"Miss I---- S---- had a terrible case of consumption, together with catarrh and bronchitis. With this terrible complication, given up to die, she took the H---- treatment. She is now cured."
Dear Doctor: I have been gaining rapidly. Have gained 17 pounds; weigh 150 pounds now and am getting quite strong, too.
I wish you could see me. You would be surprised. I look just fine. Everybody says they never thought I would get well. I can"t thank you enough for it. I am feeling just fine, so I will close.
Yours truly,
Miss I---- S----.
The above testimonial reads quite convincing and doubtless was the means of influencing many other unfortunate victims to put themselves under the "professional" care of Dr. H----. Investigation, however, revealed the fact that this optimistic young lady died shortly after giving the testimonial and that her death was, according to the transcript of her certificate of death issued by the State of Wisconsin, due to "consumption." The testimonial therefore cannot possibly have any value under the circ.u.mstances. Unfortunately, however, this doctor does not publish the death certificate with the testimonial, which latter he continued to use after her death.
After an exhaustive inquiry into the personality and business of the above mentioned M. D., the _Journal of the American Medical a.s.sociation_ said:
First. The H---- consumption cure is chiefly owned and controlled by men whose only qualification for treating disease is that they are business men financially interested in other medical fakes.
Second. The claims made in the advertis.e.m.e.nts, either directly or by implication, that these "remedies" will "cure"
consumption are cruel and heartless falsehoods.
Third. The methods employed to capture victims, by means of speciously worded circular letters disguised as personal communications, are an imposition, if not an actual fraud, on the ignorant and credulous.
Fourth. The drugs sent out by this concern as a "trial treatment" are worthless as a cure for consumption.
Fifth. In printing endors.e.m.e.nts of himself, which this M.D.
received from ministers of the gospel, he grossly abused the confidence of men who did not know the use to which their letters were to be put.
Sixth. The testimonials from physicians which he publishes have been shown to emanate in some cases from men who themselves are employed in exploiting medical fakes.
Seventh. The claim he makes of being a graduate of Edinburgh University has been shown to be as false as the claims made for the nostrum he exploits.
Can a much more disgraceful business than the various "consumption cure" humbugs be imagined? Founded on fraud, maintained by deceit, perpetuated by falsehood--the sick are exploited to pay dividends on corporate quackery. How much longer will this outrage on the unfortunate victims of the White Plague be tolerated? If not for humanitarian reasons, then for its own protection, at least, society should demand that such cruel frauds be suppressed. Their existence is a menace to public health and a disgrace to modern civilization.
Many fraudulent nostrums are advertised as blind advertis.e.m.e.nts in the "Personal" columns of the daily press. The following recently appeared in the "Personal" columns of papers all over the country:
PERSONAL--TO CONSUMPTIVES: I possess information which cost me a fortune, and feel that I should let every consumptive know about my experience. Mrs. R., Ohio.
To those who answered this advertis.e.m.e.nt was sent a letter written on pale blue stationery, such as is used for social correspondence, with the initials --. R. embossed, monogram style, in gilt on the paper and envelope, signed "Mrs. --. R." It is a.s.serted in this letter that the writer has cured herself "in defiance of the world"s scientists," by the discovery of "a combination of certain roots and herbs." As a consequence of having made this discovery, and after spending a fortune in the quest of a cure according to the advertis.e.m.e.nt, we are informed that "I am now devoting my life to saving others." According to further information, her effort is apparently successful, because she "finds it impossible to attend personally to the mult.i.tude of inquiries with which she is favored." She finds it necessary, therefore, "to refer your letter to my secretary, Mr. C----, from whom you will no doubt hear soon." The secretary is very evidently on the job, "for in the next mail there is delivered a letter from the ---- Company, signed H. W. C----, Sec"y."
We can estimate the degree of Mrs. R."s solicitude for the welfare of the race when we learn that the same concern was engaged in exploiting a syphilis "cure" in Chicago a few years ago. In all probability the cure is the same for both diseases. It is difficult to tell of which disease it was that Mrs. R. cured herself.
