Presumably, therefore, if physicians desire to know what Pulvane is, the Pulvane Laboratories, Inc., “will be glad to name every ingredient of Pulvane.” It is worth noting that nothing is said about quantities. It is also worth remembering that “Peruna” and some other “patient medicines” have for years printed on the label the names of the alleged ingredients. How much longer is the medical profession going to be fooled with the trick of nostrum exploiters pretending a frankness that means nothing?
From a recent issue of a Des Moines newspaper we learn that the Pulvane Laboratories are about to establish a sanatorium where the Pulvane treatment can be given. This announcement is said to be made by John P. Mosher, the alleged discoverer of Pulvane. Mosher is not a physician. The newspaper article states, further, that Mosher’s experiments were tried out “under the observation of Major Sharpe,” commander at Fort Des Moines. It appears also that an ex-newspaper reporter is connected with the Pulvane Laboratories. The value of having a good publicity man is obviously recognized. There also seems to be connected with the concern a Dr. Harry P. Hall. We find in the records reference to one Harry P. Hall who was graduated by the Medical Department of Drake University of Des Moines, Iowa, in 1894, and was licensed in Iowa in 1896. Our records indicate that he has not been in practice for some years. We also find in our files some newspaper clippings regarding a Dr. Harry P. Hall who, in 1914, pleaded guilty to a charge of using the mails to defraud and was fined in the federal courts. Whether there is any connection between these two names, we do not know.
Reverting to the claims made by the Pulvane Laboratories that Pulvane was “developed in a United States Army General Hospital by officers of the Medical Department” the following statement has recently been received by The Journal from Surgeon-General Ireland of the United States Army:
“It has been brought to my attention that a concern in Des Moines, Iowa, known as the Pulvane Laboratories, has issued a pamphlet in which statements are made which would naturally lead medical men to believe that the experiments, etc., referred to therein were made with the approval of and more or less under the direction of the Medical Department of the Army. I wish to say that this is not so; that the Medical Department had nothing whatever to do with the matter and that it thoroughly disapproves of the methods used by the promoters of this concern.—(From The Journal A. M. A., March 11, 1922.)
SAL HEPATICA
Sal Hepatica is a saline laxative sold by the Bristol-Myers Company of New York. Little information is given, or, apparently, ever has been given, concerning the composition of this product. Many years ago the stock medical journal advertisement contained this statement:
“Composition.—Sal Hepatica contains all of the Tonic, Alterative and Laxative Salts of the celebrated ‘Bitter Waters’ of Europe, especially those of Bohemia, as determined by actual chemical analysis of these waters, and fortified by the addition of Lithium and Sodium Phosphates.”[255]
Sal Hepatica no longer “contains all the tonic, alterative and laxative salts ...,” etc., for the label on a package recently purchased reads: