ANTIPHLOGISTINE

“A copy of the enclosed circulars has been sent to many of the physicians in this city, and probably elsewhere. Perhaps it has already been called to your attention. Let us be as liberal as possible with our recent enemies. The sooner the old channels of scientific communication are re-opened, the better. But let us not allow such blatant commercialism from a foreign country to go unprotested, any more than we should if it were from our own.”

It should be noted in passing that the envelop in which the Wolfgang Schmidt letter came has on its face a rubber-stamped impress to the effect: “Concerns Cancer Treatment.” The circular letter declares that by means of Antimeristem-Schmidt “either a cure or improvement has been effected in numerous inoperable cases” of malignant tumors. American physicians are asked “to employ the preparation when occasion arises” and are assured that “every medical man in city or country will be able to carry out treatment without preliminary knowledge.” With the letter are two leaflets discussing the use and administration of the product; one contained what was called a “Synopsis of some of the more recent publications regarding the employment of Antimeristem-Schmidt in inoperable malignant tumors.” The “recent” publications comprised three articles published in 1910 and one published in 1912!

Antimeristem-Schmidt was rather widely exploited some six or seven years ago. As was explained inThe Journal, March 8, 1913, p. 766, it is a preparation claimed to be useful in the treatment of inoperable cancer and as a supplementary treatment after operations for cancer. The treatment is founded on a theory advanced by one O. Schmidt that the cause of cancer is found in afungus,Mucor racemosus, which, Schmidt at first asserted, carried a protozoon which he regarded as the real cause of the disease. The vaccine is said to be prepared from cultures from this fungus. While Schmidt claims that he has been able to produce cancer by means of the organism, scientific research has not verified his claims. Extensive clinical trials have shown the treatment to be without effect.The Journalalso advised its readers on April 19, 1913, that no license for the sale of Antimeristem-Schmidt had been granted by the Treasury Department and, therefore, its importation into this country was prohibited. Neither the therapeutic nor the legal status of the product has been changed since then.—(From The Journal A.M.A., Dec. 6, 1919.)

To the Editor:—Last September, my chief, Dr. J. S. Millard, received a letter from the Denver Chemical Mfg. Co., manufacturers of “Antiphlogistine.” This letter purported to quote many large commercial concerns as testifying to the value of Antiphlogistine. Recently, I doubted the veracity of these claims and wrote to some of those quoted. I quote from the original letter of the Antiphlogistine company:

“The surgeon to the electric light and electric railroad company in New Orleans says that Antiphlogistine is the finest thing he has ever used in burns, especially flash and brush burns.“The physician to the New York Edison Co. makes a similar statement. He says that the application gives speedy relief and the burns heal quickly without scars.”

“The surgeon to the electric light and electric railroad company in New Orleans says that Antiphlogistine is the finest thing he has ever used in burns, especially flash and brush burns.

“The physician to the New York Edison Co. makes a similar statement. He says that the application gives speedy relief and the burns heal quickly without scars.”

I wrote to Dr. John Woodman, the physician to the New York Edison Co., who replied in part as follows:

“The Denver Chemical Manufacturing Company have no authority to quote me.... I gave Antiphlogistine a thorough trial, and found it had a very limited use, and I cannot recommend it for burns....”

Again, the Antiphlogistine letter said:

“It may be of interest to you to know that at the emergency hospital of the Ford Automobile Co. in Detroit, Antiphlogistine is carried in stock and is used extensively by the three physicians in burns, bruises, infected wounds, sprains and other traumatic conditions which are constantly arising in such a plant....”

I wrote to Dr. Mead who replied as follows:

“In answer to your letter of January 25th, will state that no Antiphlogistine has been purchased or used in this hospital for years past, and I cannot imagine why the representative of the Denver Chemical Company should make such a statement as attributed to him....”

He adds that “Antiphlogistine has never been used” in his department “on an open wound, abrasion or burn.” Is there not some way that such exploitation of our large companies can be prevented?

A. G. Gould, M.D., Akron, Ohio.Plant Physician, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.-(From the Journal A.M.A., Feb. 23, 1918.)

The following letters are typical of many that have been received asking for information regarding Dr. L. D. Rogers and his “Auto-Hemic Serum.” This from a physician in New York state:

“Can you give me any information in reference to Dr. Rogers of Chicago, Ill., who has an Auto-Hemic Institute?”

And this from Kansas:

“Just received a letter from a Dr. L. D. Rogers, 2812 North Clark St., who is anxious to sell me a course in ‘Auto-Hemic Therapy.’ Would you kindly inform me what he has to sell? He did not tell me what it consisted of; am inclined to believe it is a rank fake. Kindly let me know whatThe Journalthinks about it. Just what is it? In the letter they claim that it is practically a panacea for every blood disease.”

This from Maine:

“What is Auto-Hemic Therapy? I have a handsome red and yellow circular from the Ideal Life Extension Press, 2812 North Clark St., Chicago, soliciting subscriptions to their publication, offering as a bonus this book, ‘Auto-Hemic Therapy’ by L. D. Rogers, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Chicago, and membership in the American Medical Union.”

