QUACKS AND QUACKERY.

NZ Truth, Issue 122, 19 October 1907, Page 5

QUACKS AND QUACKERY.

LEGISLATING AGAINST FRAUDS AND HUMBUGS.

The Blood-sucking, Blackmailing Charlatan.

* A Clergyman Who Committed Errors m His Boyhood.

The Viavi Humbug Denounced by Dr. Mason.

It Is doubtful if a more humane piece of legislation than the Quackcr> Prevention Bill, introduced by member Hornsby,. has ever been attempted m any country. The rbarlalans who batten upo.i the ailments, real or fancied, of the Great Nf-w Zealand public are numerous and costly, as the country press c«>s of the bride's presents, .aid they arc as unscrupulous as a neo.nil3.ss M-'^-cr on a racecourse. The sup hp.^ ion of these pernicious fraa.is is the siiri of Wairatap&'s represent mire, v.h't has received communications from doctors, parsons, reformers, politicians and private individuals, not ofch iv New Zealand aiTfc^jiscra.ia, bbt also m Canada, the United States, and Great Britain urging on him to persist with his Bill^ 'and offering him their hearty good wishes for its success. • The committee set up to consider the Bill has just finished its labors, and the evidence given is interesting and of extreme value from an educational point of view. The success of any measure, according to the medical witnesses, depends upon the closing of newspapers to advertisements of medicines of a deleterious character, and m this connection it is interesting to recall that when Horngby, M.H.R., spoke at the Phar tnaceutical Society's dinner recently he mentioned that the religious jour- ■ nals were fond of publishing advertisements concerning sexual ' complaints. Some papers don't care a tinker's anathema what they publish m the way of ads., so long as they are paid for, and they say so with brutal frankness. But these sexual advertisements are so . diametrically opposed to the ethics expressed by the religious journals, that it is really sinful that they should publish them. Parson Fitchett's "New Idea" prints quack medicine advertisements and so does the pious Dunedin "Outlook."

The committee, after hearing a tremendous amount of evidence, recommended that the Bill be not proceeded with m its present form, but strongly urged upon the Government to embody its chief provisions m legislation this session. Briefly, the committee advised that the Government Bill should prevent the advertising of medicines of a fraudulent nature '• enact that the formula' of the preparation shall appear on the bottle or package (this shall not apply to prescriptions given by a registered doctor, nocto medicines WHOSE PREPARATION IS A SECRET. provided that the maker proves to the Supreme Court that they are neither harmful or fraudulent) ; to make it unlawful for any person to advertise "Dr." before the name of his cure, and so create a false impression ; to make it unlawful for any person other than a registered doctor or vet. to sell any appliance or preparation that might be used as "preventives."

These recommendations do not, of course, embody all of the Quackery Prevention Bill's provisions, but they go a long way towards securing the object of the measure. The Bill did not find favor with the herbalists, the mental and magnetic healers, and people of that sort, who would have to furnish some proof that they were qualified to treat the public. Several of them gave evidence before the committee.

Undoubtedly the srea'fcest interest centred round the evidence of Dr. Mason, Chief Health Officer, who classed patent medicines under 'three headings : Those invented \>y the proprietors ; those taken from an ordinary book of medicine ; and those that were absolutely bad. The only objection to the good medicines was that the manufacturers charged prices for them that far exceeded their actual value. The class of people he was most interested m was that which* pretended to cure sexual ailments, and the great majority of. Which were nothing more than blackmailers. A very common practice of such men was to circulate books and pamphlets on sexual ailments m schools. Many boys, through ignorance, violated nature, and m these little pamphlets the results of this ■ habit were pictured m the most awful language. The result was that tho boy became for the time being practically unnerved. He was told that the only salvation for him was to send to the publisher of the book, and the unfortunate lad scraped up enough money to get some of the medicine. He referred to one boy m particular, .the son of a clergyman who was very strict. He lived m the, eountrv and saw few women, and the result was he naturally blushed a good deal when m the company of women, which was an indication, according to the class of men referred to, that he was suffering from nervous debility. The boy got m communication with one of these men, with the result that he spent all his money. The rapacious frauds would not let him go, but continued corresponding with him, and finally threatened TO COMMUNICATE WITH HIS FATHER. In terror, the lad got a little more money together, and sent it away to the blackmailers. Finally, Dr. Mason became aware of the facts. The lad was out of his mind, m a measure, and . the doctor said to him, "Don't you worry. Tell this man you kave seen me." He did so, and never heard from the shark again. Nearly »veiv medical man could give cases ,ike that. Through ; the amendment of the Postal Act last year, which gave the Postmaster-General power to decline to carry mail matter advertising the treatment of sexual afmvenis, a very great reform had taken place. Thr doctor referred to such dodges as printing testimonials

