SUMMARY OF DATA COLLECTED. 7 



-ivo acetanilid or any like preparation when there is reason that some 

 drnir should he -hen to supiwrt the heart while this drug is acting. 



(Jive it as a rule for its sedative effect on the nervous system during sthenic 

 fevers rather than as an antipyretic. 



You have not asked for the above, but I can not help thinking that the war 

 made on these drills is carrying the matter to the extreme, and that their dis- 

 favor is due rather to the excessive dosage and promiscuous usage than to the 

 fart that they are drugs not to be used at all, and in your investigation I would 

 ask your earnest consideration of this aspect of the case. 



To thi- communication the Department of Agriculture replied as 



follnv. - : 



Your favor of June .) at hand and in reply we desire to thank you for the in- 

 formation submitted. With regard to the effects of ncetani lid we would say that 

 our views a. -cord fully with your own as set forth in your communication, and 

 we would be pleased to publish your letter in the forthcoming bulletin of the 

 Department of . \-ricull ure if it can be used to advantage and if you have no 

 objection. \\v am-.-.- with you that the harm done by acetanilid does not result 

 from its proper use under the direction of the physician, but is mainly the result 

 of i he proiniseiiniis and indiscriminate use of the product by the laity. The 

 obj.-rt of our iiiM-stk'ation is not to conduct a war against acetanilid and similar 

 driiirs. as you SUL'L:'-I. but rather to throw safeguards around the public and 

 thus prexeiu. Bf far po-<ihle. a repetition of t he many unfortunate accidents 

 which are [(, ric.l to ha \ c n 'suited from the ill-advised use of these remedies 

 in the pa>i. 



Miidi ha- aliva.lv been ac.-omplished along this line through the 

 agency of the food ami drills act. which requires that the label of 

 medicinal prcparat ion- -hall contain information relative to the 

 miantity >r prupurtiun of certain ingredients, which are enumerated 

 in (he law. and their derivatives and preparations. By far the 

 iter nnmhcr of manufacturers have shown a disposition to com- 

 ply with the law in declaring the prescribed drugs, but an investi- 

 gMtiuii -how- that many preparations containing these or other dan- 

 .11- age m- hear -taieineiit- which transgress the section of the 

 la\\ on mi>lr:indmg. The misrepresentation in many instances takes 

 the form of assertions to the effect that the remedy is harmless or 

 that it contain- no poisonous or harmful ingredients. Again, the 

 pnhlic i- given to understand in many cases that the medicine can be 

 taken practically ad libitum until the desired effect is obtained. 



Some of the manufacturers of acetanilid preparations, not content 

 with claiming that their products contain no poisonous or harmful 

 ingredient-, go even further and assert that the medicine, in addition 

 to he ing an efficient remedy, acts as food or nourishment for the up- 

 building of some particular part of the body; that it is, in short, a 

 " nerve food n or a "brain food." With regard to this use of the 

 wotd " food " the judge in the case above referred to in his charge 

 to the jury spoke as follows: 



If that word [-brain food"], spelled in the two different ways that it is 

 spelled, would convey to the ordinary citizen the idea that it was a food for 



