INTRAVENOUS COMPOUND (LOFFLER)
Its Composition and the Peculiar Methods by Which It Is Exploited
For some time past inquiries have been received regarding Charles Lyman Loffler, his Post-graduate Course in Intravenous Therapy and especially relative to “Intravenous Compound (Loffler).” For instance, a physician writes:
“Can you tell me anything about the Physicians Drug Syndicate.... They are pushing the sale of Thymozene and offering One Hundred Dollars’ worth of stock fully paid and non-assessable, free to those sending in their order, and also a copy of Dr. Loffler’s Lectures on the Blood.”
And from another physician:
“What do you know of Charles Loffler, M.D., and his Intravenous Compound? A few evenings ago a man who appeared to be about 40 years old came to my office and tried to interest me in the above-mentioned article; he claimed to be Dr. Charles Loffler of Chicago. With him was a young lady whom he introduced as Miss B——. Miss B—— said that she had been with Dr. X—— And this also: “Charles Loffler, M.D., or his agent was traveling around inducing one M.D. in each town to take up his methods of blood examination and treatment and with a little advertising of blood examinations free the doctor selected gets quite a run of patronage.” Another physician writes: “My attention has been called by another physician to Loffler’s Intra-Venous Compound. May I trouble you to give me any information that you may have with regard to its composition and its value as a therapeutic agent?” C. L. Loffler does business from Rooms 1101–1102, Venetian Bldg., Chicago, the location of the “Intravenous Chemical Co.,” the “Physicians Drug Syndicate” and the “Ma-Oze Chemical Co.” Of these, more later. The Journal has in its files a large amount of material regarding Loffler. A brief résumé of that part of the material dealing with Loffler’s professional activities will be given for the purpose of allowing physicians to evaluate the scientific status of Loffler’s “Lectures,” “Post-Graduate Courses,” his therapeutic “discoveries” and his products. It seems that Loffler was reared in Yankton, S. D. In 1898–1899, Loffler was a senior student at John Creighton Medical College, but, for reasons that need not be gone into here, he was never graduated. He received a diploma from Barnes Medical College in 1900, and in the same year was licensed to practice in South Dakota. In 1902 he was at Le Mars, Iowa; in 1904 his name appears in the medical directory, under Sioux Falls, S. D., as “Specialist in Chronic Troubles.” Charles L. Loffler’s “specialty” is “Intravenous Medication.” In 1912 and 1913, as the Intravenous Company of Colorado Springs, he was sending out a booklet entitled “Consumption.” This described the alleged marvelous results to be obtained in the treatment of tuberculosis by the use of “Intravenous Compound”; there was also a side line, “The Loffler Internal Bath Plate.” At that time the administration of “Intravenous Compound” was recommended intravenously, hypodermically, by rectum, by mouth and even by insufflation. When the stuff was to be given by rectum, the recommendation was made: “First wash out the bowels with a preliminary injection of two or three quarts of warm water, using for this purpose the Loffler Internal Bath.” In 1913 Loffler sought a larger field for his peculiar talents and left Colorado Springs. After a short stay in Denver he is next found in Minneapolis, where he was also “engaged in the practice of intravenous therapy” and, incidentally, seems to have been an organizer and manager of a common law concern known as the Automatic Thrasher Co. In 1919 we find Loffler in Chicago as president of the “Physicians Drug Syndicate.” This concern—another common law organization—had for its vice president one A. E. Erling, M.D., and for its secretary and treasurer, Arthur C. Hanson. Erling was discussed[251] in an article that appeared in The Journal, July 5, 1919, on the egregious “Allied Medical Association of America” of which organization C. L. Loffler was “President” in 1918. Hanson, the secretary and treasurer of the Physicians Drug Syndicate, is said to have hailed originally from Minot, N. D., where he was in the drug business. His name appears in the Propaganda files as the manager of the Ma-Oze Chemical Co. of Minneapolis, which, in October, 1919, was advertising in a daily paper of that city: “Protect yourself against influenza. Don’t let the germs get a foothold in your system. Kill them with Ma-Oze Antiseptic Powder. Use it as a gargle. It is ... sure death to all kinds of disease germs.” In a preliminary statement sent out by Hanson in the early part of 1919 it seems that the Physicians Drug Syndicate was conceived “primarily to supply physicians with a product to be used in Leucorrhea and personal cleanliness of women.” This product, apparently, was the Ma-Oze of influenza fame in Minneapolis. It was to be put out, however, under the name of “Thymozene,” which, “packed in 4 ounce unlabeled carton for dispensing,” would “show nearly 100 per cent. profit to the organization over the profit which you make if you dispense your own drug.” In October, 1919, the Physicians Drug Syndicate was circularizing physicians in Iowa trying to get them to send in $6 for “1 Dozen Thymozene 4 oz.” For this $6 the doctors were to get, in addition to the marvelous Thymozene, the following rights, privileges and emoluments: 1. A free Post-Graduate Course in Intravenous Therapy by Dr. Charles Loffler. 