In order better to appreciate the probable scientific status of “Auto-Hemic Serum,” it is well briefly to sketch some of the previous activities of its discoverer, Dr. L. D. Rogers. For many years Rogers was the head and chief owner of the National Medical University of Chicago, a low-grade school of the “sun-down” variety. The “university” is now out of existence and for some time before it went out of existence was not recognized either by the board of health of the state in which it operated or by the boards of the majority of the other states in the Union. The report of the Carnegie Foundation on medical education had this to say about the laboratory facilities of Rogers’ school:

“The school occupies a badly lighted building, containing nothing that can be dignified by the name of equipment. There has been no dissecting thus far (October to the middle of April, 1909), anatomy being didactically taught. Persistent inquiry for the ‘dissecting-room’ was, however, finally rewarded by the sight of a dirty, unused, and almost inaccessible room containing a putrid corpse, several of the members of which had been hacked off. There is a large room called the chemical laboratory, its equipment ‘locked up,’ the tables spotless. ‘About ten’ oil-immersion microscopes are claimed—also ‘locked up in the storeroom.’ There is not even a pretense of anything else. Classes in session were all taking dictation.”

Dr. Rogers is, or was, if he is not still, “Permanent Secretary” of the “National Association of Panpathic Physicians”—whatever that is. In fact, one of Dr. Rogers’ specialties seems to be the founding of quasimedical organizations—organizations, apparently, which may prove useful in the promulgation of such projects as he may, at the time, be interested in. A few years ago, Rogers was exploiting a “cancer serum” and,presto, the “American Cancer Research Society” came into being, L. D. Rogers, president. Soon thereafter certain members of the profession were circularized urging them to purchase shares in the “Cancer Research Laboratory and Hospital,” par value $10. Apparently, the profession did not invest.

A few years ago, also, L. D. Rogers’ name appeared on the “Faculty” list of the “American Post-Graduate School,” a concern which granted—on the mail-order plan—a long line of sonorous degrees and an equally complete line of ornate diplomas.

Then, in 1915, there appeared in the classified columns of certain newspapers the following advertisement:

TUBERCULOSIS—New Japanese treatment; to prove merits and give discovery quick publicity will send 10 days’ treatment free.DR. ROGERS, 546 Surf St., Chicago.

So far as we have been able to learn, Rogers, for some unexplained reason, did not call into existence out of the vastly deep a “Japanese-American Tuberculosis Research Society.” This consumption cure apparently died of inanition.

Then came the “Auto-Hemic Serum” with its inevitable sequel, the “National Society of Auto-Hemic Practitioners.” Another adjunct to the serum exploitation is theNorth American Journal of Homeopathy, the official organ of the “Auto-Hemic Practitioners” and of the “American Medical Union” and possibly of some other “societies”—but not representative of homeopathy!

What is this new therapy? According to a very lurid poster, it is described as “The Missing Link in Medicine”—possibly referring to the ease with which one may make monkeys of certain physicians. More specifically, although still vaguely, we learn:

“It consists in giving the patient a solution made by attenuating, hemolizing, incubating and potenizing a few drops of his or her own blood, and administering it according to a refined technic developed by the author.”

Elsewhere it is said to consist:

“... in taking five drops (or some multiple of five) of blood from a vein and putting it into nineteen times as much sterilized, distilled water, and incubating it at fever temperature for twenty-four hours, and then making further dilutions according to the needs of the case, as can be determined only by a physician skilled in its use.”

Neither of these statements, of course, describes the “refined technic” of those “skilled in its use,” but those who are interested can, by sending Dr. L. D. Rogers, “One Hundred Dollars cash-in-advance” get a mail-order course in this new marvel.

But if it is rather expensive to learn just how to use “Auto-Hemic Serum,” it does not cost so much to learn what the “serum” will do. Rogers has written a book on the subject, “Auto-Hemic Therapy,” which is used as a premium for subscriptions to theNorth American Journal of Homeopathy, price $5.00 per year, payable in advance. In the book Dr. Rogers modestly assures his readers that he considers his discovery more important than that of Alexis Carrel, winner of a Nobel Prize.

One of the chief virtues claimed for this serum is that of developing in the patient who takes it an unbounded energy that, apparently, makes him want to work himself to death. In some sensational articles that have appeared in Sunday editions of newspapers on Rogers’ serum, the stuff has been described as “Lazy Serum.” One of the first cases described in the Rogers book is that of a young waiter, “a good-for-nothing lazy fellow who would not work and would not pay for medical services” and who was turned over to Dr. Rogers’ free clinic. He was given the serum on Thursday and was told to report Saturday. He did not return until Monday, his excuse being that “he worked all day Saturday until midnight and all day Sunday and felt as if he could work all day and all night without rest.” The “case report” ends:

“... finally remarking, ‘I feel like a bird’ he flew out of the classroom and we never saw him again.”

