Any other hot toddy at bedtime (and it need not cost a dollar a bottle) might give relief; but the intelligent physician to-day recognizes the danger of prescribing alcohol in such conditions.
“In the case of brain workers who suffer from nervous excitability and mental fatigue, the administration of Celerina in teaspoonful doses, three times a day and at bedtime, rapidly controls the condition and increases mental capacity.”
And the same effect follows its use:
“In cases involving worry, anxiety, overwork, and excesses of various kinds....”
Moreover:
“Celerina is the most prompt and efficient of remedies for devitalized or broken-down constitutions—doses four times a day.”
The statement made by its manufacturers that this preparation is free from narcotics or habit-forming drugs is not true. Alcohol is both a narcotic and a habit-forming drug.
As in the case of other nostrums containing no potent drugs but alcohol, Celerina is recommended for various diseased conditions in combination with a familiar form of treatment by drugs of more or less value. The physician who thoughtlessly prescribes one of these combinations will without doubt unthinkingly attribute any subsequent improvement to the Celerina. Thus, for malaria, a prescription of quinin and Celerina is advised; for chorea in children, arsenic with Celerina; in “Convalescence from La Grippe,” strychnin sulphate, Fowler’s solution, and Celerina; for impotence, nux vomica, dilute phosphoric acid and Celerina. In none of these conditions would Celerina affect favorably anything except the pockets of the exploiters; in some, as in the chorea of children, the alcohol would be positively detrimental. Of course, the value of such prescriptions (so far as they have any apart from the fictitious value lent by the alcohol) resides altogether in the standard drugs prescribed with Celerina.
There is no possible excuse for writing a prescription for Celerina, either in original package or mixed with well-known or valuable drugs. The sooner it is realized that this preparation has no place in medicine, should never be prescribed by physicians and is essentially nothing but alcohol and bitters exploited under a fancy name, the better for the public health and the science of medicine. The continued sale and use of Celerina is a disgrace to the medical profession.