WHEELER’S NERVE VITALIZER
Names of nostrums often mislead by the use of fake nomenclature giving erroneous ideas regarding the composition of the preparation or misrepresenting the true action of the nostrum. As an example of the latter class Wheeler’s Nerve Vitalizer was examined in the Association laboratory and found to be not a vitalizer, as the name implies, but rather a nerve sedative. The results of the examination follow:
Wheeler’s Nerve Vitalizer was packed in a carton bearing the name of the preparation, its manufacturers, “The J. W. Brant Co., Ltd., Albion, Mich.,” and an exhaustive list of the diseases for which the product is intended, besides the general statement that it is a cure for “all nervous diseases.” The “Vitalizer” is a brown, syrupy liquid having a peculiar salty taste partially masked by licorice. Qualitative tests showed the presence of sodium, potassium and bromin, and no other acid radicals except small quantities of chlorin. It was decided therefore that the preparation contained a mixture of sodium and potassium bromids. In order to separate the chlorin and bromin the preparation was evaporated, charred, extracted with water and acetic acid and potassium permanganate added and the mixture distilled with steam until all the bromin had been distilled over, thus leaving the chlorin in the distilling flask. The solution in the distilling flask was then treated with silver nitrate and the chlorin estimated in the usual way. The quantity thus obtained was subtracted from the total silver bromid and chlorin obtained by precipitating a solution of the preparation with silver nitrate and the remainder calculated to bromin.
By this method several samples of 5 c.c. each of the preparation yielded an average of 0.0059 cm. silver chlorid or 0.0012 gm. per c.c. The total silver haloids obtained by direct precipitation of the diluted preparation was found to be 0.3158 gm. per c.c., thus leaving 0.3146 gm. silver bromid to be calculated to bromin.
The total sodium and potassium was obtained in the usual way and the potassium determined as the chlor-platinate and the sodium calculated from the difference. By this method the quantity of sodium found calculated to sodium bromid gave the following results: (a) 0.0629 gm. and (b) 0.0632 gm., or an average of 0.063 gm. per c.c. From the potassium estimations the following were calculated: (a) 0.1264 gm. potassium bromid and (b) 0.1259 gm. potassium bromid per c.c., an average of 0.1261 gm. potassium bromid per c.c.
The bromids calculated from the sodium and potassium determinations were found to be 0.0630 gm. sodium bromid and 0.1261 gm. potassium bromid per c.c., the equivalent of 0.3139 gm. silver bromid. The total silver bromid obtained was 0.3146 gm., showing practical agreement with the total bromids calculated from the sodium and potassium determinations.
The preparation contained then 6.30 gm. sodium bromid and 12.61 gm. potassium bromid per 100 c.c., or 9.73 grains of potassium bromid and 4.86 grains sodium bromid, a bromid content equal to 15.35 grains potassium bromid per fluid dram.