TUBERCULOZYNE.
The Derk P. Yonkerman Company, Ltd., an American company with an agency in London, charges £2 10s. 0d. for a month’s treatment and supplies two bottles, labelled respectively No. 1 and No. 2 Tuberculozyne, and containing in each between 11 and 12 fluid ounces of liquid.
The advertisement offered a book on “Consumption and how it may be quickly cured,” and a trial of the cure itself, to be sent free. Application for the book and sample brought bottles of “No. 1 Tuberculozyne” and “No. 2 Tuberculozyne,” holding about ½ ounce each, and a book of 48 pages dealing with the remedy. A few extracts from the book will sufficiently indicate the nature of its contents.
There have been found cures for small-pox, and safe precautions, such as vaccination, prevent the spread of the disease; the horror of yellow fever has been dispelled by a remedy that amounts practically to a cure, and one could always flee to a northern clime and escape it. The dread diphtheria also has yielded up its dark secret, and now is no more a stalking spectre; while yet dangerous it can be handled.
But through all these discoveries, consumption remained as mysterious and deadly as ever. It invaded the homes of the rich and the poor. It hunted out its victims among the inhabitants of the far northland of ice and snow, and it was just as persistent in the temperate zone and at the equator.
Climate, temper, condition of health or purse made no difference. One day the health and strength of the athlete, and the next day the fever of the consumptive; in a short time the frail skeleton would be laid away—another victim. That was the oft-repeated story of the “great white plague.”
But this horrible, awful consumption, that has gone stalking through the land, should never again strike the same terror to the souls of brave men and women, and fill our hearts with such a helpless despair—for consumption can now be cured. Tuberculozyne (Yonkerman), the most wonderful and marvellous medical discovery of the age, cures consumption....
After researches lasting for nearly twenty years, the persistent efforts of Dr. Derk P. Yonkerman have been crowned with success, for his Tuberculozyne treatment has already been proved in hundreds of cases to be a specific of almost miraculous curative power. Its healing virtues have been demonstrated in not only the early stages of consumption, but in far advanced and seemingly hopeless cases as well....
Tuberculozyne (Yonkerman) was such a marvellous remedy that when its discoverer first announced he could cure consumption there were few ready to believe. He had, however, discovered certain salts of copper of remarkable therapeutic value, and his production was immediately subjected to the most elaborate and rigid demonstrative tests....
The consumption germs (tubercle bacilli) cannot live in the presence of copper, and as the Tuberculozyne treatment introduces copper into the blood, the consumption germs cannot live....
Intra-Venous Injection, after thorough tests under the most favourable conditions, proved absolutely ineffective. Trachael (sic) Injection has also been tried with equally unsatisfactory results. Inoculation with lymph from tuberculous animals not only utterly failed, but frequently hastened the patient’s death. Antimony, prussic acid, emetics, blisters, mercury, iron, digitalis, clover, and numerous other drugs, have all proved useless, for they failed to have any action upon the cause of the disease, and only gave the patient temporary relief, if they produced any beneficial effects at all.
In treating consumption in the past, physicians making Tuberculosis a speciality have been accustomed to recommend creosote and its product guaiacol, while later arsenic has found a certain amount of favour. These physicians have undoubtedly been honest and conscientious in prescribing such treatment, for they were upheld by the practice of years, and the indorsement of the greatest specialists in each generation for a hundred years. Yet they were wrong; just as wrong and just as ignorant of the true remedy for consumption as the ancients were of geography before the new world was discovered.
Against the use of creosote or guaiacol, Dr. Yonkerman speaks positively and emphatically, and his opinions have now the support of all present-day physicians making Tuberculosis their special study.
A “Life History of Dr. Derk P. Yonkerman” was also given, from which it appeared that the home of Tuberculozyne is in Michigan, U.S.A.
The book was accompanied by a long letter, and this was followed at intervals by others; these were all printed to appear as typewritten, and dealt chiefly with the terrors of consumption if neglected, the importance of taking Tuberculozyne at once, and, after a supply had been sent, with the necessity of continuing its use even if no apparent benefit results. A few extracts are here given:
You need not be discouraged or believe your case incurable, even if you have tried all the usual remedies and found no relief, for hundreds of our cured patients have had the same experience; after all other remedies had failed to even stop the progress of their disease, they tried Tuberculozyne and were quickly cured.
From the third letter:
We realize that since you were taken ill your expenses must have been burdensome, and if you feel that at the moment the cost of a complete treatment of Tuberculozyne is more than you can readily meet, we will send you the full month’s supply upon receipt of but 40s.; the remaining 10s. you may pay at your own convenience when you are fully satisfied that your cure is complete and permanent.
From the fifth:
It is therefore with a genuine desire to help you that we write enclosing a Special Voucher Coupon issued in your name, which will help you materially if the cost of our remarkable specific has been more than you could really meet.... This Special Voucher Coupon which we have issued to you is good for £1 Sterling when sent with your order for Tuberculozyne. You have only to post the coupon together with 30s., and immediately we will forward to you the complete treatment and full instructions for its use.
From later letters:
Even if her improvement is not at once pronounced, do not be discouraged; for in some cases the patients at first even seemed to be losing ground, but they persevered and finally were cured. It would be much better to take the treatment a few weeks too long than to stop too soon....
Just at this time, when the patient has been taking our treatment for some weeks and it is beginning to permeate her system through and through, courage is needed, for great improvement may not yet be apparent though her cure be assured.
Every letter was accompanied with one lithographed copy, or more, of testimonials.
The directions were:
After each meal, put thirty drops of the medicine from each bottle into a tumbler of milk; stir well and drink immediately.
If milk is distasteful, the medicine may be taken in water which has been boiled.
For patients between the ages of seven and fifteen years, give one-half of the above dose; for those under seven years, give five (5) drops only, from each bottle.
No. 1 was a bright red liquid; analysis showed it to contain in 100 fluid parts, 3·4 parts of potassium bromide, 12 parts of glycerine, a trace of a pungent substance, sufficient oil of cinnamon (or oil of cassia) to give a flavour, a very small quantity of alcohol, and cochineal colouring matter darkened with a trace of alkali; no copper was present. The following formula gave an exactly similar liquid:
| Potassium bromide | 3·4 | parts. |
| Glycerine | 12·0 | ” |
| Oil of cassia | 0·1 | part. |
| Tincture of capsicum | 0·17 | ” |
| Cochineal colouring | q.s. | |
| Caustic soda | 0·06 | part. |
| Water to | 100 | fluid parts. |
No. 2 was a brown liquid, one specimen being bright and another containing a little sediment. Analysis showed it to contain in 100 fluid parts, 18 parts of glycerine, sufficient essential oil of almonds to give a flavour, and a colouring matter which appeared to be burnt sugar. No copper was found in the small free sample, but the larger bottle of No. 2 contained 0·01 per cent. of copper, and a trace of sulphate: this quantity of copper is equivalent to ¹/₄₈ grain of crystallised copper sulphate in each fluid drachm. As regards the other ingredients the following formula gave an exactly similar liquid:
| Glycerine | 18 | parts. |
| Essential oil of almond | 0·1 | part. |
| Burnt sugar | q.s. | |
| Water to | 100 | fluid parts. |
The estimated cost of ingredients for No. 1 and No. 2 together is 2½d.
The following notes on some German nostrums for Consumption are derived from Dr. Zernik’s articles in the Deutsche Medicinische Wochenschrift.