From our analysis we conclude that Unguentine contains not alum but aluminum acetate (small amounts of alum may be present as impurities in the aluminum acetate), zinc oxid, or more probably impure zinc carbonate, and that the entire quantity of both does not exceed 5 per cent. It contains no ichthyol, or if any but the merest traces, and less than 1 per cent. of phenol. The aromatic oils amount to not more than approximately 1 per cent. in all. The ointment-base is, in the main, petrolatum.
In Unguentine we have, therefore, another proprietary “specialty,” regarding the composition of which indefinite, false or misleading statements have been made—this irrespective of protestation of honesty by the firm.—(From The Journal A. M. A., March 27, 1909.)
URICEDIN
W. A. Puckner and A. H. Clark
In view of the results of investigations by Zernik of Uricedin as sold in Germany, and because it is being advertised to physicians in this country, an examination of this product was made in the laboratory of the American Medical Association. Zernik’s report shows how this remedy has varied in its composition as put on the market in Germany. From their analysis the authors find that Uricedin is not a definite chemical compound as is claimed, but is a simple mixture whose composition is approximately:
Sodium sulphate (anhydrous) | 61.52 | per cent. |
Sodium citrate (anhydrous) | 29.62 | per cent. |
Sodium chlorid | 2.13 | per cent. |
Citric acid (anhydrous) | 3.25 | per cent. |
Moisture | 2.53 | per cent. |
Undetermined | 0.95 | per cent. |
| ——— | ||
| 100.00 | ||
Uricedin, therefore, is not a definite chemical compound as claimed, but a simple mixture which consists essentially of sodium sulphate (dried Glauber salt) 2⁄3, and sodium citrate 1⁄3. It is, therefore, a typical nostrum, and, as it appears, one the composition of which is changed from time to time to suit the whim of the manufacturer. The therapeutic claims made for it are of the usual extravagant character. According to a recent advertisement it is “used successfully for Gouty Diathesis, urinary Calculi, Rheumatoid Arthritis,” “useful in Migraine, Occipital Headache, Epilepsy, Hay Fever, Asthma,” etc. If such a simple mixture will do all that this one is claimed to do, let us use it, but prescribe its ingredients under their proper names. Such a mixture would cost only a few cents a pound, but this nostrum is listed at $1.25 a bottle of five ounces, or probably $1.75 at retail, and this for the benefit of its foreign manufacturers and their agents.—(Abstracted from The Journal A. M. A., Nov. 23, 1907.)