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At the outset of the twentieth century the British Medical Association began a campaign against the sale of ‘patent medicines’. Some of these were innocuous tonics or cold cures such as Beecham's pills, but others claimed to cure the incurable including consumption and cancer. The BMA commissioned a chemist to analyse the medicines and cost the ingredients. His results were published in a BMJ series called ‘Secret remedies’. The first articles appeared in 1907, and were such a success that they were reprinted as a book of the same name (Figure 1) in 19091. In editorials the BMJ subsequently noted with annoyance that press reaction had been mixed. The Daily Telegraph and the Manchester Guardian had accepted advertisements, but the Express, Star, Graphic and News of the World had not (and had refused to review the book). A few weeks later the BMA recorded that, despite this ‘conspiracy of silence’, sales were mounting. Altogether 150 000 copies of the book were sold in the UK and the Empire. In 1910-1914 further analyses were published in the BMJ, and More Secret Remedies was published in 1912. The emphasis of the campaign changed and, together with the pharmacists, the BMA successfully lobbied the Government to investigate the matter: a Select Committee on Patent Medicines was set up the same year. Figure 1 Secret Remedies (1909) Singled out both in Secret Remedies and in the BMJ articles was ‘Stevens' Consumption Cure’, which was being advertised with a money-back offer: ‘I do not say consumption is curable, but I say if you are consumptive I will guarantee to cure you or return your money in full’. According to the manufacturer the formula was 80 grains of umckaloabo root with 13½ grains of chichitse per ounce prepared according to British Pharmacopoeia methods. According to the BMA's chemist, ‘The medicine was a clear red liquid and analysis showed it to contain in 100 fluid parts, 23.1 alcohol, 1.8 glycerine, and 4 parts solids; about 1 part of tannin and 0.2 part ash. The solid substance agreed in all respects with the solids of decoction of krameria, or a mixture of this decoction with a little kino. The formula thus seems to be: Rectified spirit of wine... 23.7 parts, glycerine 1.8 parts, decoction of krameria (1 in 3) to 100 parts. Or it may be made with a tincture of krameria... estimated cost for 2 fl oz—1½ d’. Krameria or rhatany root is an astringent still used in herbal and homeopathic remedies.
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