190 
Drugs  and  Food  Products. 
m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April  1902. 
Board  of  Health  of  1892,  "  in  unlimited  quantities  by  druggists, 
grocers  and  others  is  censurable.  More  than  this,  the  method  of  its 
sale  is  dishonest,  since  the  unwary  purchaser  is  led  to  believe  that 
he  is  purchasing  a  harmless  vegetable  remedy,  namely,  sarsaparilla. 
It  may  be  seriously  questioned  whether  the  blood  of  persons  who 
take  iodide  of  potassium  continuously  is  not  decidedly  impoverished, 
instead  of  being  purified,  as  is  claimed  by  the  manufacturers.  It  is 
not  uncommon  to  find  persons  who  have  used  continuously,  six, 
eight,  or  ten  pint-bottles  of  one  of  these  preparations.  .  .  .  The 
pale,  sallow  complexion  of  the  habitual  user  of  the  <  sarsaparilla 
iodides '  is,  unfortunately,  too  often  met  with,  wherever  these  reme- 
dies are  freely  advertised  and  sold."  Most,  if  not  all,  of  the  cold 
cures  contain  cocaine  in  considerable  quantities,  and  many  a  case 
of  cocaine  habit  may  be  laid  to  the  doors  of  the  manufacturers  of 
these  panaceas.  Of  course,  you  will  not  wonder  that  all  the  opium 
cures  contain  morphine,  for  their  success  is  certainly  marvelous. 
Why  take  opium,  with  all  the  disadvantages  and  difficulties  con- 
nected with  its  purchase,  when  one  can  buy  something  just  as  good 
(whatever  that  maybe)  in  the  shape  of  an  "  opium  cure,"  The 
so-called  Keeley's  Double  Chloride  of  Gold  Cure  was  found  to  con- 
tain not  a  trace  of  gold  (it  is  too  expensive  !).  Nor  will  it  surprise 
you  to  learn  that  many  tonics,  "  recommended  especially  for  the 
inebriates,"  contain  alcohol  in  large  amounts.  Such  an  one  is 
Parker's  Tonic,  ''purely  vegetable,"  which  was  found  to  contain 
41*6  per  cent,  of  alcohol  by  volume.  Another  is  Whiskol,  "  a  non- 
intoxicating  stimulant,  whisky  without  its  sting,"  containing  28-2 
per  cent.;  and  Colden's  Liquid  Beef  Tonic,  "  recommended  for  treat- 
ment of  alcohol  habit,"  26-5  per  cent.  It  may  also  be  comforting 
to  our  total  abstainers  and  to  the  many  reverend  gentlemen,  whose 
flourishing  signatures  are  to  be  found  appended  to  very  laudatory 
testimonials,  to  learn  that  the  sixty-one  samples  of  the  more  widely 
used  tonics  examined  by  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Health  con- 
tained alcohol  in  various  proportions.  I  will  cite  only  a  few  of  the 
more  prominent: 
Alcohol, 
Per  cent. 
Liebig  Company's  Cocoa  Beef  Tonic  
Schenck's  Seaweed  Tonic,  "  entirely  harmlesss  " 
Atwood's  Quinine  Tonic  Bitters  
Boker's  Stomach  Bitters  ...... 
Burdock  Blood  Bitters  
23 '2 
I9'5 
29*0 
42*6 
25*2 