2. A gift of $100 worth of stock in the Physicians Drug Syndicate. 3. A copy of Dr. Loffler’s Lectures on Blood. 4. The privilege of purchasing future supplies of Thymozene “at wholesale prices less discount of 331⁄3 per cent.” The letter making these offers mentioned incidentally: “Besides our product Thymozene we have been forced to add a Uterine Wafer to be used in connection with hot Thymozene douches in Leucorrhea. These wafers are simply miracle workers.” In addition to this circular letter there was a membership blank leaflet detailing the marvels of “Thymozene.” There was another leaflet headed in very large, black type “Influenza” and recommending “Ma-Oze Antiseptic Powder” or “Thymozene” for this condition. Still another leaflet accompanying it lauded “Intravenous Compound (Loffler)” and reprinted laudatory puffs of this preparation that were credited to H. H. Witherstine, M.D., Rochester, Minn., Joseph B. Klinehans, M.D., Chicago, and the “Loring Park Sanatorium” of Minneapolis. In addition to the Intravenous Compound (Loffler) there is, of course, certain “apparatus for the giving of the treatment” which the Intravenous Chemical Co. supplies. The “compound” must be given just so, and the Intravenous Chemical Co. “reserves the right to refuse to supply any physician with Intravenous Compound (Loffler) who, either through lack of proper apparatus or proper care in preparation of solution, or for any reason, uses it in such a manner that will cast discredit upon it.” The complete apparatus, including 2 ounces of Intravenous Compound (Loffler), sells for $24. What is Intravenous Compound? Apparently, nobody knows except Charles L. Loffler, who asks physicians to inject—and we regret to say some are injecting—this nostrum of unknown composition into the veins of their patients. To a physician who had raised the point of secrecy Loffler wrote in part: “I am sure that you will agree with me that it is far better to place this treatment in the hands of competent physicians, such as Dr. Witherstine, and many more whose names I will gladly send you, and to protect the honest and competent doctor who investigates and takes up the work, than to publish the formula and give to the unscrupulous a chance to try to make the product and no doubt to claim to cure disease that is beyond hope. The formula is not kept secret for profit ... but is so kept upon the advice of a number of good men who have the interest of the doctor at heart.... I am willing and anxious to place the product and the results in thousands of cases before the A. M. A. on the one condition that the formula shall be kept secret for the benefit of the reputable physician.” In another letter written more recently to a physician who called attention to the secrecy of the nostrum, Loffler wrote: “The Intravenous Compound contains approximately 58 per cent. oxygen, 12 per cent. chlorine, 16 per cent. potassium, 9 per cent. sodium and 5 per cent. boron. I have no hesitancy in giving it, and it was due to an incompetent man in this office that this was not given fully in the booklet. He made the changes without my consent and has caused me to answer many inquiries by physicians.” A seeming frankness is a trick as old as nostrum exploitation itself. Loffler’s “formula” is meaningless. A quack who was putting out a mixture of 1 part baking soda and 2 parts common salt might with equal frankness say that his marvelous combination contained approximately 35.4 per cent. sodium, 4.8 per cent. carbon, 19 per cent. oxygen, 40.4 per cent. chlorin, and 0.4 per cent. hydrogen. In order that the profession might know more about this product a specimen was turned over to the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory for analysis. Here is what the chemists report: “One original 2 ounce bottle of ‘Intravenous Compound (Loffler) for Intravenous Use’ was submitted to the Association’s Chemical Laboratory for examination. According to the label, the product is sold by the ‘Intravenous Chemical Co., Chicago.’ The bottle contained a white granular substance, which appeared as if the ingredients had been fused together. The product responded to tests for sodium, potassium, chlorate, borate and nitrate. As this same set of chemical radicals was found by Puckner and Hilpert (J. A. M. A., May 22, 1908, p. 1706) to be present in ‘Oxychlorin’ and ‘Zyme-oid,’ a quantitative comparison of ‘Intravenous Compound (Loffler)’ was made. “The analysis indicated that all three products are essentially the same:THE INTRAVENOUS COMPANY IN COLORADO
