“A harmless, practically odorless, non-poisonous, non-corrosive antiseptic....”
“... it is non-poisonous and can be employed with perfect immunity as a preservative....”
The substance has the characteristic appearance, odor and taste of naphthol. It responded to all the tests of the United States Pharmacopeia for betanaphthol, with the exception of the melting point, which was found to be 119 C. instead of 122 C., an indication of impurity. It is evident, therefore, that Hydronaphthol is merely a trade-name for betanaphthol. While resublimed betanaphthol is listed at 10 cents an ounce, Hydronaphthol is listed at 75 cents an ounce.
Hydronaphthol thus furnishes one more illustration of the fact that most proprietary medicines for which the most extravagant claims are made are but old and well-known remedies sold under a fancy name at a price far in advance of that charged for the constituent or constituents. The exploiters are extremely positive in their statements regarding the non-toxic character of the preparation. Yet, as a matter of fact, betanaphthol is by no means harmless; it has been absorbed by the diseased skin with injury to the kidney and with fatal results. In some cases injury to the eye has also occurred. These toxic actions should be known to the practitioner. From 3 to 4 gm. (1 dram) applied to the skin has produced death (Stern: Therap. Monatshefte, 1900, p. 165). When a manufacturer advertises a preparation which possesses potentialities for harm, and especially when he puts it out under a name which conceals its identity, it is incumbent on him to warn the customer of possible injurious or inconvenient actions instead of proclaiming that the preparation is harmless.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Sept. 3, 1910.)
HYDROZONE
The moral principle governing the action of secret proprietary and patent medicine men is an unknown quantity; sometimes it would seem to be a negative one. Just how much lower in the scale of humanity a man can go than to prey on the fears of a people in the time of a terrible epidemic for the sake of a few dollars we do not know. There may be something more despicable, but what is it? Two weeks ago we referred to the cold-blooded methods of the Peruna people; this week we reproduce an advertisement from the New Orleans States that tells another story of man’s inhumanity to man.
This brings up the problem that we are trying to solve, viz.: “What is the difference between a ‘secret proprietary medicine’ advertised in medical journals to physicians and a ‘patent medicine’ advertised in newspapers to the public?” Hydrozone is being advertised in nearly all medical journals, and at the same time in newspapers. Where shall we place it? And if hydrozone, with the methods recently adopted to exploit it, is tolerated in the medical press, why not peruna?