from persons like the "Retired Clergyman," who admits m open print that he had been guilty of the "errors of youth," The doctor was interested m the purely medical side of the question. There was a mistaken notion m the minds of the public that when a medical man attacked quack medicines he was an interested party, but it really did ' it make any difference to him at all. He condemned electric belts, which, generally speaking, were fixed up without any pretence to electricity at all. Many of them got their action by putting them m vinegar, although there was a belt that generated electricity, and the only objection to it was the extravagant claims made for it. "Collier's Weekly," an American paper, had done valuable work m fighting quackery. In one illustration the paper sets out a photograph of the price list of confidential letters received from unfortunate victims. These could be borrowed for so much, and there was a regular deal done m them. Apparently a Christchurch quack had got much out of boys by threatening to tell their fathers, and probably lads wondered how they became known m Australia when they got correspondence from a Melbourne firm. In America these confidential letters were rented out from quack to quack. After giving some interesting information' respecting fraudulent consumption and cancer cures, the doctor made reference to lectures given recently m the Sydneystreet schoolroom, Wellington. He said there was a quack establishment of American origin dealing m remedies for female ailments. It engaged women, who went about the country pretending to have medical knowledge, and delivering "health lectures," which they had mostly learnt by heart, and persuading deluded women that they were m serious danger unless they took the Viavi remedies, and submitted * themselves to the treatment of the Viavi agents. They suggested ailments where merely ner-v vous unrest existed, and they charged nothing for their advice, which kept them within the four corners of the law ; but they bled their victims for external solutions, which ha<i as much virtue as did the '

KING'S TOUCH FOR SCROFULA. These people were carrying on business all through New Zealand. The doctor thought that everything that contained poison m any form at all, should have legibly marked on the outside of the bottle, "Tlris Contains Poison." He was told by the proprietor of one medicine that if he put that on the outside it would frighten mothers. The doctor replied, that was why he wanted it. "I do not say your medicine is not good, but the mother who soothes the child with opium should know it." A child died m Wellington the other day on which a post mortem was held, and Dr. Fyffe said death was due to starvation from the. amou&t of opium contained m the cough mixture, the action of the opium inhibiting the action of the bowel. Many of the soothing syrups for children sold m New Zealand were of a harmful character, though many, of course, were good. He did not think it right that herbalists should be allowed to prescribe for patients unless they had satisfied the law as to qualification. The difficulty was that they did not confine their operations to compounds of a vegetable character, and should pass the same examination demanded of a chemist. With regard to metaphysicians, he held that no man, unless he had spent a considerable time-^say, five, six, or more years— m studying all phases of disease, could possilMy diagnose m the first instance. He was not much enamoured of hypnotism, auto-suggestion and sub-conscious suggestion himself, and thought it was a path a man required to walk very warily m. Adverting to his remarks about the circulation of booklets on sexual ailments amongst boys at the schools, the Amended Postal Act* had not stopped that completely, but it prevented replies being sent by the youngsters to the firms that were on the "black list," and it did not profit the people to continue sending pamphlets if no reply came back.

Following is the "black list" :— The Dr. Austin Improved Electric Belt Co., Dunedin ; Dr. F. Bell,! Sydney an-d Melbourne ; Mr F. Chapman, Port Melbourne ; Electro-Medi-cal and Surgical Institute, Mel- ' bourne ; Freeman and Wallace, Sydney and Melbourne ; H. Freeman, Sydney ; Howard Freeman, Sydney and Melbourne ; Freeman and Wallace Institute, Sydney and Melbourne; F. Howard, Sydney ; Irving Homeopathic Institute, Sydney ; Dr. James Kidd, India ; Marshall Bros., Sydney ; R. J- Poultqn, Melbourne ; Herr Rasmussen, iLambton Quay. Wellington ; A. J. Tarrant, Medical Bolt Expert, Christchurch ; J. T. Tiefenbeck, Sydney; Dr. Wallace, Sydney and Melbourne ; Dr. W. Carter Watson, Sydney Institute of Medicine and Electricity ; Dr. White, Sydney and Melbourne. The largest publishers of sexual and other harmful advertisements m New Zealand were the newspapers m the country, although outside papers like the "Bulletin" and imported magazines, like "Pearson's," "Royal" "Grand," and "The Strand," contained such advertisements. In "The Strand" there were appeals to thinbusted women AND STLLY OLD MEN. He would notify the head of every school that all papers of that kind should be delivered up, and occasionally g. common sense talk should be given to the boys. But c was a very difficult task. The doctor tried it once m a hi;; school, but fait tli;:l it wasn't a success, and left it to i someone else. T/tie difficulty was that

by the warning one might suggest something that a youngster never thought of. In other countries they were issuing carefully-worded pamphlets to the boys. He thought the best results could be obtained from the parents. It was true that some of these were not fit to tell theit children, but that was the exception. It was not among the poorer classes only that they found these things going on. On the subject of foods the doctor said that some of the regis* tered homes for illegitimate children m. the colony were not conducted as they might be. Most of the cases he had come across had been at inquests and one particular child had been practically starved. In his opinion they should have a parish doctor, as m the Old Country, and also a woman to assist. The question of advertisin~ cropped up at spasmodic intervals m the examination.

Mr Hornsby : To clause 7, you can easily understand, doctor, I attach as much importance as to any part of the Bill, because we have m Dr. Fitchett's magazine, "Life," a whole host of quack advertisements ?— I have seen some or them, but as a matter of fact, it seems that Christianity and nuackery go hand m hand. There used to be no offender like the "Christian World." You find a number of advertisements stating that Rev. Soand so found . great relief from so-and-so.

The doctor, resuming, said it would be interesting for the committee to take up last week's "Strand" magazine and see how the woman who was too fat could, by taking certain stuff, be pulled down. The woman with no bust who could have it inflated, the woman who had too much hair on her Skin, and the man who had no hair. Then they got the fellow who was too short, who became taller than his rival. There were not many advertisements that appealed to the sexual side except m the case of electric belts. Of course, there was no legislation to prevent the sale of preventives, but the doctor thought it would be easy to stop a man like Lester Lacetter, who was m the habit of sending out to one's wife notice that he sold all the latest things to use m order to stop certain things. It came out by post : the doctor tried to get the name on the "black list," but the postal people said they could not do it. The Chairman : I understand it was stated m the Christchurch Clergymen's Association that a young girl attending a public school was found with a preventive m her pocket, and it was reported that some of the registered chemists were deliberately and freely selling them to anybody who might come along ?— There is nothing to prevent it at the present time. I bought the other da~ for the purpose of demonstration, about twelve varieties. They come under all sorts of names and m all shapes. Ido not see how you are, by legislation to stop their sale altogether. , You can provide a check ?— I have not thought that out, because I have realised the difficulty. On account of their social character ?— I think preventives should not be sold to anyone under a certain age. Mr J. Allen: No medical man uses preventives ?— The question has several- aspects, and you would not be able to stop their sale altogether. In France they CALL THEM "ENGLISH LETTERS." The 'Chairman ?— This Bill only restricts the sale to registered people ? —Yes. Would, you advocate the provision brought m by the late Premier about preventives ?— I only saw the Bill after it was drawn. It provided that no preventive could be sold except on the authority of a medical man, and it was made a penal offence otherwise ?— I think the legislation would be too far ahead. It would almost certainly induce smuggling, and then up would go the value of these things if they became contraband. It would be a good thing to malte it a penal offence to sell them to people under a certain age ; but all people must m time come to the age of discretion. In reply to a question whether he knew that a certain local cough mixture had led women to give way to drunkenness, Dr. Mason said ' he knew the formula and it would be breaking Government faith to disclose it. Dr. Cahill gave lengthy evidence respecting the composition of patent medicines imported to New Zealand, and some of which were absolutely worthless and harmful. He also male remarks about the blood-suck-ing charlatans who treated the ignorant from a distance. Take the noy who was unfortunate enough to contract a venereal disease ; he never had a chance 'of getting cured by these men. Of cours\, there was a class of Christian Who ftaid that a hroy of this character deserved his punishment, but Dr. Cahill did, not agree with that dictum, because the people who really suffered were the innocent ones, such as the wife and children of these men.. The doctor gave a learned disquisition on. hypnotism, and said it was a common delusion that the hypnotiser counted for- anything m the experiment. The operator," whether physician, self-deluded enthusiast, orconscious impostor, was not the source of any occult influence. There was no such thing as potent mesmeric influence m one person more than another, and he ridiculed the pretensions of self-styled mesmerisers, hypnotisers, magnetisers, •■ electro-biolo-i gists, and metaphysicians. A subject accustomed to be thrown into a hypnotic state could not protect himself, and was at the mercy -of any scoundrel or impostor who chose to adopt the various methods of impressing the imagination, which were the stock-in-trade of all hvpnotisers. They heard much about supptsed rures, but little about the victims. Vo one doubted the genuineness of ' hypnotic phenomena, but unfortunate- ; INCREDULITY, SUPERSITION, CHICANF.RY AND FRAUD were the usual accompaniments of hypnotic practices and hypnotic ex* | i'ibilions. j j Mr T. McKenzie : With regard to preventives, do people practice preI vention against having children merely because of laziness on their part, m hearing children, or is it m con<<> ouerro of the lownpe.s nf wa.rrrv ;m ;• he ex'rnsp m nr.in niirn,^ thesi I households ?— I think there are many

factors to be considered m the matter. The cost of living ?— -Yes, that is one of the reasons. . Then there is selfindulgence. Women cannot so out to dances and other social functions if they have to look after children. There is a good deal that is wrong m the •clojnestic life of the people ?— Yes, it is shocking to hear young married people say they, will have no children. Do you think the use of preventives more rife amongst the wealthy class or the poorer class ?— I think it is much the same all round. The birth-rate is much lower m Otago and Southland that it is m : Wellington and Auckland ?— I am sor- j iy to hear that your countrymen are losing the virility with which your race is usually accredited. One of the great causes is the vicious class of literature perniitted to be sold m the country. I think, also, the practice of advertising petty social functions, which of recent years has become such a prominent feature m the daily press of the country, tends to unsettle women and home life. Evidence was given by Mr G-ilruth, Chief Veterinarian, principally concerning the effects of hypnotic suggestion, and the views were also obtained of herbalists, metaphysicians, masseurs, and hypnotists. Rev. Jno. Vosper, Anglican parson, of Johnsonville, said he practised ! mental of psychic therapeutics, but : took exception to the term "hypnotist." Be gave an instance of a lady )>c had cured who had been under medital treatment for two years. Ti\e Chairman : Unconsciously, we are hypnotised by others ?— Yes, if ; you like the word "hypnotised." Ij i shoulrt .say. "psychically influenced. " ! . Unfortunately "Truth's" space will ; not permit of further extracts from ' ihc evidence," but we think sufficient ' li-ts i eon published to indicate the i ■:■ nt n-'p.s«i(v of infroducinK this •.■!.■•■• ion, a Government Rill cmhorly/i ihe recommendations of the cotnnvittee. ! I