The Propaganda for Reform in Proprietary Medicines, Vol. 2 of 2

by Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry

H. C. W.

Answer.—Thialion is an heirloom of the days when lithium salts were supported to be nature’s antidote for all kinds of ailments, supposedly due to excess of uric acid. It was advertised as a uric acid eliminant and therefore good for all kinds of diseases. The Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry published a report on thialion in The Journal, Nov. 3, 1906. At that time thialion was advertised by the Vass Chemical Company as a “laxative salt of lithia” with the chemical formula “3Li₂O.NaO.SO₃.7HO,” and an elaborate structural formula was also furnished. The Council reported that the product was not a definite chemical compound, but a mixture consisting chiefly of sodium sulphate, sodium citrate and small amounts of lithia. In recent advertisements, thialion is referred to as “A Non-Effervescing Lithiated Laxative Salt,” “a non-hygroscopic, non-deliquescent, granular salt of lithia,” etc., but the chemical formula does not appear, nor is any definite statement of composition furnished. According to this advertisement, the “indications” for thialion are: “gout, rheumatism, uric acid diathesis, constipation, acute and chronic, sluggish liver, Bright’s disease, albuminuria of pregnancy, asthma, incontinence of urine, gravel, cystitis, chronic lead poisoning, headache, neuralgia, neurasthenia and lumbago, Hay fever, etc.”—(Query in The Journal A. M. A., Dec. 6, 1919.)

Venarsen—To the Editor:—The following is a copy of a letter sent to the Intravenous Products Company, which needs no explanation:

June 8, 1917.

The Intravenous Products Co., Denver, Colo.

Gentlemen:—In reply to your circular letter under date of June 3, may I say that after using a great quantity of Venarsen both in clinical and private cases, I can see no more effect upon these cases than if so much water had been administered.

This is also the report of Don R. Black, pathologist for Bell Memorial Hospital, University of Kansas. In our experiments all bloods were tested before and after each administration of this product.

William A. Wilson, M.D., Kansas City, Mo.

(Correspondence in The Journal A. M. A., July 7, 1917.)