The next case described is that of a servant girl who had not worked for a year; within a week after taking the “Auto-Hemic Serum,” “she voluntarily beat carpets till she blistered her hands.” Then there was the rooming house keeper who had spent more than half of each day in bed. After an“Auto-Hemic” injection she “discharged her maid and janitor... and did all the work of her twelve room house herself, beating rugs, firing furnace and carrying out ashes besides doing some of the laundry.” “Case No. 7176” is interesting: A man, generally considered the laziest person in his community and with a habit of “drinking thirty whiskies a day,” took “Auto-Hemic Serum.” He stopped drinking, shaved himself and changed from “a “bum” to that of a sober, clean, wholesome, bright and honest workman.” Then there was the case of the “lady physician” who “took the serum one evening and the next morning reported that she had the ‘giggles’ all day”; also she became “more magnetic.” More remarkable still was the case of the young woman clerk in a retail store who, after taking the serum, “astonished her employer by volunteering to work overtime.” In the chapter dealing with “Ills Peculiar to Women” Dr. Rogers details the moving story of amanto whom the “serum” was given and who reported that “about the third twenty-four hours after taking it his bowels moved forty times”—nevertheless, “he felt no exhaustion.”

In all phases of human activity the serum seems to work wonders. “The cases are numerous in which the frigidity of both sexes have [sic] melted after Auto-Hemic treatment.” A young married woman with a morbid dislike for her husband took the serum and within a week “became normal.” The discoverer suggests that in some cases there is no doubt that this serum “would prevent divorce.” A 40 year old woman who could not endure to wear any waists but white or black was able, it seems, after taking the serum to tolerate a veritable Jacob’s coat.

Is, then, “Auto-Hemic Serum” good for everything? Let Dr. Rogers answer:

“Briefly stated, without any great exaggeration, this new modified serum treatment is good for anything that is the matter with you, provided the cause is not organic, mechanical or bacterial.”

One infers that in the inorganic, mental, spiritual and nonbacterial spheres the stuff is supreme. But it has its limitations. For instance, Dr. Rogers states that he once had “a very troublesome cough which lasted several weeks, but did not yield to this serum.” Reaching the conclusion that some other treatment was necessary “he had the bones of his neck ‘adjusted’ and got immediate relief.”

The serum “cannot be made up by the barrel and sold at wholesale or retail”:

“If it could be bottled and stored and sold at retail like a patent medicine, the demand for it as a complexion beautifier alone would net the proprietor millions. More than one person a few days after taking the treatment has been wrongly accused of painting.”

Should any ofThe Journalreaders decide to take the $100 mail-order course in “Auto-Hemic Therapy” he should realize that even after he has done so there are certain restrictions in the practice of this “therapy.” In no case must he administer “a course of Auto-Hemic Treatment” for “less than $100, paid in advance.” The only exceptions to this rule are “cases of absolute charity, expectant mothers and to persons positively unable to pay that amount.” Furthermore, Dr. Rogers says that for the reputation of his method, as well as for the good of all concerned, “I insist that the entire fee be paid in advance and that the course extend over a period of one year whether the patient needs few or many treatments.”

For those who do not wish to take the mail-order course, Rogers offers to prepare individual specimens of the “serum” from blood that is sent to him by the physician. The cost of this “serum” is $5.00, “in advance,” of course.

Still emphasizing the commercial side, “Auto-Hemic Therapy” is especially recommended to “the general practitioner growing old and the physician who is ambitious to build up a creditable and lucrative practice” because “the health of four people out of five (old or young, whether they consider themselves sick or well) taken at random can be improved by this method of treatment”! An Ohio physician was said to have doubled his $3,000 practice in two years after starting the “Auto-Hemic” method. A Virginia physician is alleged to have “increased his income $10,000 a year.” A Pennsylvania physician urged by Rogers to send $150.00 for the mail-order course, was assured that this “is merely a nominal amount, as most of the doctors have been able to get this amount back the first month.”

But enough. The story, were it not for the tragic element that forms the background, would be amusing. But itistragic!—(From The Journal A.M.A., Feb. 14, 1920.)

To the Editor:—Enclosed is a little booklet I received today from the Goodhue Publishing Co., of New York, exploiting the Horowitz-Beebe cure-all for cancer, which, were it not for certain obvious serious features, would make humorous reading.

What psychologic explanation can be made of the fact that there are always sufficient numbers of suckers to make such pseudoscientific adventures profitable?

H. C. Dodge, M.D., steamboat Springs, Colo.

To the Editor:—In my professional life I have been flooded with the usual number of insults to intelligence both by mail and by the softspoken detail man. As a result, I have no doubt, of the active propaganda for reform carried on byThe Journal, these insults have lost a certain quality of “rawness” and become much more cleverly done.

