| Aloes | 0·5 | grain. |
| Powdered ginger | 0·55 | ” |
| Powdered soap | 0·18 | ” |
| In one pill. | ||
NERVLETTES.
Of these pills, which are sold in a bottle, price 1s. 1½d., containing 27 pills, a circular enclosed in the package said
Coleman’s Nervlettes or Nerve Pills generate brain and nerve-force.
The pills were coated with talc; after removal of the coating they had an average weight of about 1½ grains. Analysis showed them to contain free phosphorus, quinine sulphate, a little powdered liquorice, and about 20 per cent. of a powdered vegetable tissue, which could not be identified; the remainder of the pill appeared to be of the nature of excipient only. The amounts of phosphorus and quinine were determined, and indicated the following formula:
| Phosphorus | 0·005 | grain. |
| Quinine sulphate | 0·07 | ” |
| Vegetable powder | 0·3 | ” |
| In one pill. | ||
MOTHER SEIGEL’S CURATIVE SYRUP.
The price of a bottle of Mother Seigel’s Syrup containing 3 fluid ounces is 2s. 6d.
Although this was described on the wrapper as “for dyspepsia” so many disorders were stated to be due to this cause, and amenable to treatment with this preparation, that it may fairly be included in this chapter. On the other side of the wrapper it was called “A cure for impurities of the blood,” and “A cure for dyspepsia and liver complaints.” In a circular enclosed with the bottle it was stated:
The symptoms mentioned above are the smoke of the fire of indigestion—a fire that will eat out your very vitals and sap your strength and vitality. For it can’t be too often repeated that indigestion is the root of a great deal of evil; the origin of a great many disorders which no man quite understands how he came by. And why this is can easily be explained. Disease is poison; its symptoms are the manifestation of the poison. Indigestion creates many dangerous poisons, and is therefore the cause of many diseases.