Volume 1 / Part 3 — PART III CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE JOURNAL: PROPRIETARY PRODUCTS (continued 4)
Reading edition
It has been stated that Stannoxyl does not inhibit the growth of staphylococci, but only renders the growth less virulent. It is known that a certain amount of tin may be absorbed from the intestine, and Salant, Rieger and Treuhardt have shown that in certain cases tin may be retained for some time in the skin; but it is questionable whether, when preparations of tin are given by mouth, any reaches the staphylococci in the boils, or at any rate enough materially to influence their growth or virulence.
In the cases treated by me, the results did not at all suggest that Stannoxyl was a “specific for diseases of staphylococcal origin.”
J. W. C. Gunn, M.A., M.B., Ch.B., Cape Town. Professor of Pharmacology, University of Cape Town.
—(Correspondence in The Journal A. M. A., Nov. 20, 1920.)
Syphilodol
To the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry:—If you have not already done so, will you kindly examine and report on “Syphilodol” advertised in the enclosed pamphlet?
B. C. Pedersen, M.D., New York.
To the Editor:—Have you any information concerning the enclosed half page advertisement [of Syphilodol] from the Urologic and Cutaneous Review?
Edward S. Newell, M.D., Pelham, N. Y.
To the Editor:—I am enclosing an advertisement for a substance called “Syphilodol” manufactured in New York. Am not familiar with this article nor have I seen it advertised in the higher class journals. Can you tell me whether The Journal’s department of New and Nonofficial Remedies has passed on this article or whether you have any data concerning it? It looks a trifle fishy to me.
Louis Leroy, M.D., Memphis, Tenn.
To the Editor:—I am sending the enclosed correspondence [Syphilodol letters] to you as it looks as if it might have some interesting features from the point of view of your nostrum department.
Isadore Dyer, New Orleans, La.
Answer.—These are but some of the inquiries that have been received on this subject and it is encouraging to note the scientifically critical attitude of physicians toward new therapeutic agents. According to the French Medicinal Company, Inc., which markets this product, “Syphilodol is a synthetic chemical product of silver, arsenic and antimony....” Nowhere in the advertising matter is there any more definite statement as to the composition of this new “synthetic” than that just quoted. The product is now under examination in the Association’s laboratory and when this is completed a more detailed report will doubtless be forthcoming. At present the work has progressed sufficiently to show that Syphilodol tablets contain considerable quantities of mercury! Although the advertising leaflets claim that the preparation is “the formula of the late Dr. Alfred Fournier of Paris” and had been exhaustively tested by Metchnikoff, who is alleged to have found it superior to salvarsan and neosalvarsan, yet, strange to say, a careful search of French medical journals fails to show any reports on Syphilodol. Verb. sap.—(Query in The Journal A. M. A., Feb. 23, 1918.)
Thialion
To the Editor:—Kindly inform me regarding thialion, manufactured by the Vass Chemical Company, Danbury, Conn. Please omit my name and address in answering in The Journal.
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.)