One of these has just been perpetrated on the profession which will probably hold the championship pennant for 1916, although I admit that it is early in the year to begin prophecy. A very modestly bound, well printed volume comes to my desk with the compliments of the publishers. At the end of the volume is a group of highly ethical advertisements of other books of the author. So far, so good. The last four pages, however, contain the advertisement of a forthcoming book on the “autolysin” treatment of inoperable cancer. Perhaps we might forgive this were it not for the following paragraph: “This book tells how the general practitioner... may take an active hand in fighting the malady. The weapons he requires are an ordinary hypodermic syringe and some ampules of Autolysin. The syringe he already possesses. Autolysin he may secure, if he is a legally qualified practitioner, by writing,” etc. Incidentally, the book is advertised to the Intelligent Layman.

Isn’t it beautiful? Too bad the lamented F. F. F. with his mock turtles or those prominent eugenists of scopolamin-morphin fame could not take a lesson in advertising. It was not very long ago that we were invited to come East and learn how to use “autolysin,” or else pay the rather heavy fee for an imported tutor. Now all we need is a “gun” and some of the “dope.” All this is interesting in view of the recent article on the failure of “autolysin” in mouse tumor. It is a foregone conclusion that a lot of “autolysin” will be used, so cancer patients, who have been told that they have cancer, will get better through suggestion, and a lot of enthusiastic reports will pour in from medical brethren who have never studied psychology. Then the thing will slump and we shall all be ready for the next fad.

Nevertheless, each one of these things furnishes us with a text for another sermon on ethics of medical advertising, so I suppose they do not live in vain.

J. W. Force, M.D., Berkeley, Calif.Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, University of California.

[Comment.—With each of the foregoing communications is a circular letter from the Goodhue Company, advertising Dr. Henry Smith Williams’ book on “The Autolysin Treatment of Cancer.” With this circular is a booklet entitled “Notes on the Treatment of Inoperable Cancer with the New RemedyAutolysin(Horowitz-Beebe) Issued by the Autolysin Laboratory.” Similar circular letters and pamphlets have been sent toThe Journalfrom various parts of the country. The Goodhue Company, publishers, therefore are apparently killing two birds with one stone—advertising the book as well as “Autolysin.”

The Journalhas been informed that Henry Smith Williams in some of his magazine articles uses the pen name “Stoddard Goodhue,” and that Henry Smith Williams is a part owner of the Goodhue Publishing Company.

Articles on “Autolysin” will be found inThe Journal, Nov. 6, 1915, pp. 1641, 1647 and 1662. The article on “Action of ‘Autolysin’ on Mouse Tumors,” by Dr. Francis Carter Wood, appeared inThe Journal, Jan. 8, 1916, p. 94.—Ed.]—(Correspondence in The Journal A.M.A., Jan. 29, 1916.)

Medical journals, and some other technical publications, have received recently what purport to be items of news value sent out by the “Medical News Bureau,” 77 Seventh Ave., Brooklyn, New York. The “manager” of this alleged bureau is given as D. E. Woolley. These “news items” are undated but are marked: “(For immediate release)” One of these starts with the statement, attributed to Mme. Curie, that cancer can be cured by radium and then continues:

“Cancer can be cured by the use of selenium and tellurium, more plentiful and less costly elements,” says F. W. Humphreys of Brooklyn, an American born student of chemistry and science who has devoted years to the study of the cause of cancer and the discovery of methods for relief....“For the purpose of further developing methods of control and treatment of disease by the use of selenium and tellurium discovered by a number of local scientists, chemists and physicians, the Basic Cancer Research has been organized and an efficient laboratory established at 847 Union Street, Brooklyn....”“Through the education of the people and special instruction to physicians it is hoped it may soon be possible to gain control of and eradicate the disease which now appears so great a menace. Mr. F. W. Humphrey, one of the organizers of the new institution, estimates that within ten years, or perhaps less time, cancer will no longer be considered a fatal disease.”

“For the purpose of further developing methods of control and treatment of disease by the use of selenium and tellurium discovered by a number of local scientists, chemists and physicians, the Basic Cancer Research has been organized and an efficient laboratory established at 847 Union Street, Brooklyn....”

“Through the education of the people and special instruction to physicians it is hoped it may soon be possible to gain control of and eradicate the disease which now appears so great a menace. Mr. F. W. Humphrey, one of the organizers of the new institution, estimates that within ten years, or perhaps less time, cancer will no longer be considered a fatal disease.”

Evidently the joker here is the “Basic Cancer Research” of 847 Union Street, Brooklyn!

Newspapers are approached from a different angle. They receive free publicity matter on stationery reading “Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society” (D. E. Woolley, secretary), 847 Union St., Brooklyn, N. Y. With this matter is a letter from Woolley addressed to the editor of the paper to which the stuff is sent and asking:

“In the interest of suffering humanity will you please give space to the enclosed?“No object of greater importance has ever been presented for your helpful consideration. Thousands are dying whom you can help save.”

“In the interest of suffering humanity will you please give space to the enclosed?

“No object of greater importance has ever been presented for your helpful consideration. Thousands are dying whom you can help save.”

