MICAJAH’S WAFERS AND MICAJAH’S SUPPOSITORIES

Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry

“Micajah’s Medicated Wafers” and “Micajah’s Suppositories,” sold by Micajah & Co., Warren, Pa., are declared inadmissible to “New and Nonofficial Remedies” because (1) their composition is essentially secret (Rule 1); (2) name of neither of these mixtures is indicative of its composition (Rule 8); (3) of exaggerated and unwarranted therapeutic claims (Rule 6), and (4) the therapeutic advice which accompanies the trade packages constitutes an indirect advertisement to the public (Rule 4).

W. A. Puckner, Secretary.

Micajah’s Medicated Wafers (formerly called “Micajah’s Medicated Uterine Wafers”) were analyzed in the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory in 1910. They were found to consist essentially of dried (“burnt”) alum, boric acid and borax, in approximately the following proportions:

Alum, dried	59.86 per cent.
Borax, dried	15.62 per cent.
Boric acid	5.67 per cent.
Water of hydration	18.85 per cent.

There are a number of drugs that are more or less effective in the treatment of local lesions of mucous membranes and the skin. They are classed as astringents. Among these are included alum, borax and boric acid. Every physician has used them. To say that a wafer consists of alum, borax and boric acid inspires but little awe. But there is something much more mysterious and impressive in declaring that a wafer “consists of an astringent and antiseptic base, in which are incorporated certain medicaments which both locally and after absorption, contribute to the astringent, antiphlogistic, depletive, soothing and healing action of the product.” This gives the impression that some powerful and almost incomprehensible factors are at work. Yet, after all is said and done, the substances contained in Micajah’s Medicated Wafers are just the homely old alum, boric acid and borax.

In addition to “Micajah’s Medicated Wafers,” Micajah & Co. also put out “Micajah’s Suppositories for Hemorrhoids.” These have been examined in the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory and, like the “Medicated Wafers” have been found to contain alum, boric acid and borax—and these substances practically alone—incorporated in cocoa butter. The company claims that “to these have been added Ammonii Ichthyosulphonate, Balsam of Peru, Ext. Belladonae.” The A. M. A. chemists report, however, that if extract of belladonna is present at all it is in amounts too small to be detected by the method commonly employed in the chemical examination of alkaloidal drugs. The chemists report further that while ammonium ichthyosulphonate and balsam of Peru both have a decided odor and are dark in color, the suppositories have but little color and the odor of the cocoa butter that forms their base is not covered by these drugs; obviously, therefore, if ammonium ichthyosulphonate and balsam of Peru are present at all it is in amounts utterly insufficient to exert any therapeutic effect.

It would be hard to find better examples of mischievous proprietary medicines than these two products of the Micajah Company. “Twins of Efficiency,” they are called in an advertising pamphlet. The composition is not stated. A physician using the “twins” does so absolutely in the dark. To him they are secret preparations. He is encouraged to use them in a great variety of conditions in which other drugs are much more useful. Inevitably, physicians using them will be likely to overlook, or pass over, new growths, specific infections and diseases that require radical remedial measures.

In addition to misleading and exaggerated claims, there is a reference to a report from the usual “well-known and reliable bacteriological laboratory.” The excerpts published from this report of an unnamed laboratory are sufficiently vague to incriminate no one.

From time to time it is worth while to emphasize facts regarding proprietary medicines that while obvious are sometimes forgotten. For this reason attention is directed to Micajah’s Uterine Wafers and Micajah’s Suppositories.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Nov. 29, 1919)