VALUE AND LIMITATIONS
“It seems to be the consensus of opinion among scientific investigators who have studied this question that the food value of these meat extracts is rather limited, and although they are a source of energy to the body they must not be looked on as representing in any notable degree the food value of the beef or other meat from which they are derived. When prepared under the best possible conditions a commercial meat extract is of necessity, in order that it may not spoil, deprived of the greater part of the coagulable proteids, which constitute the chief nutritious elements of the juice.”—(From The Journal A. M. A., Jan. 23, 1908.)
PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURERS AND THE GREAT AMERICAN FRAUD
At various times we have given more or less complete accounts of the prosecutions the United States Government has brought against nostrum exploiters under the Food and Drugs Act. One of the more recent of these, while of comparatively little interest per se, is of importance to the medical profession, because of certain elements connected with it. The case is known technically as “Notice of Judgment No. 284” and deals with the “Alleged Misbranding of Danderine.” The gist of the case is as follows: Casks of Danderine—a widely advertised “hair tonic”—were shipped in carload lots from Michigan to West Virginia, where the product was bottled, labeled and put in condition to be retailed. Danderine contains a percentage of alcohol which, while given on the labels of the bottles in which it is sold, was not stated on the casks in which the preparation was shipped in bulk. The government sought to confiscate, under the Food and Drugs Act, sixty-five casks thus shipped because the quantity or proportion of alcohol in the casks was not stated. The Knowlton Danderine Company resisted the confiscation and the court upheld the company’s claim.
The point in this case which is—or should be—of interest to the medical profession is to be found in the “statement of facts” presented by the Knowlton Danderine Company in its own defense. Here it is said that: “Parke, Davis & Co., who are mentioned in the said libel as shippers ... are under contract with the said Knowlton Danderine Company ... to compound the said formula ...” Elsewhere it is stated: “Parke, Davis & Co. were ... the manufacturing agents, under contract, of the owner, the Danderine Company ...”
This evidently means that Parke, Davis & Co., who are generally supposed to manufacture only “ethical” preparations—proprietary or otherwise—and as such to desire the respect and good wishes of the medical profession, are in the business of furnishing the supplies for nostrum venders. What Danderine is, it is hardly necessary to specify. The widely distributed advertisements of this “hair tonic” nostrum with the slogan: “Danderine Grows Hair and We Can Prove It” are sufficiently well-known to all who read to make a lengthy disquisition on the product unnecessary.
It is interesting in this connection to note that according to newspaper dispatches the Danderine Company has absorbed the Sterling Remedy Company, which exploits “Cascarets.” Three years ago a physician, who is also a pharmacist, wrote to the Medical World regarding the manufacture of Cascarets:
“... I have positive evidence, which I will gladly submit, that P., D. & Co., make all of them [Cascarets], and that they have a contract with the Cascaret people not to make anything similar for any one else.”
In the circular which comes in the Danderine packages two other “specialties” are advertised: “Neuralgine” for “sick, weak, tired nerves” and “Drake’s Palmetto Compound” for “weak stomachs, sluggish livers, disordered kidneys,” and various other derangements of the system. The question naturally arises, are these, too, shipped in casks from Parke, Davis & Co., and merely bottled and labelled in West Virginia?