PARAFFIN CRAZE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 253, 24 March 1914, Page 6

PARAFFIN CRAZE.

"REMEDY FOR MAXY ILLS." , EXTRAORDINARY POPULARITY. (Auckland Herald.) From time to time there grows up a more or less pronounced "craze" for the medicinal preparation for which remarkable properties arc claimed. Perhaps one of the most astonishing of such occurrences is the present popularity of "refined liquid paraffin," which is enjoying an extraordinary sale all over Xew Zealand. . Enormous quantities of this oil, which is a deodorised first cousin to kerosene, are being swallowed daily by men and women, particularly the women, of Auckland, in accordance with the direction on the bottles, and in the hope that the oil will correct more or less of ,1(11 the ailments the flesh is heir to. The number of the ailments expected to disappear depends entirely upon the liberality of the professions on the labels and extent of the belief of the takers.

The oil as used medicinally is a speei-, ally prepared extract from petroleum. It is quite indigestible and quite jnnutritious, in spite of the statement on some of the labels that it is "highly nutritious," and all that is claimed for it by medical men is that it is lubricant for the alimentary tract. A SURfiEOX'S STATEMENT. The present favor into which paraffin has sprung is in great part due to its advocacy by a famous Guy's Hospital surgeon! Sir. W. Arbuthnot Lane. After a long experience, in which he performed many operations for the removal of defective portions of the intestine he came to the conclusion that much, Rood could be done if a suitable lubricant could be found to make the work of ■ the intestinal walls easier. By a natural application of logic, since health depends so greatly upon the proper action of the intestines, such a discover;, would mean the finding of an aid to long and happy living. Sir. W. A. Lane tried paraffin "and announced that it worked like a charm. Its efficacv was bruited abroad very effectively, and there arose a new industry in the wholesale preparation of paraffin qualified for internal use. THE ORIGIN OF THE BOOM.

Politicians are not usually connect 1 .! with the marked success of a medicine; hut this is an instance in which a publie man of the Dominion has played a great part in such a matter. Mr. T. At. Wilford. whose health had been unset., isfactory for a long time, and who had been unable to obtain relief in Xc-v Zealand, went to Kugland, and returned cured. It soon became known to the vast number of people who have something wrong with them that he h:ii? been taking paraffin. This, and Sir. W. A. Lane's announcements, was sufficient for the great public, mind, which is always in search of a new medicine. Doctors started to prescribe paraffin' to an extent previously unprecedented; chemists stocked it and put it in thei; windows; wholesale druggists sold out of it and cabled for more; the chemists' customers bought it and mixi'd it with large quantities of hope, took it, and felt better. The new cure "arrived." It is still here, an-1 :tio chemists, still cannot get enough of it to supply the demand. , PARAFFIX AS A PVXAOEA

It is very difficult to obtain a rlefinite opinion as to whether paraffin docs all that is claimed for it or not. It is a very old lCiuely. One Auckland chemist stated that he had f.\i a steady sale for it for fhe past 25 years. Not veiv long a','o :-. paraffin eiuuls'oi: was sold as a spe.'ifi'! for consumption, the claim being made that it was absorbed in such a way that it had a direct action upon the lungs. But that cure died a natural death. It was helped to die by the discovery that every drop of paraffin in the ■ solution passed through the system undigested. This very point is one that is emphasised in connection with the present application of the oil as a cure for intestinal inactivity. , In the back blocks years ago, before medicine-chests more or less pretentious, were the rule, paraffin played an important part in camp equipment, apart from its use as an illuminant. Farmers, buslimen, and others swore by it as a sovereign remedy for everything, from toothache to broken legs. It was no uncommon thing to find men tutting a iteaspoonful daily. Kerosene is a nauseating mixture; and its curative properties, like those of many other nostrums, seemed to derive themselves largely from its very Hastiness. Some (SUjch recommendation was needed to keep it in favor, since it had not the backing of an eminent surgeon or of a great publicity. The modern preparation, which is practically a liquid vaseline, ii not unpleasant to bike.

WHAT THE ■ DOCTORS TJITKK. Locally, medical opinion seems divided between a modified enthusiasm and modified tolerance. Quite a number of Auckland doctors prescribe paraffin; some very extensively, others in the tentative way they have of discovering whether a new idea is good ov not. Some pin their faith to .it; others say that the faith of the patjents is worth more than the oil. The least enthusiastic admit that it must have at least some small value as an aid to those who have trouble with the part of the intestines. They say. however, that it is greatly over-rated. One medical man remarked "Paraffin'/ Oh that'fl ,imt one of Arbuthnot Lane's latest fads:" The doctors are not quarreling about paraffin. They are either satisfied from (heir own experience that it, or the patients' belief in it, is n success, or else they disregard it. The fact is that it is being taken by a great number of people, many gf whom claim that they are being benefited. And it is one of the thousand and one remarkable and expensive things that have entered into civilised diet because civilisation has ordered people to eat more well than wisely, and to exercise no more than they can help.