MANOLA

Physicians as Unpaid Pedlers of Nostrums

One of the most disheartening features of the fight against the proprietary evil within the profession is the slowness with which physicians awake to their responsibilities in the matter. It is a notorious fact, familiar to physicians against advertising men alike, that the simplest and cheapest way to introduce a nostrum to the public is through the instrumentality of the medical profession. Ever since the birth of the proprietary evil in this country, shrewd manufacturers have persuaded doctors to act as unpaid pedlers for their wretched nostrums and to become particeps criminis in the exploitation of such wares.

Manola is an alcoholic nostrum with just enough more or less inert medicinal products added to exempt it from the internal revenue tax, but not enough to prevent its being used as a tipple by those who object to taking their “toddy” in a simpler form. It is prepared by the Luyties Pharmacy Company of St. Louis, a homeopathic concern whose hahnemannian leanings are not so strong but that it is willing to cater to the various sectarian schools of medicine as well as to the regular profession. Since the promoters realize, doubtless, that to put this stuff out under a homeopathic label might not be conducive to stimulating physicians’ confidence, Manola is labeled: “Prepared only by the Manola Company, St. Louis.” In other words, it is the old dodge of forming subsidiary companies for the purpose of hiding the identity of the real owners. In this connection, it is worth reminding our readers, incidentally, that the Walker Pharmacal Company, St. Louis, is another subsidiary concern of the Luyties Pharmacy Company, created for the purpose of pushing another nostrum—Hymosa.

Manola is seldom advertised in medical journals. Instead the Luyties Pharmacy Company has discovered a more effective method of “putting one over” on physicians and druggists. The method which has been pursued for years and which, under the same title and subtitle that head this article, was exposed in The Journal as long ago as May 6, 1905, consists in sending to physicians a letter containing three postcards—unstamped, of course. With the postcard there is a slip that reads:

INSTRUCTION FOR OBTAINING
3 BOTTLES OF MANOLA FREE

Dear Doctor: Fill out the attached cards Nos. 1 and 2. Mail No. 1 to us and hand Nos. 2 and 3 to your druggist. Impress upon him the necessity of mailing postal card No. 3 direct to us, and not to his jobber.

Yours truly,
THE MANOLA COMPANY.

The postcards are numbered, respectively, 1, 2 and 3. Here is No. 1:

Dr Ezymark writes the name of his druggist on Card 1, puts a stamp on it and mails it to the Manola Company, alias Luyties Pharmacy Co.

Card 2, addressed to his druggist, also is filled out by Dr. Ezymark. Here it is:

Then the doctor, acting the part of errand-boy, delivers Card 2 and also Card 3 to his druggist. Here is Card 3:

This, Mr. Goat, the druggist, has to fill out, affix a stamp and send to the Manola Company. In return for all this, Mr. Goat has his shelves loaded up with a dozen bottles of Manola and, for that privilege pays $8 out of his own pocket. Dr. Ezymark gets three free bottles. Incidentally, he also gets the contempt of his druggist—and of such patients as learn of it.

The only one who profits by all this is the Luyties Pharmacy Co., alias the Manola Co., alias the Walker Pharmacal Company.

Evidently this method of exploitation pays; that it does pay is a disgrace to the medical profession. To those physicians who have in the past acted as pedlers for Manola we would say: If your patients really need sherry wine let them purchase it under its own name and at the ordinary market price. You will then know what they are getting and you will be able to retain not only your own self-respect but also the respect of your druggist and the public.

The Composition of Manola

Examination of Manola in the Association laboratory indicates that its composition is consistent with its origin, for its medicinal ingredients are present in truly homeopathic quantities. The laboratory report follows:

An examination of an original bottle of Manola gave the following results:

Specific gravity at 25 C.	1	.0329
Alcohol	18	.00	per cent. by vol.
Non-volatile matter (residue on evaporation)	15	.93	gm. in 100 c.c.
Ash		.96	gm. in 100 c.c.
Phosphoric pentoxid (P₂O₅)		.0668	gm. in 100 c.c.
Total alkaloids		.0047	gm. in 100 c.c.
Calcium	Traces.
Magnesium	Traces.
Iron	Traces.
Sodium	Traces.
Arsenic	Traces.

Manola is a light amber colored liquid having the odor and taste of sherry wine. The above analysis indicates that it is nothing more than wine, fortified with alcohol and a slight amount of medicinal substances added. The non-volatile matter appears to be nearly all sugar, glycerin, or some similar substance and the presence of less than one gram of ash to 100 c.c. excludes the presence of more than a small amount of organic salts. From the amount of phosphorus found there appears to be about one dose of phosphoric acid to a twenty-ounce bottle. Arsenic is present in such small amounts that the ordinary hydrogen sulphid test failed to show its presence and the delicate Gutzeit’s test had to be used to detect it.—(Modified from The Journal A. M. A., April 2, 1910.)