438 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



(1) That the designation "C. P." be appHed only to such chemical 

 reagents as are free from recognizable impurities. 



(2) (a) That the term "reagent" be applied to all commonly 

 employed chemical reagents which are free from all impurities to such 

 an extent as to permit llieir use in all ordinary qualitative and quanti- 

 tative chemical analyses, (b) That a specific set of tests, with which 

 the chemical must comply, be drawn up and adopted for each chemical 

 reagent. 



(3) That the term "special reagents" be employed only for certain 

 reagents to be used chiefly for making special determinations which 

 require absolute freedom from certain impurities. 



COOPERATION WITH THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 



The Drug Division has continued to cooperate wnth the Post OITice 

 Department in its efi'ort to withdraw the privileges of the mails in 

 cases of the violations of the postal laws involving medicinal agents. 

 To this end the analysis of the samples of medicines used is supple- 

 mented by a study of all of the claims and representations made for 

 the products. Twenty-one of these treatments were investigated 

 during the past year, each comprising from one to ten medicines. 

 Seven of them were so-called "epilepsy cures." None of the latter 

 are sold in the shops, but all were obtained through the medium of the 

 United States mails. Each was claimed to bring about a com- 

 plete and permanent cure of epilepsy, irrespective of kind and cause, 

 if taken according to directions. The representations were conveyed 

 chiefly in new^spaper advertisements and printed matter sent through 

 the mails to prospective purchasers; very few claims appeared upon 

 the label of the containers themselves. The representations were 

 generally to the effect that as a result of the use of the treatment 

 the epileptic seizures are lessened in frequency and severity, any 

 diseased condition of the brain is corrected, and brain tissue which has 

 been damaged or destroyed is replaced; this change goes on steadily 

 until the whole nervous system is restored to a sound and normal 

 condition, and, the cause being removed, the convulsive seizures no 

 longer make their appearance and the epilepsy is cured never to return. 

 Such claims are false and misleading in the higliest degree. The 

 medical profession knows of no substance or mixture of substances 

 which is capable of creating new brain or nerve tissues in place of the 

 old which has been removed or destroyed. Some of the treatments 

 comprised several medicines, but in nearly every instance the essential 

 ingredient was found to be one or more of the bromids. While these 

 agents may in some cases postpone the epileptic attacks, their effect 

 is temporary and palliative only, and according to the best authorities 

 they can not be considered as cures for epUepsy. 



Three so-called "cancer cures" were examined. One of them, 

 which was represented among other things to be a positive, permanent, 

 painless cure for the disease, was found to consist of two medicines, 

 one of which was a solution of sulphur and sodium hydroxid in water, 

 and the other a solution of Epsom salts with a little vegetable matter. 

 Imported Limburger or S\\ass cheeses and glycerin, kneaded to a 

 paste with the fingers and applied to the cancer, formed an important 

 part of the "cure." Such a treatment can not cure cancer, and its 