THE PHYSICIANS’ DRUG SYNDICATE
THYMOZENE, FREE STOCK—AND EVERYTHING
CHEMISTS’ REPORT
| Oxychlorin, Per Cent. | Zyme-Oid, Per Cent. | Intravenous Compound, Per Cent. | |
| Potassium (K+) | 12.26 | 13.50 | 13.79 |
| Sodium (Na+) | 8.20 | 9.84 | 9.82 |
| Boric acid anhydride (B2O3) | 18.63 | 13.42 | 15.20 |
| Chlorate (ClO3-) | 25.52 | 27.53 | 26.44 |
| Nitrate (NO3-) | 21.70 | 24.22 | 23.75 |
| Water calculated | 13.29 | 10.42 | 11.72 |
“Assuming that the chlorate in ‘Intravenous Compound (Loffler)’ is present as potassium chlorate and the nitrate is present as sodium nitrate, the figures obtained by the analysis correspond to a mixture approximately as follows:
| Potassium chlorate (KClO3) | 38.6 | per cent. |
| Sodium nitrate (NaNO3) | 32.6 | per cent. |
| Potassium borate (K2B4O7) | 4.9 | per cent. |
| Sodium borate (Na2B4O7) | 4.0 | per cent. |
| Boric acid | 21.1 | per cent. |
“From the results of the examination it is concluded that this preparation is a mixture of alkali chlorate and nitrate and boric acid, probably produced by fusing together the constituents. It is practically the same mixture as Oxychlorine and Zyme-oid as analyzed nearly fourteen years ago in the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory.”
Throughout the advertising of “Intravenous Compound (Loffler)” the physician is reminded of the financial returns that the product offers.
“... The financial return will prove as interesting to yourself as results are to the patients.”
“And lastly but not less interesting, the financial returns are commensurate with results.”
“... the instruction given me in the use of your Intravenous Compound and the opportunity presented adds four to five hundred dollars per month to my bank account.”
“... will not only give you more positive results than have ever obtained in chronic and progressive diseases but a very remunerative business.”
“Intravenous Compound (Loffler) is supplied in granular form, 2 ounces to a bottle, at $2 per bottle. An ounce will average fifteen treatments and treatments are at from $3 to $5 each, according to the ability of the patient to pay.”
A physician whose name the Intravenous Chemical Company had given as a user of Intravenous Compound (Loffler) was written to by another physician who was interested in the matter and he was asked frankly for his opinion. He replied in part:
“The treatment makes a profound impression on the recipient and is usually followed by a marked improvement mentally, and I have not been keen enough to draw the line of just how far the physical or material improvement went and when the psychical began.
“For the office ‘specialist’ of the advertising type this would be a boon, but I am not entirely satisfied that its use completely justifies its claims.”
SUMMARY
Intravenous Compound (Loffler) stands revealed as a nostrum of secret composition which physicians are asked to inject into the veins of their patients. It must be purchased in connection with some supplementary material, “a complete set of apparatus,” sold by the same concern. Its successful administration is said to depend on following a technic detailed either in a booklet sent out by Loffler or given by Loffler in a “Post-graduate Course” which costs physicians $50 unless they have purchased six dollars’ worth of another nostrum, “Thymozene.”
The intravenous administration of drugs is impressive. To the patient the technic is mysterious and its psychic effect striking. Its dangers—infection, air embolism, intravascular clotting, sudden death—are matters of record. Every conservative physician will admit that there is no excuse for the intravenous administration of even those drugs that are well known and whose effects have been carefully studied, except when distinct advantages are to be secured. As The Journal has stated before, “Little is known of the results to be expected from intravenous therapy even with simple substances.”
What, then, can be said of the physician who subjects his patients to the intravenous injection—“at from $3 to $5 each, according to the ability of the patient to pay”—of a preparation of whose composition he is as ignorant as he must be of its effects? Intravenous Compound (Loffler) has been on the market ten years; it is unmentioned in the literature of scientific medicine. The name of its exploiter, while not unknown in the twilight zone of professionalism as the exploiter of a nostrum, as a “Specialist” in “Chronic Troubles” and “Intravenous Therapy,” as well as in other capacities even less savory, is equally unknown to scientific medicine.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Nov. 12, 1921.)