The pamphlet proceeds to give reasons for supplementing the treatment by the use of other articles, of which the following are recommended: “Ohraseptic,” “Nazaseptic,” “Specially Prepared Catarrh Tonic,” a nasal irrigator, and a safety ear syringe. It was accompanied by a leaflet headed, “Medical Report on the ‘Ohrsorb’ Treatment,” in which many testimonials are given, but not one from a medical source or anything of the nature of a medical report; also by a “reduced price coupon,” offering a 2s. 9d. tube for 1s. 6d. or a 4s. 6d. tube for 3s., provided the applicant undertook to use it as directed and report the result, and a list of about fifty questions to be answered in connexion with deafness, &c., and catarrh of the nose and throat, concluding with the following paragraph:
As a little return for supplying the tube of “Ohrsorb” compound at the reduced price, and for the very special attention that will be given to your case, the author will be grateful if you favour him with the names and addresses of two or three of your friends who suffer from deafness, head noises, or catarrh of the nose or throat. This is entirely confidential, and your name will not be mentioned.
In order to test the importance attached to the answers to the questions, a supply of “Ohrsorb Compound for Deafness” was sent for, without giving any particulars of the supposed case for which it was required. The compound was at once sent, together with a multiple-typed letter of the usual kind, as shown by the following extracts:
“I hope you will not neglect to write me about your progress with my treatment”; “of course you will appreciate that in obstinate cases Ohrsorb must be persisted with for some time before the improvement can begin to show itself.”
and offering for future supplies three 4s. 6d. tubes for 10s. 6d.
The “Special Ohrsorb Compound” is supplied in collapsible tubes, and the 2s. 9d. size contained just over ½ oz. of ointment. The directions were to rub the ointment once, twice, or thrice a day over the skin close behind the ear, and also from just beneath the ear around to the front of the throat, for three to five minutes.
The ointment, nearly black in colour, contained about 70 per cent. of vaseline, and about 4 per cent. of beeswax, a little soap, and a little saponifiable fat; sulphur and ammonia were present in combination, and the dark constituent appeared to be of the class represented by thiol, tumenol, and petrosulfol, artificial compounds intended to take the place of ichthyol, and like it containing much sulphur in combination but free from its disagreeable odour. The total sulphur found in “Ohrsorb Compound” was 0·8 per cent., which corresponds to about 8 per cent. of one of these substances. An ointment made up with tumenol, soft paraffin, wax, and a little ammonia soap resembled “Ohrsorb Compound” very closely, though the correspondence was not quite complete. It was not considered worth while to isolate the dark constituent in a state of purity permitting of more precise identification than is here indicated; to determine the detailed characterization of such a substance a large quantity would be necessary.
CHAPTER XVI.
REMEDIES FOR EYE DISEASES.
The proprietary articles advertised for the cure of diseases of the eyes, though perhaps not so numerous as some other classes of nostrums, vary a good deal in nature, but the claims made for most of them are equally comprehensive. The results of analysis of a few are here given and it will be seen that two of them, including one called “botanic,” are mercurial ointments. Another advertiser seems to think or pretends to think that cataract can be cured by bathing the eyes with soda alum dissolved in coloured water, while we come across also an “Ophthalmic Institution” selling for external application an anti-cataract mixture consisting of glycerine with a little potassium iodide and starch.