Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry
The following report was adopted by the Council. Its publication was authorized to show how a practically worthless mixture may be exploited by means of ill-considered testimonials.
W. A. Puckner, Secretary.
Neurilla, which appears to be the sole product of the Dad Chemical Company, New York, is advertised as
“The Ideal Nerve Calmant.”
“... a nerve tonic ... indicated in cases where the nerve centers are poorly nourished and over-sensitive ...”
“... a stimulant to the nervous system.”
“A Valuable Aid in the Treatment of Fevers, Colds, La Grippe, etc.”
The following non-quantitative and indefinite formula is given on the label of a recently purchased bottle of Neurilla:
“Prepared from Scutellaria Lateriflora, Passiflora Incarnata and Aromatics.”
“Proportion of Alcohol 20.3%.
“Made by Dad Chemical Co., New York, U. S. A.
“Dose, One Teaspoonful Four Times a Day.”
According to the formula, then, this mixture contains, aside from alcohol and aromatics, two vegetable drugs, scutellaria and passiflora, on which the alleged virtues of the preparation must be presumed to depend.
Scutellaria lateriflora, or skullcap, is a bitter drug, one of the many “herbs” to which, on wholly unreliable “clinical evidence,” therapeutic properties were at one time ascribed. Most pharmacologists do not mention the drug, and those who do generally state that it has very feeble therapeutic properties. It was admitted to the Pharmacopeia, but in 1909 its deletion was recommended by a committee of the Section on Practice of Medicine of the American Medical Association (The Journal A. M. A., Sept. 4, 1909, p. 792). We understand that the next edition of the Pharmacopeia will omit mention of skullcap.
Passiflora incarnata, or passion-flower, is another “herb,” which, although known for about seventy years, has never gained the confidence of the medical profession and has not even been admitted to the Pharmacopeia. According to a Council Report: