“The maintenance of a satisfactory blood pressure level free from intervals of depression may be accomplished by the use of Phillips’ Phospho-Muriate of Quinine Compound in appropriate doses.”
“The quantities of quinin and strychnin in this preparation are so well balanced that they relieve the depression and fatigue from mental or physical exertion, without the necessity of recourse to alcoholic stimulation.”
“The other ingredients of Phillips’ Phospho-Muriate of Quinine—phosphoric acid, and the phosphates of potash, magnesia, lime, and iron—are the most rational as well as convenient means of administering these tissue remedies, and of introducing phosphorus—the vitalizing constituent of the nervous system—into the organism.”
The action of such a mixture as a whole is practically that of the sum of the actions of its constituents. The therapeutic action of strychnin and quinin are described in every text-book of therapeutics, but it is necessary to distinguish carefully between the various conditions in which these alkaloids have been used without discrimination, and those conditions in which they have been proved to be of value. While both have been widely used in a great variety of conditions, neither is of proved value in more than a distinctly limited range of diseases. The manufacturers of Phillips’ Phospho-Muriate of Quinine Comp. seem to appeal to the less discriminating who use these alkaloids without any definite conception of exactly what they seek to accomplish with them. Quinin, although used by the uncritical in a host of diseases, has a definite field of usefulness in the treatment of malaria, both prophylactic and curative, but the required dose in the treatment of malaria is many times larger than that recommended in the Phillips’ preparation. The claim that the “strychnin and quinin in this preparation are so well balanced that they produce a mild, buoyant effect, so advantageous, instead of alcoholic stimulation, to relieve depression and fatigue from mental or physical exertion” is nonsensical, if, indeed, it is not mendacious balderdash.
Calcium and potassium have important functions in the body, but any deficiency that may arise is usually attributable to an inability of the body to utilize that which is supplied, for there is seldom any deficiency of these salts in the food, and when they are needed they are best supplied as simple solutions of the salts in appropriate doses without all of the other constituents of Phillips’ Phospho-Muriate of Quinine Comp.
Phosphoric acid exerts practically the same actions as other mineral acids, hydrochloric being usually preferred for internal administration in certain forms of indigestion, aside from which they are seldom used as such.
In the more recent literature for Phillips’ Phospho-Muriate of Quinine Comp., we find the attempt to utilize the well known craze about phosphorus, which has been through so many phases, every one of which has had its day and has been discarded.
The phosphoric acid and phosphates present in Phillips’ Phospho-Muriate of Quinine are of no more value in nervous diseases than is simple sodium phosphate which does not require the addition of a host of other ingredients for its action. As a matter of fact, the phosphates of calcium and potassium present in a dose of Phillips’ Phospho-Muriate of Quinine are probably devoid of appreciable effect in practically all conditions.
To pretend that one who suffers from physical and nervous exhaustion can be materially benefited by this mixture is sheer nonsense and is unworthy of a moment’s consideration by a clinician who is called on to treat such patients.
Iron is useful in anemia, as every one knows. Iron has practically no other field of usefulness in therapeutics. When it is indicated it should be administered in a simple form, such as the pill of ferrous carbonate, for example, and not in a “shotgun” mixture that is quite as likely to do harm as good.