PULVANE
In a twelve-page pamphlet, sent out by the Pulvane Laboratories, Inc., of Des Moines, Iowa, and purporting to deal with “The Therapy of Pulvane, an advanced method for the treatment of Respiratory Diseases,” we are told that Pulvane “was developed in a United States Army General Hospital by officers of the Medical Department.”
Pulvane “originally was intended only for its germicidal action upon tubercle bacilli in the lung,” but it is now also recommended for asthma, hay fever, bronchitis, rhinitis, laryngitis and “other affections of the air passages.” Of the alleged action of Pulvane on tuberculosis we read:
“It destroys the spores of the bacilli as well as the germs themselves. It prevents infection of new areas by aspiration, gravity or surface contact.
“In cases where sputum is positive it is a very noteworthy fact that shortly after treatment is begun, the bacilli begin to disappear, gradually diminish in number, and finally the sputum becomes negative.”
Pulvane is administered, by inhalation, at the offices of the Pulvane Laboratories, Inc. Its “discoverer” chanced on a method of “introducing into solution and volatizing a certain germicide, extremely rare in its usage because of its resistance heretofore to attempts to bend it to scientific will.” This “rare” medicament is alpha naphthol! But since the discovery of this volatizing method “three other ingredients of high therapeutic value have been added.” What are these other ingredients?
“They would be named were it not that Pulvane requires special technique in its preparation and administration. Our medical directors do not consider it advisable to identify them here because of the possibility of incompetent hands attempting their use. The medical directors, however, will be glad to name every ingredient of Pulvane for any reputable member of the profession. Pulvane Laboratories reserve only the method of compounding.”
Presumably, therefore, if physicians desire to know what Pulvane is, the Pulvane Laboratories, Inc., “will be glad to name every ingredient of Pulvane.” It is worth noting that nothing is said about quantities. It is also worth remembering that “Peruna” and some other “patient medicines” have for years printed on the label the names of the alleged ingredients. How much longer is the medical profession going to be fooled with the trick of nostrum exploiters pretending a frankness that means nothing?
From a recent issue of a Des Moines newspaper we learn that the Pulvane Laboratories are about to establish a sanatorium where the Pulvane treatment can be given. This announcement is said to be made by John P. Mosher, the alleged discoverer of Pulvane. Mosher is not a physician. The newspaper article states, further, that Mosher’s experiments were tried out “under the observation of Major Sharpe,” commander at Fort Des Moines. It appears also that an ex-newspaper reporter is connected with the Pulvane Laboratories. The value of having a good publicity man is obviously recognized. There also seems to be connected with the concern a Dr. Harry P. Hall. We find in the records reference to one Harry P. Hall who was graduated by the Medical Department of Drake University of Des Moines, Iowa, in 1894, and was licensed in Iowa in 1896. Our records indicate that he has not been in practice for some years. We also find in our files some newspaper clippings regarding a Dr. Harry P. Hall who, in 1914, pleaded guilty to a charge of using the mails to defraud and was fined in the federal courts. Whether there is any connection between these two names, we do not know.
Reverting to the claims made by the Pulvane Laboratories that Pulvane was “developed in a United States Army General Hospital by officers of the Medical Department” the following statement has recently been received by The Journal from Surgeon-General Ireland of the United States Army:
“It has been brought to my attention that a concern in Des Moines, Iowa, known as the Pulvane Laboratories, has issued a pamphlet in which statements are made which would naturally lead medical men to believe that the experiments, etc., referred to therein were made with the approval of and more or less under the direction of the Medical Department of the Army. I wish to say that this is not so; that the Medical Department had nothing whatever to do with the matter and that it thoroughly disapproves of the methods used by the promoters of this concern.—(From The Journal A. M. A., March 11, 1922.)