“Still, a few respectable names have been associated with its [Cineraria maritima] employment in that capacity and it only remains to be said that the instillation into the conjunctival sac of a preparation of this or any other member of the Senecio family has about as much effect on the resolution or dispersal of opacities due to organic changes in the lens as pouring the same down the back of the patient’s neck!”
The plant from which Cineraria maritima juice is claimed to be prepared is commonly referred to in literature as Cineraria maritima, but is more correctly described as Senecio cineraria, D. C.
It may be considered a matter of indifference whether a remedy like this be advertised for the treatment of such diseases as cataract, providing its application could do no harm, but it must be remembered that it is recommended also for other diseases of the eye in which its use, by postponing efficient treatment, would be the means of serious damage or even loss of vision.
Since there is no evidence to show that this drug is of any therapeutic value, it is recommended that it be not admitted to the list of non-official, non-proprietary remedies in N. N. R., and that the Council formally expresses its opinion that the drug, as judged by the evidence which is available, is without value in the treatment of cataract or similar diseases of the eye.
[Editorial Comment.—Cineraria maritima would long since have been relegated to the limbo of discarded and discredited drugs had it not been given a semiproprietary character by a St. Louis nostrum house—the Walker Pharmacal Company—which, like the Manola Chemical Company, is, we understand, practically a subsidiary concern of the Luyties Homeopathic Pharmacy Company. The Walker concern exploits this drug under the name Succus Cineraria Maritima (Walker). Its method of exploitation consists in publishing testimonials, which it dignifies with the name “clinical reports,” from men whom it designates as “representative physicians.” As indicative of what constitutes representative physicians, we find that of the seven testimonials given in their pamphlet the names of three of the signers are not to be found in any medical directory.
The exploitation of Succus Cineraria Maritima (Walker) is the oft-repeated story of the resurrection of discarded and worthless drugs for the purpose of creating proprietorship in a nostrum. Cineraria maritima is worthless; its therapeutic value is nil. By the prodigal use of printers’ ink, the medical profession—and through it the public—has been humbugged into believing that it possesses curative value.]—(From The Journal A. M. A., Nov. 11, 1911.)