| Zinc sulphate | 92 | grains |
| Carbolic acid (pure phenol) | 1·2 | oz. |
| Glycerine | 1·8 | fl. oz. |
| Cochineal solution sufficient to give a deep red colour. | ||
| Water to 3·3 fl. oz. | ||
This quantity is contained in a bottle costing 4s. 6d.; the directions are to add the whole contents to 1½ pints of water, which is to be applied to the diseased parts for about five minutes two or three times a day.
Another pretended “cure” for this disease was supplied from an address in Croydon, by a person who described himself as a retired Government analytical chemist. The bottle did not bear an Inland Revenue stamp. The vendor seems to prefer to see and examine the patients. In one such case he was paid 3 guineas, and asked for more, as it was, he said, a complicated case. The directions given were “two tablespoonfuls should be taken three times a day.” Analysis of this liquid showed the presence of ferric chloride, and traces of hydrochloric acid and alcohol, and nothing else except water; the alcohol indicates that the tincture of perchloride of iron, and not the liquor, was employed; determination of the amounts of iron and chlorine present showed that 6 fluid ounces of the mixture contained 5·7 fluid drachms of the tincture.
A few years ago a good deal was heard of the wonderful cures said to be achieved by two persons who resided at Cardigan. A great deal of secrecy was observed, but it was known that a fluid was applied to the surface of the cancerous tumour. The treatment, it was stated, began with prayer, and exhortations to the patient to trust in the Almighty; the lotion or oil, which was said to be made entirely from herbs and to contain no mineral caustic, was then painted on with a brush. Unlike other empirics who profess to remove the “roots” which the knife leaves behind, these Welsh practitioners asserted that their remedy made the “roots” shrink into the original growth which then fell off like a ripe apple from a tree. The practice seemed to be to require the patient to attend daily to have the local application made for periods extending over several months. Eventually, in some cases, a mass of dried, heaped-up crusts formed, and when this became detached it was put into a bottle and given to the patient who was told that it was the cancer extracted by the treatment. In one case which was enquired into, this bottle cancer was submitted to microscopical examination; it was found to consist of crusts formed of sloughing parts of the skin and inflammatory exudation, the whole being such a mass as might be produced by the use of an escharotic. The crusts when submitted to chemical analysis were found to contain zinc chloride in considerable amount, together with a very appreciable quantity of an insoluble compound of lead. A healing oil was also supplied to help the cancer falling off, and this when chemically examined was found to contain 27 per cent. of oil of turpentine, the remainder consisting principally of an ordinary saponifiable oil, probably cotton-seed or olive oil. In addition there was a considerable amount of deposit which proved to consist almost wholly of barium sulphate, a very insoluble salt, used, under the name of permanent white, by watercolour artists. It would seem, therefore, that the statement that the applications contained no mineral caustic was inaccurate. In other patients the effect of this Cardigan treatment was more destructive. In the case of one woman who had been informed that the cancer had been cured and that she only required some tonic medicine to complete the cure, the surgeon who was called to her when she was in extremis has said that he never beheld anything like it in his life; the whole breast was a necrosing mass, black and stinking, the ulcers extending up to the collar-bone and down to the margin of the ribs and across the middle line; the hand could have been inserted under the margin of the dead part all round. Some unfortunate patients persevered with the treatment although suffering pain described as excruciating.
Caustics are, in fact, the weapon of the quack, and although they may have a legitimate sphere in surgery, it is very limited; zinc chloride, for instance, has occasionally been used in a strong solution or paste as a caustic under special circumstances. Although portions of a tumour may be removed by caustic application, it is impossible to eradicate the whole in this way, as the cancerous process is extending into adjacent parts. The formula of the quack—“cancer treated without the knife”—appeals with great force to the public who do not know the terrible long-drawn-out agony which those treated with caustics have to undergo. Of this a vivid description was given by a well-known naturalist, the father of a distinguished man of letters, in a little book in which he related the suffering of his own wife; she was treated by an American cancer-curer by caustics. The process of “cure” lasted several months, and the result may be summed up in the statement that “suffering never ceased from the beginning of the operation till her spirit was freed from the worn-out body.”
CHAPTER XIII.
REMEDIES FOR EPILEPSY.
The nostrums which appear to be most advertised at the present time for the treatment of epilepsy afford a good example of the fact which has been previously pointed out that in some instances the vendors of secret preparations make use of drugs in common use by the medical profession for the treatment of some particular disorder; this is, of course, only possible when the symptoms are well-marked and easily recognised. As will be seen from the analyses given below of a number of nostrums advertised as remedies for epilepsy it was found that all, with one exception, contained bromide salts, that is to say, a drug the effect of which is described and discussed in every medical work dealing with the disease; nevertheless, the advertisers endeavour to lead the purchaser to believe that the preparations possess peculiar virtues unknown to the medical profession. The exceptional preparation contains vervain (Verbena officinalis) which held a place in the old pharmacopœias and herbals, chiefly as an astringent application to wounds or as a lotion for sore mouth. Dodoens (1572) says it is good for headache applied as a plaster, while Gerarde (1633) mentions its use as a garland round the head for the same condition, but he disapproves of the many old wives’ tales told regarding it which tend to sorcery, and are such as honest ears abhor to hear; indeed, he hints that some assert that the “divell did reveal it as a secret and divine medicine.” According to Pliny, vervain was gathered by the Druids of Gaul and Britain at the rising of the Dog Star, when neither sun nor moon shone, with the left hand only, and after libations of honey. When thus obtained it was said to vanquish fevers and other distempers, to be an antidote to the bite of serpents, and a charm to conciliate friendship. Paris speaks of it as in his own time the subject of a work on scrofula by a Mr. Morley, which was written for the sole purpose of restoring the much injured character and use of vervain, so that it is evidently a herb which has suffered much from detraction. Mr. Morley directed the root of the plant to be tied, with a yard of white satin ribbon, round the neck where it was to remain until the patient was cured. The modern vendor does not indulge in these refinements.
In submitting the following analyses it should be stated that a mixture or powder, dispensed according to the prescription obtained by the analysis, produced in each case a preparation closely resembling in appearance and taste that sold by the secret medicine vendor; further, the mixtures possessed the same specific gravity as the originals.
OZERINE.
“Ozerine,” prepared by a chemist in Ireland, is described as an unfailing remedy for epilepsy, fits, or falling sickness. The bottle examined had no medicine stamp affixed.