Among the testimonials published by this concern in its booklet are quite a number in which the statement is made, frequently in glowing terms, that the writer has been "cured" of consumption by ----. A few of these were investigated and in every instance the writer died of consumption. This mixture is, in the strongest terms that can be used, a fake, a fraud, and is not a "cure" for consumption, as, of course, every intelligent person knows.
TO CONSUMPTIVES.
The undersigned having been restored to health by simple means, after suffering for several years with a severe lung affection, and that dread disease Consumption, is anxious to make known to his fellow sufferers the means of cure. To those who desire it, he will cheerfully send (free of charge), a copy of the prescription used, which they will find a sure cure for Consumption, Asthma, Catarrh, Bronchitis, and all throat and lung maladies. He hopes all sufferers will try his remedy, as it is invaluable. Those desiring the prescription which will cost them nothing, and may prove a blessing, will please address Rev. ---- W., ----, N. Y.
A reply to this advertis.e.m.e.nt brought the information that the Rev.
W---- contracted tuberculosis while in charge of a church in Maine, and after trying various treatments was finally cured by "a famous Dr.
C----, of Paris, France." It was now his intention to "devote his life"
to aid suffering humanity, in a spirit of thankfulness, by giving away, free of all charge, a copy of the famous prescription.
Investigation proved that the Rev. E. A. W---- did not exist, consequently he never had a church in Maine, nor did he contract tuberculosis, or consult Dr. C----, of Paris. The individual who conducted the business was really one C. A. A----, who, it is to be inferred, conceived the whole fake. The scheme was a simple one. When the prescription was received it was discovered that the ingredients were not known to the drug trade and it was necessary to send to Mr.
A---- for a supply before it could be tested. The literature sent with the prescription was of such a character that the average ignorant sufferer from consumption, hoping against hope for a "cure," fell into the trap and sent the money for a trial shipment.
"FEMALE WEAKNESS" CURES
Dr. D----"s "---- Compound": This nostrum is sold to relieve the pain of child-birth. It is surely not necessary to state that it will not relieve the pains of child-birth, nor will any drug or drugs ever do so.
The irresponsible group of quacks who claim to have solved the problem of "painless child-birth" through the use of various "compound"s" hardly merit the consideration of ordinary individuals. It is almost impossible to believe that a man would print over his name such a puerile or fantastic story as the following. Dr. D---- a.s.serts that the value of his compound is proved because a certain woman patient tells how, after losing her first child, she had a vision. A "white-robed angel"
appeared, who, after speaking to her in beautiful language, said, "Go, sister, and seek freedom and peace in the use of ---- Compound and in following the teachings of that book."
The book is ent.i.tled "Painless Child-Birth," it sells for $2.00 and it simply extols, in unnecessary flowery language, the merits of the compound.
If we heard such stories in every-day life we would smile credulously at our informant and doubt his sanity, but in a patent medicine advertis.e.m.e.nt we expect to read of miracles and we almost hope to be told of impossible happenings. The more glaringly false and silly they seem to be, the more they seem to exert their subtle hypnotic influence on anyone whose physical or mental temperament lends itself to the appeal.
This compound "speedily cures all derangements and irregularities of the menstrual function, congestion, inflammation, ulceration and displacement of the womb, and other things too numerous to mention." It is claimed that it is made of the purest and most carefully selected herbs which can be obtained. If, however, one picked up two handfuls of dried leaves in the woods and put them in a package, the average man could not distinguish between such rakings and "Dr. D----"s ---- Compound" at $1.00 a package.
The _Journal of the American Medical a.s.sociation_ in commenting on this fake, states:
---- Compound is, in short, but one more of the innumerable cure-alls on the market in which discarded, unrecognized or useless drugs are pressed into service and invested with miraculous virtues. What shall be said of men who prey on pregnant women? Who create in the mind of the expectant mother the fear of untold agonies and then offer immunity to these supposit.i.tious tortures at the price of their worthless nostrums? Who, with the help of such publications as will accept their lying advertis.e.m.e.nts, do more to encourage abortion than even the professional abortionists themselves?