According to the “news item” that accompanies this letter the “Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society” has been founded for the purpose of “investigating and developing methods” by which cancer “may be successfully combatedand eventually eradicated.” It states further that the “society” will “disseminate information concerning symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and methods of prevention” of cancer. Furthermore, the membership of the society “includes physicians, scientists and chemists of prominence, laymen of means, and the sympathetically inclined from all walks of life.” Nor is this all!

“Doctor Frederick Klein the eminent authority on urinology and the chemistry of cancer, has evolved a new colorimetric test which is a most wonderful and valuable discovery in the diagnosis of cancer and various other diseases. This test will be particularly valuable in all life extension work because it determines, even in children the possibility of predisposition toward any particular disease, whether tuberculosis, cancer, diabetes or any of the diseases which in later life may become fatal. It determines also the vitality of the subject enabling the physician to accurately determine the condition of any of the vital organs.”

We learn in closing that memberships in the “society” are “graduated from $1.00 upwards according to the ability and disposition of those who may be interested.”

Located at 77 Seventh Avenue, from which the press agent material of the “Medical News Bureau” is sent, is the “Basic Chemical Corporation of America.” According to such information as we have been able to get, the president of this concern is F. W. Humphreys, the “student of chemistry and science who has devoted years to the study of the cause of cancer and the discovery of methods of relief.” We are informed that Mr. Humphreys was for a while in the employ of a “chemical company” of Philadelphia, and has been in the photographic line down in Virginia and later was connected with a real estate concern in Brooklyn. Another officer of the Basic Chemical Corporation is said to have been in the grocery line in a small village in Missouri, selling out and later coming to Brooklyn and entering the insurance business. Still another officer, it seems, was in the fish business. In addition to these three officers, there are two directors, one of whom is in the fancy grocery line, and the other is a local practicing physician whose name we find in the Propaganda department’s testimonial file under Sanmetto and Arsenauro.

The Dr. Frederick Klein, who is described as the “eminent authority on urinology and the chemistry of cancer,” is not a physician but claims a Ph.D. from Munich, Bavaria. Klein claims to have developed certain urinary tests. One of these, according to him, “indicates the bodyVitalitywith great accuracy,” another proves the presence of cancer, a third is the “syphilis test” and a fourth is the “pregnancy test.” And these are not all!

Those who read the reports of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry may remember that Frederick Klein is the gentleman who made “Sulfo-Selene,” which the Council, in refusing it recognition, described as a “mixture containing a selenium compound of undetermined composition produced by reduction of nitro-selenous acid with sulphurous acid, mixed with bile salts and diluents.” Sulfo-Selene was widely exploited in the newspapers in 1916 as a remedy for cancer, and Klein got a good deal of publicity at that time.

Just what product the Basic Chemical Corporation of America is putting, or is about to put, on the market we do not know. From the rather vague talk about selenium and Frederick Klein’s marvelous diagnostic discoveries, it might be inferred that “Sulfo-Selene” was to be resurrected. Be that as it may, it seems fairly obvious that the material being sent out by D. E. Woolley—whether as “Manager” of the “Medical News Bureau” or as “Secretary” of the “Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society”—is advertising matter in the guise of news.

In this connection it is worth noting that the American Newspaper Publishers’ Association, in a special bulletin issued in 1909, published a very complete list of press agents and the interests these agents represented. This list contains the name D. E. Woolley, who then was sending out press notices for the National Association of Piano Dealers of America. Is this the gentlemanwho is now acting as press agent for the Basic Chemical Corporation of America? If it is, it may be that the slump in the piano trade has caused Mr. Woolley to turn from musical instruments to cancer cures.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Sept. 3, 1921.)

In the issue of September 3The Journalcalled attention to a campaign of free publicity that was being instituted by a Brooklyn concern that, apparently, had for sale an alleged remedy for cancer. The press agent material was of two kinds—for medical journals and for newspapers. That which went to the medical journals was sent out on the stationery of the “Medical News Bureau,” 77 Seventh Ave., Brooklyn. The “manager” of the bureau was given as D. E. Woolley. The items sent out to medical journals stated that the “Basic Cancer Research” had been organized to develop a treatment of cancer by the use of selenium and tellurium.

The material received by newspapers was sent out by the “Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society,” 847 Union St., Brooklyn (the same address as the “Basic Cancer Research”). The “Secretary” of the “Cosmopolitan Cancer Research” was D. E. Woolley!

The name of one “Dr. Frederick Klein” loomed large in the matter sent out by the “Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society.” Klein, we were told, is “the eminent authority on urinology and the chemistry of cancer.”The Journalcalled attention to the fact that Frederick Klein’s name was not unknown in the Propaganda files, as he was the gentleman who manufactured “Sulfo-Selene,” a product that was widely heralded in the newspapers in 1916 as a remedy for cancer. It was also brought out that Klein, who is not a physician, claims to have evolved certain remarkable urinary diagnostic tests whereby the presence of cancer, syphilis, etc., may be determined.

