
The mixture contained the proportion of iodine indicated in the above formula; but as it also contained traces of iodide, it was probable that tincture of iodine was used in its preparation. It may, however, have been prepared from an aqueous solution of iodine and potassium iodide.
Dose.—One teaspoonful three times a day.
The price of a bottle holding 12 fluid ounces was 2s. 9d.; the estimated cost of the contents is about 1d.