ECHINACEA
Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry
The Council has voted to reject several non-proprietary articles and has recommended that the reasons for their rejection be given in The Journal; among these is echinacea. The following paper has been submitted by a subcommittee with the recommendation that it be published. This recommendation was adopted.
W. A. Puckner, Secretary.
Echinacea
When this drug was first introduced, it was a typical nostrum, with exaggerations regarding its therapeutic value that were somewhat more gross than usual. It was later adopted by the eclectic school without being freed from the stigmata of its origin. It was also pressed into use as the main ingredient of such proprietary preparations as Echafolta, Ecthol Eusoma, etc. Efforts have been made to get the regular profession to use it in these various forms.
According to J. U. Lloyd (Pharm. Review, vol. xxii, p. 9–14), the introduction of echinacea into eclectic medicine is due to the efforts of Dr. H. F. C. Meyer to increase the sale of Meyer’s Blood Purifier, a secret remedy containing it. The following is a literal copy of the label on this nostrum:
After Lloyd had identified the plant, Meyer put the preparation out under another form with the following label:
These absurd claims of an evidently ignorant man have passed into the more recent proprietary advertising matters and into much of the eclectic writings. Indeed, the seemingly impossible had been attained by even surpassing Meyer’s all-but-all-embracing claims. Not content with endorsing echinacea as a positive and speedy “specific” for rattlesnake bite, syphilis, typhoid fever, malaria, diphtheria and hydrophobia, later enthusiasts have credited it with equally certain curative effects in tuberculosis, tetanus and exophthalmic goiter, and with the power of retarding the development of cancer.
It is worth noticing—although it is not surprising—that these far-reaching claims have been made on no better basis than that of clinical trials by unknown men who have not otherwise achieved any general reputation as acute, discriminating and reliable observers. No attempt seems to have been made to verify these claims by accurate scientific methods, clinical or otherwise, although this could very easily have been done.
Not one of the eulogistic reporters and exploiters seems to have considered it worth while to determine by the simplest control experiments whether the drug possesses any bactericidal or antiseptic powers whatever. It is therefore not very strange that discriminating physicians have failed to show much enthusiasm. One of the warmest endorsers of echinacea, C. S. Chamberlain (who later became the president of the Eusoma Pharmaceutical Company), complains that he has been unable to interest regular physicians in the remedy. He reviews the statements of previous authors and reports eight cases of infection, only two being acute or extensive, in which he used it with asserted success.
In view of the lack of any scientific scrutiny of the claims made for it, echinacea is deemed unworthy of further consideration until more reliable evidence is presented in its favor.
REFERENCES
Meyer, H. F. C.: Eclectic Med. Jour., 1887; Goss: Chicago Med. Times, 1888; Hages: Eclectic Med. Jour., 1888; Shelly: Medical Gleaner, 1894; Lloyd, C. G.: Eclectic Med. Jour., 1897; Lloyd, J. U.: Eclectic Med. Jour., 1897; Lloyd, J. U.: Pharm. Review, xxii, 9–14; Schnitz, Elsie M.: Wis. Med. Recorder, 1898, ii, 202; White, J. N.: Texas Med. News, 1898, viii, 110–113; Stinson, J. C.: Therap. Gazette, 1900; Hale, E.: Lancet-Clinic, March, 1901; Thielen, B. F.: Echafolta, Its Uses in Dental Surgery, Dental Reg., 1903, vii, 462–465; Gorse, C. A.: New Albany Med. Herald, 1903–4, xxii, 384; Chamberlain, C. S.: Louisville Monthly Jour. Med. & Surg., 1904–5, xi, 219–223; Lancet-Clinic, 1905, M. S., liv, 279–283; Ellingwood, F.: Therap. Gazette, 1905, 3, S., xxi, 298–300; French, J. M.: Med. Brief, 1905, xxxiii, 537; Mathews, A. B.: Georgia Pract., 1905, i, 137–140.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Nov. 27, 1909.)