More than a month after the publication ofThe Journal’s article, a letter was received (October 8) from Frederick Klein. To quote literally from part of the letter:

“In the aboveJournaldated Sept. 3th, Vol. 77, on page 805, regarding the ‘Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society’ you have amongst others, mentioned my name Dr. Frederick Klein.“I wish to inform you that I have given my legal adviser the order to write a note to the above Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society, 847 Union St., Brooklyn, forbidden them to the effect that my nameshould notbe used by above society in any form or writing in any of their transactions, this has been done some time ago to prevent unethical conceptions concerning myself.”

“In the aboveJournaldated Sept. 3th, Vol. 77, on page 805, regarding the ‘Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society’ you have amongst others, mentioned my name Dr. Frederick Klein.

“I wish to inform you that I have given my legal adviser the order to write a note to the above Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society, 847 Union St., Brooklyn, forbidden them to the effect that my nameshould notbe used by above society in any form or writing in any of their transactions, this has been done some time ago to prevent unethical conceptions concerning myself.”

Shortly after the article of September 3 another item appeared in the newspapers throughout the country to the effect that the Cancer Research Society was offering a “$100,000 Cancer Prize” for a “medicinal cure for cancer.” Many of the newspapers of the country seemed to bite on this piece of free publicity. This was in the first week of October. In the third week of the same month a Brooklyn paper announced that 3,000 people had submitted formulas for curing cancer to the Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society. The article containing this announcement gave interesting descriptions of some of the “cures” submitted and closed with the statement that the Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society was establishing “clinics” in various cities. It ended with the statement:

“All treatments are confidential. In this respect the society had the cooperation of the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities. It also has the cooperation of the American Medical Association.”

The closing sentence is, of course, unequivocally false.

At the time ofThe Journal’s article the name of the particular preparation which the Basic Chemical Corporation of America was putting out was unknown.Shortly after the article appeared it was learned that the product was on the market as “Seleni-Bascca.” A physician, himself a sufferer from carcinoma, after reading the article of September 3, sentThe Journalsome correspondence he had received from the Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society regarding the alleged cure. One piece was a letter signed “F. W. Humphrey, Acting Director; Dictated by Dr. George D. Barney,” which read in part:

“Our claim is a very simple one indeed, namely that the use of a proper preparation of Selenium (Seleni-Bascca) restores the Sulphur metabolism to normal; we claim that cancer cannot exist in any form, when the Sulphur metabolism is normal, the results from the proper use of Seleni-Bascca in cases of Carcinoma are quick and lasting, the Medical Profession can hardly realize that in this modest treatment a remedy for the Dreaded Carcinoma has been discovered.“Seleni-Bascca in its colloidal form is quickly taken up by the blood stream, reaches the finest tissues and almost immediately resists the further growth of the disease. The research work has been going on since 1901, under the direction of Dr. Frederick Klein, in connection with Medical Men who have proved to their own satisfaction that Seleni-Bascca should be used as a treatment in every case of malignancy.”

“Seleni-Bascca in its colloidal form is quickly taken up by the blood stream, reaches the finest tissues and almost immediately resists the further growth of the disease. The research work has been going on since 1901, under the direction of Dr. Frederick Klein, in connection with Medical Men who have proved to their own satisfaction that Seleni-Bascca should be used as a treatment in every case of malignancy.”

Seleni-Bascca comes in small vials containing fifty tablets. Each vial bears a label reading:

“SELENIBASCCA.A mixture of Colloidal Selenium in tablet form. Recommended in the internal treatment of Carcinoma and some other cases of faulty metabolism.”

Some of the preparation was turned over to the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory with the request that the tablets be examined to determine whether or not they contained, as claimed, selenium in colloidal form. The laboratory report follows:

“An original vial of ‘Seleni-Bascca’ (Basic Chemical Corporation of America) was examined in the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory to determine whether or not the substance contained colloidal selenium. The bottle contained 50 tablets weighing approximately 0.1 gm. (about 11⁄2gr.) each. The major portion of the tablet was soluble in hot water. Qualitative tests indicated the presence of chlorid, sulphate, small amount of nitrate, potassium, sodium, starch, talc and selenium. Tellurium was not found to be present. The ash was equivalent to 5.5 per cent.; over one-half of the ash consisted of a talc-like substance. The amount of selenium present in the specimen examined was only about 1.3 per cent.

“In the literature sent out by The Basic Chemical Corporation, ‘Dr. Frederick Klein’ is mentioned as chemist. Several years ago, the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry investigated ‘Sulfo-Selene,’ a cancer remedy, with which the same ‘Dr. Klein’ was connected. The alleged composition of ‘Sulfo-Selene,’ as given to the Council, was:

“Selenium.25“Sulphur (partially in colloidal and partially in crystalloid state).10“Potassium carbonate.10“Nitrogen.05“Bile Salts.50“To which is added an inert base or vehicle; as sugar of milkor amylum.”

