The medicine was a clear red liquid, and analysis showed it to contain in 100 fluid parts, 21·3 fluid parts of alcohol, 1·8 parts of glycerine, and 4 parts of solid substance; this solid substance contained about 1 part of a tannin and 0·2 part of ash, the remainder being extractive. No alkaloid was present and no other active substance could be detected. The solid substance agreed in all respects with the solids of decoction of krameria, or a mixture of this decoction with a little tincture of kino. The formula thus appears to be approximately:
| Rectified spirit of wine | 23·7 | parts by measure. |
| Glycerine | 1·8 | parts. |
| Decoction of krameria (1 in 3) to 100 parts by measure. | ||
or it may be made with tincture of krameria.
Estimated cost of ingredients for 2¼ fluid ounces, 1½d.
TUBERCULOZYNE.
The Derk P. Yonkerman Company, Ltd., an American company with an agency in London, charges £2 10s. 0d. for a month’s treatment and supplies two bottles, labelled respectively No. 1 and No. 2 Tuberculozyne, and containing in each between 11 and 12 fluid ounces of liquid.
The advertisement offered a book on “Consumption and how it may be quickly cured,” and a trial of the cure itself, to be sent free. Application for the book and sample brought bottles of “No. 1 Tuberculozyne” and “No. 2 Tuberculozyne,” holding about ½ ounce each, and a book of 48 pages dealing with the remedy. A few extracts from the book will sufficiently indicate the nature of its contents.
There have been found cures for small-pox, and safe precautions, such as vaccination, prevent the spread of the disease; the horror of yellow fever has been dispelled by a remedy that amounts practically to a cure, and one could always flee to a northern clime and escape it. The dread diphtheria also has yielded up its dark secret, and now is no more a stalking spectre; while yet dangerous it can be handled.
But through all these discoveries, consumption remained as mysterious and deadly as ever. It invaded the homes of the rich and the poor. It hunted out its victims among the inhabitants of the far northland of ice and snow, and it was just as persistent in the temperate zone and at the equator.
Climate, temper, condition of health or purse made no difference. One day the health and strength of the athlete, and the next day the fever of the consumptive; in a short time the frail skeleton would be laid away—another victim. That was the oft-repeated story of the “great white plague.”