There seems to be but one remedy: Speed the time when in their acceptance of advertising those publishers who fail to recognize decency as a moral obligation may be forced by public opinion to recognize its value as a business proposition.
The C. B. M. Remedy Company: In a small town in Indiana there is a "lady" who has been spending a fortune in giving medical treatment absolutely free to suffering women. The letters, literature, and advertis.e.m.e.nts by implication lead one to suppose that a woman is in charge of the business of this concern. The advertis.e.m.e.nts have a picture of a lady giving away packages of medicine. The business was conducted by one F. D. M. The name of his wife was simply used as an advertising a.s.set; the idea, of course, being that a woman would be more willing to write to a business concern telling of her private illnesses if she understood that she was confiding in a woman than she would if under the impression that her letter would be read by a man. This is an old scheme which was employed by others for many years with great success.
M. himself is not a physician and is in no way qualified to give advice to these women who write in response to the advertis.e.m.e.nts detailing their symptoms and telling of their troubles. Investigation showed that the medicine was compounded by the clerks and stenographers in the employ of the company, and that all communications were answered by form letters. It did not matter what ailed the patient, the treatment was the same.
The claims made by this concern for their remedy, and they had only one, were along the usual line--everything they could think about which has a remote connection with the specialty in which they were interested--leucorrhea, ulceration, displacement or falling of the womb, profuse, scanty or painful periods, uterine or ovarian tumors or growths, and piles from any cause, no matter of how long standing; also pains in the back head and bowels, bearing down feelings, nervousness, creeping feeling up the spine, melancholy, desire to cry, hot flushes, weariness, uterine cancers in their earlier stages.
a.n.a.lysis of the remedy showed it to be a combination of two weak, commonly used drugs, one a very mild antiseptic and the other a mild astringent. These were held together with cocoa b.u.t.ter into which a drop of carbolic acid may have been put. There is nothing unusual in the combination, nor has it any wonderful qualities which would justify the claims made in behalf of it. The remedy contains nothing which could under any circ.u.mstances effect the removal of cancers, fibroid growths, or polypi, or which is capable of radically relieving laceration of the womb due to child-birth.
The following is one of the specious appeals which this meretricious concern sent to the ailing women of America:
Mrs. M. receives more mail than any other woman in the state.
How would you like to receive so much mail that it would be necessary to use a grindstone in order to open the letters as fast as they come in. This is the way Mrs. C. B. M. opens her mail. She gets tons of mail, and to save time has the letters opened by a large grindstone, which occupies a conspicuous place in her office. No other person in Indiana receives so much mail as she.
Mrs. M."s aid and advice is as free to you as G.o.d"s sunshine or the air you breathe. She is always glad to lend her a.s.sistance to every suffering woman, and she is a generous, good woman, who has suffered herself as you suffer, and she wants to prove to you that her common sense home treatment will cure you just as surely as it cured her years ago in her humble cottage before riches and fame came to her.
If you are a sufferer from any female trouble, no matter what it is, send the coupon below to Mrs. C. B. M. at once.
I am a woman with all a woman"s hopes and fears. I have known what it is to be sick in body and mind. Sick in a way that I couldn"t bring myself to explain to a man, even though he were my physician, and I am thankful beyond the power of words to express that I have been given the power to extend to you, my sisters, the priceless boon of relief from the burden of pain and suffering.
I only pray that this little book may be the means of saving some woman from years of such agony as only a woman can know.
I dedicate this book to you.
WOMEN"S DISEASES
I doubt if you can realize the full meaning of these two little words. I, who come in contact with the pitiful wrecks of womanhood wrought by female complaints, know, as I hope you will never know, what shattered lives and broken hearts they cause.