“Selenium

“Sulphur (partially in colloidal and partially in crystalloid state)

“Potassium carbonate

“Nitrogen

“Bile Salts

“It was claimed that ‘Sulfo-Selene’ was prepared by reducing nitro-selenious acid with sulphurous acid, neutralizing with potassium bicarbonate and then adding bile salts. Assuming that the composition claimed for ‘Sulfo-Selene’ was correct the analysis of ‘Seleni-Bascca’ shows that the two products resemble each other. The tests, however, failed to reveal in ‘Seleni-Bascca’ the presence of the bile salts claimed to have been present in ‘Sulfo-Selene.’ ”

“The product is not colloidal as claimed as the selenium can be removed by ordinary filtration.”—(From The Journal A. M. A., Nov. 19, 1921.)

To the Editor:—My attention has been called to the fact that there appears in a recent issue ofThe Journal of the American Medical Associationa statement that the Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society, located at 847 Union Street, Brooklyn, has the cooperation of the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities. In reply may I say that the Bureau of Charities has no connection, understanding, or relationship whatever, with the Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society, and has never sent a patient to them.

T. J. Riley, Brooklyn.Secretary, Brooklyn Bureau of Charities.—Correspondence from The Journal A. M. A., Dec. 24, 1921.

“Why avoid draughts? Sit by an open window if you want to! Just take a few drops of Sneeze-o before you go into the draught and after you come out of it, and you’ll never catch cold.

“Don’t be afraid of contagion. Kiss your Uncle Ebenezer, even if he’s dying of tuberculosis! Just fortify yourself with a sip of Lungicide before you go to his bedside, and another when you come away, and you’ll be taking no risk.

“Are you going to sit there and let the other folks eat up all the good things just because you are afraid to pitch in, when 2 or 3 Bell-Ans taken before and after the meal would enable you to enjoy your share of all that’s coming without a bit of discomfort or distress? Bell-Ans has restored the pleasures of the table to thousands who say: ‘I can now eat anything and plenty of it, too.’ ”

“The first two blurbs are The Ad-Visor’s. The third is a bona fide advertisement of Bell-Ans, aimed to catch the holiday trade. They are all patterned after the same style and the first two are no more lacking in logic than the last. Overeat—deliberately court indigestion—invite gout—don’t be a gourmet, be a gourmand—be an anti-Hoover and eat a lot of food, whether you need it or not; than take Bell-Ans. If it doesn’t ‘absolutely remove indigestion,’ your druggist will give you back your money! Could anything be fairer than that?

“Such copy as this is not limited in its evil effects to the misguided individual who eats lobster and ice cream at midnight and trusts to Bell-Ans to atone for his indiscretion. The most serious effect of such reckless advice is the example which the advertising sets to other advertisers.”

The comments just quoted are from the Ad-Visor department of the New YorkTribuneof Feb. 7, 1918. They are respectfully referred to theNew York Medical Journal, theInternational Journal of Surgeryand theWoman’s Medical Journal—three presumably scientific publications that through their advertising pages urge physicians to prescribe Bell-ans.—(From The Journal A.M.A., Feb. 23, 1918.)

The secretary of the Harvard University Medical School received from the Campho-Phenique Company of St. Louis a letter that, presumably, has been sent to most of the medical colleges of the country. It read:

“We wish to supply the senior class of all Medical Colleges with physicians’ samples ofCampho-PheniqueLiquid andCampho-PheniquePowder, and Ointment for 1918.“We will thank you very kindly if you will send us a communication stating the number of students in your graduating class, and if possible, we would like the name of each and every student, that we may send him personally a sample ofCampho-Phenique. In this way, we are sure the party receives the sample.”

“We wish to supply the senior class of all Medical Colleges with physicians’ samples ofCampho-PheniqueLiquid andCampho-PheniquePowder, and Ointment for 1918.

“We will thank you very kindly if you will send us a communication stating the number of students in your graduating class, and if possible, we would like the name of each and every student, that we may send him personally a sample ofCampho-Phenique. In this way, we are sure the party receives the sample.”

Presumably, the Campho-Phenique concern believes in following the old advice: Catch ’em young! In this connection, it may be well briefly to call to the attention of fourth-year medical students the results of the investigation of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of Campho-Phenique. The Council’s findings on Campho-Phenique Liquid were to the effect that the preparation, which was exploited under a false “formula,” was, essentially, a solution of camphor and phenol in liquid petrolatum, substances well known in medicine and none of which under its own name has been credited with possessing any superlative virtues. The Council’s verdict on Campho-Phenique Powder was that “for all practical purposes it is essentially a camphorated talcum powder” containing, apparently, sufficient camphor and phenol to give the talcum powder an odor. It was further brought out in the Council’s report that the Campho-Phenique Company was in effect one of the numerous trade names adopted by one James F. Ballard of St. Louis. Mr. Ballard seems to market a number of “patent medicines,” most of them sold direct to the public, but some, as in the case of Campho-Phenique, exploited to the public via the medical profession. “Herbine,” a “marvelous preparation” that “puts the liver in healthy condition”; “Ballard’s Snow Liniment” that when applied to wounds performs “a perfect cure that leaves no scar”; “Dr. T. L. Stephens’ Chemical Eye Salve” which “acts quickly in all cases” and cures “failing vision,” are some of the numerous “patent medicines” made and sold by Ballard. “Collins Ague Remedy,” “Swaim’s Panacea,” “Swayne’s Panacea” and “Renne’s Pain Killing Oil” are four more of Mr. Ballard’s products, for each of which he has pleaded guilty in the federal courts to making false and fraudulent claims knowingly and wantonly.

