STEVENS’ CONSUMPTION CURE.
This is advertised as manufactured only by C. H. Stevens. The price is 5s. per bottle, containing 2¼ fluid ounces.
This preparation does not appear now to go under any other name than that of “Stevens’ Consumption Cure”; as regards its past history, the following extract from Truth Cautionary List for 1908 is of interest:
Stevens, C. H.—The proprietor of a remedy for consumption which has been put on the market in South Africa and England under the name of Sacco, and later in South Africa as Lungsava, the recipe for which is stated to have been long in use amongst the Kaffirs and Zulus. In connection with the advertising of Sacco in England, an article which appeared in Truth was circulated in a mutilated form, omitting a condemnation of its sale as an absolute remedy for consumption. Stevens has acquired a number of testimonials from medical men, who must now regret their precipitate action. He is now in England on a new campaign.
The claims made for this preparation were put forward in printed circulars, and in letters, apparently printed in imitation of typewriting, sent at intervals to an applicant for particulars of the cure. Extracts from these are here given:
It has been admitted the world over that there is no remedy known to the Medical Fraternity to really cure Consumption, so it is preposterous to claim the ordinary drugs that are known to every Chemist even, to cure this disease, just because they are given a fancy name, and advertised by a Polish or a German Jew; it is not only preposterous but a wicked swindle.
There is no other treatment, drug, or medicine advertised in Great Britain to-day to cure Consumption, the ingredients of which are not known to every doctor and chemist in the world, and if you cannot obtain relief from these under the care of your own Medical Adviser, how can you be cured by using them on the advice of an American Quack.
Your own doctor will bear out what I say. Most of these American Impostors come to England after the U.S.A. Post Office Authorities have refused to convey their letters.
I do not say in my advertisements “Consumption can be cured,” “Consumption is curable,” or any such evasive remarks, but I say “I will guarantee to cure you if you are consumptive, or return your money in full,” and that my terms are “No Cure, No Pay.”
The African herbs which my Cure is prepared from have never been used by any white Doctor or Chemist before I introduced same to civilization a few years ago. These herbs are original and have defied our cleverest Analysts to discover the active principals they contain....
I only returned to England a few weeks ago to prove my Cure to the satisfaction of the British Government, having been absent for many years....
It does not matter whether a Doctor is attending patients or not whilst they are under my treatment, although I always prefer a Doctor to be in attendance to see the cure being effected because I particularly wish to convince the Medical fraternity of the genuineness of my cure.
From the first letter:
Usually two or three weeks’ treatment is quite sufficient to make a substantial improvement, and a three months’ course, in most cases, is sufficient to effect a cure.
From the second letter:
Let me send you a two weeks’ treatment, which is more than sufficient to completely stop the progress of the disease.
From a later letter:
In spite of the mountains of prejudice to be overcome, I intend to prove that at last something has been discovered that will destroy the Tubercle Bacillus without being detrimental in any way to the human system; in fact, besides destroying this germ, it is a strong tonic, and will invigorate a healthy body as well as bring back to its normal condition a Consumptive one....
Now you must know that throughout the world our clever Scientists and most Prominent Specialists on Consumption have for ages past spent their lives trying to find something which will destroy the Tubercle Bacillus without injuring the human system. They have had everything at their command; the most up-to-date Sanatoria, the cleverest Nurses, and the pick of climates, yet they have failed, though every drug and remedy known, including every ingredient contained in any proprietary medicine or cough mixture ever heard of has been exhaustively tested in every shape and form. My treatment differs in this one great respect, that none of the ingredients have ever been used before by any Chemist or Doctor, and are an entirely original discovery....
I will give any Doctor its formula who requests it, and will supply him free of charge with all the treatment he needs for experimental purposes, and you must see that I can gain nothing by doing all this unless my treatment positively cures Consumption, as I claim it to do.
On the back of the printed letter quoted above appeared the following:
GUARANTEE BONDS.
The following are specimens of my guarantee Bonds. No. 1, I give to any sufferer who is considered by his Doctor to have at least six months to live in the ordinary course of matters. Terms of No. 2 Bond have to be mutually arranged. I do not accept any money under this Bond until all the conditions are fulfilled.
