44

1.—14

Thomas Cahill, M.D., M.Oh., examined. (No. 6.) 138. The Chairman.'] How long have you been in practice?— Twenty-three years. 139. In Wellington? —Yes, and before I came to the Dominion. 140. You have read the provisions of the Quackery Prevention Bill, a measure now before Parliament ?—Yes. 141. You approve of the general objects of the Bill?—I approve of the object of the Bill, and my sympathies are with it; but Ido not think the Bill will attain the object sought. I think it will have quite a contrary effect. 142. Upon what do you base that opinion? Would you like to make a statement?—l would like to make a few remarks on the vendors of patent or secret medicines and the patent medicines themselves. 1 would like to preface those remarks by saying that lam not interested in the sale of drugs, secret or otherwise, The medical profession has sometimes been accused of being, from interested motives, at the bottom of a crusade against this trade of quackery. I may say the medical profession, either in whole or in part, has never discussed the matter. Neither the New Zealand Medical Association nor the branches have discussed the matter. Pew individuals of the medical profession have taken any public interest in the subject, for the simple reason that they would waste a lot of time and would not be thought unprejudiced. I think the attitude of the profession is wrong. They see that a great injustice is being done to the poor and ignorant, and I do not think they should be silent on the question. With regard to the secret remedies, I would divide them into three classes, first, there is the worthless class. I will give examples. The Strand Magazine has been put into my hand, and I see advertised Antipon, which is supposed to be a remedy for obesity. It is based on the popular idea that sucking lemons makes you thin. It is citric acid, and is sold in bottles containing less than a third of a pint and retailed at 6s. The intrinsic value of it is 2d. Then there is Russell's Antifat Care, which is similar in composition but of a different colour, and the value is the same (2d.). It is retailed at 6s. The next is Petroleum Emulsion, which has been shown up by two commissions—one, I think, was the Lancet Commission and the other at the King's Hospital, London—to be utterly valueless as a drug. It is merely a liquid form of vaseline, holding in suspension hypophosphates of lime and soda. The only effect the petroleum seems to have is to prevent the absorption of the hypophosphates, which might be of some use. The petroleum passes through the system unchanged. That is retailed at 2s. 6d. and 4s. 6d. a bottle. I will give you an example of how this hurts the poor, A short time ago I attended a very poor family. The husband got 2 guineas a week. He had a wife of forty years of age, dying of phthisis, and six children, the eldest of whom was 13J and the youngest 2J years. He paid 14s. away per week in rent, and yet to add to his misfortunes he was swindled in purchasing stuff of this sort put on the market, and supported by a system of fraudulent advertisements. Then there is Munyon's Kidney Cure, put up by Munyon's Homeopathic Home Remedy Company, 272 Oxford Circus, London, England. " Manufactured in U.S. of America." Price Is. a bottle, containing 132 pilules. " Directions: Four pellets every hour." The label bears the words " Cures Bright's disease, gravel, all urinary troubles, and pain in the back or groins from kidney-diseases." The following extracts are from a circular enclosed with the bottle : "Munyon's Improved Homeopathic Remedies are radically different from those used by the regular school of homeopathy or any other system of medicine. We have the true cure for the most obstinate as well as the most intricate of diseases. The whole secret of Munyon's Remedies is the science of combining and harmonizing all drugs that are known to cure certain diseases, so that by our special combinations we cover every phase of the case, no matter what the complaint. There is no experimenting, no guesswork, but an absolutely fixed law of cure." " Munyon's Kidney Cure has no equal. It cures pain in the back, loins, or groins from kidney-disease, puffy and flabby face, dropsy of the feet and limbs, frequent desire to pass water, scanty urine, dark-coloured and turbid urine, sediment in the urine, gravel in the bladder, and too great a flow of urine." The pilules were found to vary much in size, the average weight being 06 gr. Analysis showed them to consist of ordinary white sugar; no trace could be detected of any alkaloid or other active principle, or of any medication. The sugar was determined quantitatively, and found to be just 100 per cent, of the weight of the pilules. Estimated cost of contents of bottle, -g-gA. Count Mattel's and the other so-called cancer cures come next, the latest of which comes from South Africa in the form of the dainty application of frogs. There is a second class of drugs which, though useful for a particular purpose, are fraudulently advertised as beneficial in a variety of cases. The most popular one of these, I think, at present in New Zealand is Pink Pills. Pink Pills consist of carbonate of iron and arsenic ; there is another formula containing sulphate of iron. They are sold wholesale to chemists at £1 7s. a dozen boxes, containing about 2J gross of pills. They can be made for Is. 6d. a gross. They are sold readily at 2s. 6d. a box, and the unfortunate poor girls who suffer mostly from anasmia and are employed in shops are deluded by the advertisements in newspapers to purchase these pills at an exorbitant price. What is sold wholesale at 275. could be sold over the counter at 2s. 6d. a gross with a very fair profit. 143. That is Blaud's pill ?—Yes. 144. Blaud's pill can be sold at 2s. or 2s. 6d. per gross. The chemist only makes 2fd. out of Pink Pills, but there is such a demand for them through this rascally system of advertising that the unfortunate chemist is forced to keep them. Another pill of this class is the Bile Bean. Bile Beans came before the Courts of Scotland, and the Bile Beans Company were told by Lord H. that their trade was "founded and conducted on fraud." They appealed, and, of course, his lordship's decision was upheld. But Bile Beans thrive in New Zealand to-day. 145. Are you aware that there was a case in Dunedin, in connection with which Mr. Justice Williams pointed out that Bile Beans pills recipe was taken from a book of formulas ? —Nearly all are—there is no question about it. Doan's Backache Pills belong to the