If medical colleges of the better class were turning out graduates today who could be caught by free samples of such nostrums as Campho-Phenique, then, indeed, would the outlook for the future of scientific medicine be a gloomy one. But they are not. The young man or woman who goes out today from a reputable medical college is imbued with the scientific spirit, has developed habits of straight thinking and will not, we believe, be so uncritical as to accept at their face value claims made for nostrums of the Campho-Phenique type.—(From The Journal A. M. A., Feb. 9, 1918.)

It will be remembered that the Federal Trade Commission adopted the names arsphenamin and neoarsphenamin for the drugs first introduced as “salvarsan” and “neosalvarsan,” respectively; the terms barbital and barbital sodium for the substances first introduced as “veronal” and “veronal sodium,” and the word procain as the name for the compound first marketed as “novocain.” In issuing licenses for the use of the patents on these drugs, the commission stipulated that the drugs should be sold under the new American title unless the firm desired to use a new trade designation, in which case the titles chosen by the commission should be given equal prominence. The Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry has cooperated with the Federal Trade Commission and has adopted the new names as the descriptive names which appear in New and Nonofficial Remedies. The Chemical Foundation, Inc., which has purchased some 4,500 German-owned patents, many of them forsynthetic drugs, proposes to continue the wise policy of the Federal Trade Commission by requiring that those who receive licenses for the use of patents for synthetic drugs must use a common designation for each drug selected by the foundation. “Cinchophen” has been selected as the designation for the substance introduced as “atophan” (also described in the U. S. Pharmacopeia under “phenylcinchoninic acid”). In consideration of this action on the part of the Chemical Foundation, and also because physicians found it difficult to use the pharmacopeia name “phenylcinchoninic acid,” the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry has recognized the contracted term “cinchophen” as a name for the drug introduced as “atophan.” It is hoped that physicians will support this simplified and nonproprietary nomenclature in the same spirit with which they adopted the terms “arsphenamin,” “barbital” and “procain.”—(Editorial from The Journal A.M.A., Aug. 9, 1919.)

Under the auspices of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, there has just appeared a report on the present status of colloid chemistry.247The work has been recognized as sufficiently important to receive the endorsement of the government Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Of particular interest to physicians is the chapter on “Administration of Colloids in Disease” written by Alfred B. Searle, “consulting chemist, Sheffield.” After a somewhat academic generalization of colloidal drugs, the “thesis” is devoted largely to the “Collosols”—proprietary preparations made by the Crookes Laboratories. The “scientific” evidence presented by Searle for colloids in medicine reads as if the advertising literature of the Crookes concern had been considered ample source of information. Thus: “Colloidal Manganese,” besides having been “used with remarkable and surprising results in the treatment of coccogenic skin diseases,... gives excellent results [in impetigo, chronic seborrheic eczema and acute folliculitis] when employed in conjunction with intramine”! The grave danger of the intramine therapy has been known for more than two years, both here and abroad,248in fact, one author stated that in cases of intramine injections, “the pain is undiluted torture.” In a style as bombastic and verbose as the usual house-organ write-up, the report recklessly details all sorts of conditions in which so-called colloids—and particularly the “Collosol” brand—have been recommended, but derogatory findings are conspicuous by their omission. Even Sir Malcolm Morris is quoted as lending his name (and title) to the endorsement of “Collosols.”

In the United States the medical profession has created a means whereby physicians need not be misled by such “high” authorities as evidently has been the case with our English confrères. Once more the value of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry is strikingly manifested. What are the facts about “Collosols”? The Council has reported that a number of the “Collosol” preparations were not colloids at all, and “if... injected intravenously as directed, death might result, making the physician morally if not legally liable”;249that in the cases in which the therapeutic claims were examined, the claims were found to be either exceedingly improbable or exaggerated; furthermore,that the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory found “Collosol Cocaine,” on analysis, to contain only 40 per cent. of the claimed amount of cocain.250

Such are the findings which have been presented to the American physician. But the British physician is now being made the object of an intensive advertising campaign for “Collosols,” based in part on an uncritical, pseudogovernmental endorsement. Just so long as the English profession will not protect itself by creating a competent board to examine and judge proprietary medicines and to control methods of exploitation, just so long will such extravagant and even cruelly misleading claims continue to impede scientific progress in therapeutics.—(Editorial from The Journal A. M. A., Oct. 18, 1919.)

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