ELIXIR IODO-BROMIDE OF CALCIUM COMP. “WITHOUT MERCURY” AND “WITH MERCURY”
Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry
The Tilden Company, New Lebanon, N. Y., and St. Louis, Mo., sells “Elixir Iodo-Bromide of Calcium Comp. without Mercury” and “Elixir Iodo-Bromide of Calcium Comp. with Mercury.” The latter is said to contain, in addition to the ingredients of the former, 1⁄100 grain mercuric chlorid in each fluidram. According to the label the formula of the elixir “without mercury” is:
“Formula—Salts of Iodine, Bromine, Potassium, Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium with Stillingia, Sarsaparilla, Rumex, Dulcamara, Lappa, Taraxacum, Menispermum.”
A recent circular declares that the elixir contains:
“... a number of the most powerful alteratives of the pharmacopeia such as chemically pure iodin, magnesium, potassium with sarsaparilla, stillingia, prickly ash, burdock, taraxacum, etc. ... Each fluidounce contains seventy-two grains of the combined salts.”
The same circular also alleges that each dram of the preparation contains:
“... the equivalent of one and one-half grains of the combined iodids, potassium and calcium ...”
It will be observed that, (1) the two statements quoted from the circular make no reference to bromids; (2) the statement that each dram contains “the equivalent” of 11⁄2 grains of the combined iodids, potassium and calcium, accounts for but 12 of the 72 grains of “the combined salts” per fluidounce declared in the preceding quotation; (3) the circular mentions the presence of a drug—prickly ash—not declared on the label and, finally (4) none of the “formulas” gives the quantities of all of the several constituents.
It is evident from these “formulas” that the Tilden Company continues its policy of concealment and mystification as exemplified in the cases of Hydrocyanate of Iron, Tilden (discussed in The Journal, June 19, 1909, p. 2008), Febrisol (The Journal, June 29, 1912, p. 2043) and Respirazone (The Journal, June 14, 1913, p. 1899).
In the circular just quoted (“The Conquest of Syphilis”), all hope for the syphilitic is declared to rest in mercury and iodin, and it is implied that only through Elixir Iodo-Bromide of Calcium Comp. is it possible to obtain the greatest good from these drugs.
“Were the cleansing influences of these two drugs [mercury and iodin] unavailable to the luetic patient, he, truly, would be as pitiable an object as the leper ...
“Modern Pharmacy has devised no better means of utilizing these anti-syphilitics than Elixir Iodo-Bromide of Calcium Comp. (Tilden) with or without mercury.... The Elixir, in proper dosage, acts in specific fashion and is adapted for use in all stages of the disease.
“In the early months ... Elixir Iodo-Bromide of Calcium Comp. (Tilden) with mercury is a trustworthy weapon and the physician need have no fear but that it will subjugate the disease ...
“When ... the virulent stage is passed ... Elixir Iodo-Bromide of Calcium Comp. (Tilden) without mercury may be given the patient with every assurance that medicine’s most aggressive measures are being resorted to ... From time to time, up to the very end of the time honored three years’ period of treatment, it is well to put the patient back on the bichloride, using for this purpose the form of the Elixir administered in the first stages of the disease ...
“This regime ... will indubitably antidote the virus of syphilis and eradicate from the organism its every vestige.”
While it seems incredible that any physician would jeopardize the health—even the life—of a patient by accepting this boastful magniloquence as sound therapeutic advice, still the fact that certain medical journals lend their advertising pages to advertisements for Tilden’s Elixir with the caption “The Conquest of Syphilis” makes it incumbent on the Council to record its condemnation of the employment of this unscientific, semisecret mixture.
It is recommended that Elixir Iodo-Bromide of Calcium Comp. “without mercury” and “with mercury” be held in conflict with Rule 1 (secrecy of composition), Rule 6 (unwarranted therapeutic claims) and Rule 10 (unscientific composition).—(From The Journal A. M. A., Nov. 6, 1915.)