Anti-Tuberculous Lymph Compound (Sweeny) is one of those preparations that need no elaborate laboratory tests, nor even exact therapeutic research, to convince any clear-thinking person that it is patently and obviously worthless. One would hesitate before asking any reputable clinician to test a preparation of this sort. It is a constant source of surprise that some physicians allow themselves to be persuaded by advertising literature that is obviously uncritical and unscientific, to use preparations which have no more reasonable foundation than this one.
The Council declares Anti-Tuberculous Lymph Compound (Sweeny) not acceptable for New and Nonofficial Remedies.
Anti-Syphilitic Compound (Sweeny)
This preparation also is made by or under the direction of the same Dr. Gilliford B. Sweeny whose researches (?) led to the production and evolution of the Anti-Tuberculous Lymph Compound (Sweeny). According to the data at hand, this preparation is made by suspending benzoate of mercury in lymph from the bullock. Case reports are given of alleged cures of syphilis after two months of treatment; indeed, the circular exploiting the agent makes the statement that it is seldom necessary to continue the treatment beyond two months, which, if one chose to be credulous, would indicate extraordinary power for the mercury.
Mercury of course has a proper place in the treatment of syphilis, but that any physician could be induced to place his trust in this preparation is almost unthinkable though testimonials—which the “National Laboratories” claim to have received from physicians—are published. They all stamp the writers as not only gullible but also incompetent. The tenor of the claims is on a par with those made for the Anti-Tuberculous Lymph Compound; they do not justify the time required for detailed consideration.
The Council declares Anti-Syphilitic Lymph Compound (Sweeny) not acceptable for N. N. R.—(From The Journal A. M. A., April 3, 1920.)
SYRUP LEPTINOL (FORMERLY SYRUP BALSAMEA)
Report of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry
The Council has authorized publication of the following report on “Syrup Leptinol” (formerly “Syrup Balsamea”). The product is inadmissible to “New and Nonofficial Remedies,” first, because the manufacturers fail to give the profession information regarding either the amount of the potent ingredient or the method of determining its identity and uniformity; second, because of the unwarranted recommendation for its use in such infectious diseases as pneumonia and epidemic influenza and for lack of satisfactory supporting evidence of its alleged therapeutic efficacy in other diseases and, third, because the recommendations for its use appearing on and in the trade package constitute an indirect advertisement to the public.