The following report on Silvol (Parke, Davis & Company) was adopted by the Council and its publication authorized.
W. A. Puckner, Secretary.
The Council took up the consideration of Silvol (Parke, Davis & Company) because of inquiries received. The following report was submitted by the referee in charge of silver preparations:
Silvol (Parke, Davis & Company) is a silver-protein preparation of the Argyrol type. Like Argyrol, it is said to contain about 20 per cent. of silver. The referee finds that, like Argyrol, it is nonirritant to the nasal mucosa in a 10 per cent. solution; does not precipitate with chlorid; dissolves in water readily; a 25 per cent. solution has a high specific gravity (Silvol, 1.137 at 20 C.; Argyrol, 1.147 at 20 C.), and is not very viscid (viscosity, 1.25). A 1:1,000 solution of Silvol is clear and about 50 per cent. deeper in color than a solution of Argyrol of the same strength.
Silvol differs from Argyrol mainly in that its solutions yield a fine precipitate with egg albumin (under suitable conditions), while Argyrol is nonprecipitant; and in that Silvol solutions are not so effectively decolorized by Lloyd’s reagent.
The manufacturers did not reply to an inquiry with regard to the basis for the claims made for Silvol (see [Appendix]). The referee was therefore obliged to deduce these claims from the firm’s advertising matter. About the same claims are made for the local use of Silvol as are generally made for Argyrol. These may be accepted without detailed evidence in view of the similarity of the two preparations.
Its usefulness, as suggested in the advertising, when given by mouth “in the treatment of acute or chronic gastritis, gastric ulcer, or gastro-enteritis,” or the efficacy of very dilute solutions (0.2 per cent.) against dysentery, etc., is doubtful and requires substantiation by evidence. The claims that Silvol is astringent, though nonirritant and noncoagulant, that it is a “powerful germicide” or even that it is a “powerful antiseptic,” and that it may be used with advantage wherever “a silver salt is indicated,” need substantiation. There is no proof of the assertions that Silvol is “the most efficacious of silver salts”; “the most efficient antiseptic,” and “the most remarkable organic silver compound ...”
As the manufacturers have not presented any evidence for their highly improbable claims, and as they have not signified any intention of making their claims agree with substantiated facts, it is recommended that Silvol be declared inadmissible to New and Nonofficial Remedies.
The Council adopted the report of its referee and authorized its publication.