No. 1 Guarantee Bond.
To Mr. In consideration of you having paid me £2 12s. 6d. for a three months’ course of my treatment for consumption, I hereby guarantee that your health has, at the end of the three months, considerably improved to the satisfaction of yourself and also of your Doctor (who must be a practitioner registered in the British Isles) under a penalty of refunding the whole of the amount paid, viz., £2 12s. 6d.
(Signed) C. H. Stevens.
Broadway, Wimbledon.
No. 2 Guarantee Bond.
I hereby guarantee that it will be impossible to find any trace of the Tubercle Bacillus in your system and that you will be completely cured of Tuberculosis (consumption) to the satisfaction of your own Doctor and the Government Laboratory on or before, ______________ 19___.
The only condition being that the sum of £_______, is paid to me when this guarantee is fulfilled.
(Signed) C. H. Stevens.
Broadway, Wimbledon.
These are “specimens” of guarantee Bonds. Another document, however, which appeared to be the guarantee bond actually given, differed in containing a clause by which the patient:
hereby agrees to take same [i.e., Stevens’ Consumption Cure] according to the directions sent out with the medicine, for three calendar months from date hereof, and to follow as far as possible the advice given regarding habits of life, diet, etc., and to fill in the form on counterfoil attached, correctly.
The “form on counterfoil attached” contained a number of questions to be answered by the patient, and also a portion “to be filled in by a Medical Practitioner after the above has been filled in by the Patient,” including such questions as:
How long have you attended to this Patient?
Do you consider this a mild, severe, or hopeless case?
Do you consider this Patient has a fair chance of recovery providing Stevens’ Consumption Cure is all it is claimed to be?
and on the back the following appeared:
This Guarantee must not be given by a chemist or any one else until it is signed by a registered Medical Practitioner to the effect that he considers the Patient to have at least six calendar months to live.
Thus the appearance was maintained of guaranteeing benefit or cure, and refunding the money if the undertaking were not fulfilled; but the conditions to be complied with were such that it appears unlikely that Mr. Stevens is ever troubled with applications for return of money under one of his “Bonds.”
A “detailed direction sheet” was supplied, from which the following is taken:
One teaspoonful in a wineglass of water (as hot as can be conveniently taken for preference) one hour before breakfast and two hours after the last meal in the evening, unless the patient be in the habit of waking between 12 midnight and 3 a.m., in which case an extra dose may be taken then. After the first week’s treatment half-an-hour before breakfast is quite sufficient.
It appears that the use of this wonderful substance is not limited to consumption cases.
Stevens’ Consumption Cure is a vegetable germicide, fatal to all disease germ growths, but acts as a strong tonic; is a blood purifier, stomach cleanser, and a nerve stimulator; one will readily understand that it must be all these to cure Consumption and build up a broken-down system entirely by itself. Stevens’ Consumption Cure can safely be advantageously given wherever a germ disease exists or is suspected.
One of the most recent circulars sent out by Mr. Stevens is addressed to medical practitioners, asking them to use his remedy in severe cases of pulmonary tuberculosis which defy all the ordinary remedies, and professing to give the formula of the preparation as follows:
Its formula is 80 grains of Umckaloabo root and 13 and one-third grains of Chijitse to every ounce, prepared according to British Pharmacopœia methods.
The medicine was a clear red liquid, and analysis showed it to contain in 100 fluid parts, 21·3 fluid parts of alcohol, 1·8 parts of glycerine, and 4 parts of solid substance; this solid substance contained about 1 part of a tannin and 0·2 part of ash, the remainder being extractive. No alkaloid was present and no other active substance could be detected. The solid substance agreed in all respects with the solids of decoction of krameria, or a mixture of this decoction with a little tincture of kino. The formula thus appears to be approximately:
| Rectified spirit of wine | 23·7 | parts by measure. |
| Glycerine | 1·8 | parts. |
| Decoction of krameria (1 in 3) to 100 parts by measure. | ||
or it may be made with tincture of krameria.
Estimated cost of ingredients for 2¼ fluid ounces, 1½d.