Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry
The Council examined the available evidence for Somnoform, sold by Stratford-Cookson Company, successors to E. de Trey and Sons, and found the preparation inadmissible to New and Nonofficial Remedies. The Council authorized publication of the report which appears below.
W. A. Puckner, Secretary.
Somnoform is sold in the United States by Stratford-Cookson Company, successors to E. de Trey and Sons. According to the label on a package of Somnoform sent the Council.
“This mixture contains Chloride of Ethyl, 83 per cent.; Chloride of Methyl, 16 per cent.; Bromide of Ethyl, 1 per cent.”
Although Somnoform has been on the market for a long time, the published reports present no proof that it is superior to ethyl chlorid used alone. Moreover, the published reports and statistics do not necessarily apply to the Somnoform now sold for the reason that mixtures of varying composition have been sold as Somnoform in the past. Thus, when Somnoform was considered by the Council in 1909, it was claimed to be composed of chloride of ethyl, 60 per cent.; chloride of methyl, 35 per cent., and bromide of ethyl, 5 per cent. Federal chemists found, however, that it contained no bromide of ethyl (Notice of Judgment No. 571). It is a question, therefore, whether a given report applies to a mixture containing 5 per cent. bromide of ethyl, 1 per cent. of this substance, or none at all.
The present advertising booklet for Somnoform does not present acceptable evidence of the therapeutic value of the preparation. An ignorance concerning the elementary facts of physiology and pharmacology is evident in the second sentence: when having stated that “Somnoform is the result of several years of study and investigation by Dr. George Rolland, Dean of the Bordeau Dental School,” the pamphlet continues: “He sought an anesthetic which would enter, dwell in, and leave the body in the same manner that oxygen does....”
The claim as to the value of the 1 per cent. of ethyl bromide in the mixture is highly improbable; certainly no evidence in support of the claimed value of this constituent is available to the referee.
No evidence is submitted which proves the claim of superiority of Somnoform over similar preparations, asserted in the following:
“The peculiar manner in which the elements are combined is what makes Somnoform at once so efficient and so safe.”