THE WILLIAM A. WEBSTER CO. AND THE DIRECT PHARMACEUTICAL CO.

The following letter from a Detroit physician was received a few days ago.

To the Editor:—I have just received a letter from the Direct Pharmaceutical Co. of St. Louis, Mo., quoting prices on drugs which are not more than one half what the leading manufacturers are quoting on the same drugs. I have received previous literature from this company but have not done business with them. I would be unwilling to prescribe their drugs unless I were satisfied that they are what is claimed for them. I would be glad to receive any information regarding this firm that may be available.

The Journal has also received some letters from physicians regarding the William A. Webster Co. of Memphis, Tenn., relative to a letter the concern was sending physicians in the form of a testimonial (reproduced in miniature on this page) and alleged to be from Dr. F. W. P. Butler of Columbia, S. C. Typical letters on the Webster advertising follow:

To the Editor:—Is there not some way through which the dignity of the medical profession can be protected from the circulation of such idiotic drivel as the enclosures display?

To the Editor:—I am sending you an example of the sort of “evidence” which some so-called ethical pharmaceutical houses expect physicians to take for scientific proof. It is pathetic that there are some in our profession who “fall for” such rot. I trust you will continue your campaign for honest and intelligent medicine.

The “evidence” to which one of the correspondents refers and which another characterizes as “idiotic drivel” is reproduced on the following page in miniature. It is a testimonial for William A. Webster Company’s “Ferritonic-Woods.”

Reproduction (reduced) of a testimonial letter sent to physicians by William A. Webster Company of Memphis, Tenn. Those who operate this concern also have a sales agency in St. Louis, Mo., known as the Direct Pharmaceutical Co.

Our readers may wonder why we are discussing in one article the William A. Webster Company of Memphis, Tenn., and the Direct Pharmaceutical Co. of St. Louis. The reason is that the Direct Pharmaceutical Co. of St. Louis is apparently merely a sales agency for the William A. Webster Company of Memphis. It appears that orders sent in to the Direct Pharmaceutical Co. go to Memphis to be filled.

The following information regarding some of the products that have in the past been put out by the William A. Webster Company should be of interest to the profession. In government bulletins issued by the Department of Agriculture in October, 1913, there were reported some cases of adulteration and misbranding on the part of the William A. Webster Co., of Memphis, Tenn. A “Pure Concentrated Extract of Lemon” shipped by this concern was found by the federal chemists to be colored with a coal-tar dye “whereby inferiority was concealed,” and while purporting to be a concentrated lemon extract, “in fact, it was not a concentrated lemon extract.” Some “Pure Concentrated Extract of Banana” was found to have mixed with it an imitation banana flavor and an artificial color so as to “injuriously affect its quality and strength” and so that “its inferiority was concealed.” “Pure Concentrated Extract of Pineapple” was found to have had mixed with it “an imitation extract of pineapple artificially colored.” “Pure Concentrated Extract of Strawberry” had been mixed with “an imitation strawberry extract artificially colored.” The same bulletins described the case of the government against a shipment of “Syrup Iron Iodide” made by the Webster concern in which the amount of iron iodid was less than half that claimed on the label. In each of the cases just described, the company pleaded guilty and was fined.

In a similar bulletin issued August, 1914, there were recorded several more cases of adulteration and misbranding charged against the William A. Webster Company. Some “Wine Coca Leaves” was held adulterated in that the amount of alcohol present was wrongly declared on the label; it was held misbranded in that while it contained cocain, the label failed to bear any statement regarding the quantity of proportion of this drug. Tablets of “Acetanilid and Sodium Bromid Compound” were found deficient in strength. “Anti-Vomit Tablets,” “Aspirin Tablets,” “Bismuth and Calomel Tablets,” “Quinin Laxative Tablets,” “Salol Tablets,” “Sodium Salicylate Tablets,” “Neuralgic Tablets,” “Diarrhea Calomel Pills” and “Morphin Sulphate Hypodermic Tablets” were also misbranded in that the amount of certain ingredients found in them failed to tally with the amount declared on the label. In all of these cases also the William A. Webster Company pleaded guilty and was fined.

In a government bulletin issued in June, 1917, the same company was charged with adulterating and misbranding a quantity of Aspirin tablets which, instead of containing 5 grains as labeled, contained only a fraction over 1 grain. In this case, too, the company pleaded guilty and was fined. The table that follows briefly summarizes some of the cases just referred to:

	Amount Claimed		Amount Found
“Syrup Iron Iodid, U. S. P.”
Ferrous Iodid	10%		4.6%
“Acetanilid and Sodium Bromid Tablets”
Acetanilid	3.50	gr.	2.94	gr.
“Anti-Vomit Tablets”
Bismuth subnitrate	2.50	gr.	1.76	gr.
Cerium Oxalate	2.50	gr.	1.78	gr.
Cocain Hydrochl.	0.0833	gr.	0.0637	gr.
“Aspirin Tablets”	5.0	gr.	3.82	gr.
“Bismuth and Calomel Comp. Tablets”
Bismuth subnitrate	0.1	gr.	0.22	gr.
Calomel	0.1	gr.	0.22	gr.
“Quinin Laxative Tablets”
Acetanilid	2.0	gr.	1.69	gr.
“Salol Tablets”	2.50	gr.	2.05	gr.
“Sodium Calicylate Tablets”	5.0	gr.	3.88	gr.
“Neuralgic Pills”
Morphin sulphate	0.05	gr.	0.015	gr.
“Diarrhea Calomel Pills”
Morphin sulphate	0.062	gr.	0.05	gr.
“Morphin Sulphate Hypodermic Tablets”	0.25	gr.	0.21	gr.
“Aspirin Tablets”	5.00	gr.	1.13	gr.

—(From The Journal A. M. A., Oct. 18, 1919.)