There are probably few, if any, ailments more frequently treated by the sufferer or his friends, without recourse to medical advice, than coughs and colds. The remedies employed in such domestic practice include preparations like “linseed tea” and others made at home, but these no doubt are supplemented in very many instances by some proprietary preparation, either one of those so largely advertised, or the speciality of some local compounder. It might be contended that here, if anywhere, is a legitimate field for the maker of nostrums, and it is therefore of some interest to ascertain what is being supplied in such nostrums. The particulars as to composition and claims made which are given below show that they well illustrate the evils which inevitably creep into the dealing in secret remedies, and the downward steps which lead to purely swindling nostrums. One of the articles now described bears on the label the unusual recommendation, “For serious cases seek medical aid”; this preparation is recommended as a “valuable aid” in various complaints, and the fact that it contains morphine is stated clearly on the label, but information is not given as to the amount of morphine present. Less modest claims are made for competing articles, until we eventually reach such statements as “all that is necessary is to take one dose of the lung tonic in warm water on retiring to rest, and the cold will have disappeared in the morning ... cure is quite certain,” and “If it fails no other medicine will ever succeed.” Again, while the presence of morphine in one of the medicines is plainly declared, as we have stated, this is not so in other instances. In one of those in which on analysis morphine was found to be present the advertisement begins with a “guarantee” that the medicinal remedies contained in the lozenges cannot injure the most delicate constitution, and includes the statement that they may be safely administered to very young children; in another case the specific declaration is made that “the cough pills do not contain opium,” which would certainly be regarded by most people as meaning that they do not contain the active principle of opium—morphine; and yet this was found to be present. The uncertainty as to what the composition of a secret medicine may be at any particular time is illustrated by another of the articles described, which has in past years been the subject of legal proceedings in the course of which the presence of morphine was proved, but which is now found not to contain any.
The number of advertised proprietary medicines for the cure of coughs is very large, and the number of those but little advertised and having principally a local sale is still larger; the latter, as a rule, have a good deal of resemblance to the advertised preparations. A selected few of the most widely advertised of this class have been examined.
The information which chemical analysis can give as to the composition of proprietary medicines is necessarily limited to the recognition of those ingredients which possess more or less definite chemical properties. The makers, of course, can make use of any one or more of a long series of vegetable extracts which very much resemble each other, and of various sweetening and flavouring materials sold for the purpose. In the case of many secret preparations analysis can afford complete and positive information as to their composition; but this is not so in every case, owing to many preparations commonly used in pharmacy being devoid of definite active principles that can be identified, and possessing no characters distinguishing them from others of the same class. Many such preparations are likely to be employed in cough mixtures; and, as these medicines usually contain a large proportion of treacle, honey, extract of liquorice, decoction of linseed, or some other old-fashioned complex preparations as basis, the identification of small proportions of many substances which are likely to be present becomes practically impossible. Many of the drugs in recognised use for coughs, such as senega, Virginian prune, etc., as well as domestic remedies like horehound and coltsfoot, are practically safe from certain identification by chemical analysis for such reasons, and in some of the preparations described below such substances may perhaps be present in addition to the ingredients named. The receipts given are not put forward as necessarily representing the whole of the ingredients in the articles in question, but they probably include all those which are of any importance or possess any known curative action.
The chief interest in the composition of such medicines, however, centres in the presence or absence of more potent remedies, such as preparations of opium, ipecacuanha, etc.; and here the analyst is on surer ground. The extraction of minute quantities of alkaloids from complex mixtures containing large quantities of saccharine and “extractive” matters is, however, a matter of much difficulty, and their identification is complicated by the great similarity in the behaviour of morphine and the alkaloids of ipecacuanha towards the various reagents used in their recognition. In this connection it may be pointed out that one or two of the nostrums here dealt with have been the subject of fairly frequent legal proceedings in consequence of their having been sold without proper observance of the poisons regulations, and the evidence given in such cases has shown wide differences in the results obtained by different analysts of high standing, both as to the quantity of morphine present, and even as to the fact of its presence or absence. In making the analyses here recorded, great pains have been taken to obtain accurate results, and they have been confirmed by the employment of alternative methods, etc.; but the results can only be given subject to the caution just expressed.
KAY’S LINSEED COMPOUND.
This compound is sold by an English provincial company in bottles, price, 9½d., 1s. 1½d., 2s. 9d., 4s. 6d., and 11s. per bottle; the 2s. 9d. size contained a little over 5½ fluid ounces.
This preparation is described on the label, wrapper, and in circulars, both as “Linseed Compound,” which is given as the registered trade mark, and as “Kay’s Compound Essence of Linseed, Aniseed, Senega, Squill, Tolu, etc.” On the label it is also stated that it
contains a preparation of chloroform and morphine, and it is, therefore, labelled Poison. It is Demulcent, Expectorant, Tonic, and Soothing for Colds, Coughs, Asthma, Hoarseness, Difficulty of Breathing, Consumption, and Simple Ailments of the Chest, Throat, and Lungs.
In a pamphlet enclosed in the package, this preparation is recommended to be taken for Cold, Influenza, Sore Throat and Quinsey, Pulmonary Catarrh, Bronchitis, Asthma, Consumption of the Lungs, Whooping Cough and Croup. In most of these, however, it is recommended as a “valuable aid” rather than a positive cure; other articles, such as ipecacuanha wine, muriate of ammonia, cod liver oil, and chemical food, as well as “Kay’s Linum Catharticum Pills,” are also recommended; while under Bronchitis we read:
In an acute attack, i.e., when the symptoms are inflammatory with much fever, etc., the family doctor should at once be called in.