One of the best known, because most widely advertised, of the so-called lithia waters is Buffalo Lithia Water—​or what used to be called Buffalo Lithia Water. After the Federal Food and Drugs Act came into effect, by which falsification on the label was penalized, the name of Buffalo Lithia Water was changed to Buffalo Lithia Springs Water. The reason for this change was that when Buffalo Lithia Water was subjected to examination by the government chemists it was found to contain so little lithium that the amount present was unweighable—​it could be demonstrated only by the spectroscope. It was evidently, therefore, not a lithia water in that it did not contain—​at least in quantities that could be consumed—​an amount of lithium that would give the therapeutic effects of lithium: Possibly the company imagined that by changing the name from “Buffalo Lithia Water” to “Buffalo Lithia Springs Water” it had cleverly evaded the federal law. Their argument was to this effect: The springs from which this water is taken are known as Buffalo Lithia Springs; therefore, it is not a misstatement of facts to call this Buffalo Lithia Springs Water.

WHAT IS A LITHIA WATER?

The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, holding a district court, has recently given an opinion on the Buffalo Lithia Springs Water case. The findings of the court are refreshingly simple, and characterized by that broad commonsense view that is becoming increasingly more common among modern jurists. Read Judge Gould’s opinion as to what constitutes a lithia water:

“Speaking generally, and as an individual of average intelligence and information, it would seem that if one were offered a water which the vendor told him was a ‘lithia’ water, one would have the right to expect enough lithium in the water to justify its characterization as such, thus differentiating it from ordinary potable water; and this amount would reasonably be expected to have some effect on the consumer of the water by reason of the presence of the lithium.”

Certainly a reasonable attitude, and one which the man in the street not only can understand but will agree with. Then came the question as to the actual lithium content of Buffalo Lithia Springs Water, and the court said:

“For a person to obtain a therapeutic dose of lithium by drinking Buffalo Lithia Water he would have to drink from one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred and twenty-five thousand gallons of water per day. It was further testified, without contradiction, that Potomac River water contains five times as much lithium per gallon as the water in controversy.”

SOME TESTIMONIALS

Here, then, is a water that has for years been advertised first, in medical journals, and later, in lay publications, as a “lithia water” yet, actually, it contains less lithium, five to one, than is to be found in ordinary river water. This is a point for physicians to ponder well over. Turn to the back volumes of medical journals and read, both in the advertising and reading pages, the elaborate testimonials, given by men high in the medical profession, on the marvelous effects obtained by the use of Buffalo Lithia Water. Read the following in light of the fact that the water from the Potomac River contains five times as much lithium as Buffalo Lithia Water:

“In the class of cases in which lithia, soda and potash are regarded as most specially indicated, I have obtained far better results from the Buffalo Lithia Waters than from any of the preparations of the lithium salts of the Pharmacopeia.” (Statement by a member of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, France, etc.)

“Its [Buffalo Lithia Water] therapeutic effects, in my practice, have been vastly superior to those obtained from Lithia Tablets or other Lithia preparations.” (Statement by an ex-president of the University College of Medicine, Richmond, Va., etc.)