25

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J. M. MASON.]

Harvey's Blood Pills, Sole Proprietors: Harvey's Blood Pill Company, Llanelly, S. Wales. Price, Is. ljd. a bottle, containing twenty pills. The label and the enclosed circular bear the picture of a man's head, with the words, "Harvey. Discoverer of the circulation of the blood"; with the evident implication that the Harvey who discovered the circulation of the blood also discovered or invented these blood-pills. The modest claims made in the circular include the following: — " Harvey's Blood Pills for Skin Diseases. An Unfailing Remedy For Scurvy Sores! Harvey's Blood Pills For Scrofulous Sores. A Certain Remedy For Ulcerated Legs! Harvey's Blood Pills For Sluggish Liver. The Surest Remedy For Ringworm! Harvey's Blood Pills for Erysipelas. The Quickest Remedy For Itch ! Harvey's Blood Pills for Boils. An Effective Remedy for Eruptions! Harvey's Blood Pills for Rheumatism. The Safest Remedy for Piles ! " Harvey's Blood Pills are purely Vegetable, and contain the best properties of Sarsaparilla, Dandelion, Burdock, and Quinine. They are Warranted Free From Mercury. " Harvey's Blood Pills fortify the feeble, restore the invalid to health, and do good in all cases. All sufferers should immediately have recourse to these celebrated Pills. " Harvey's Blood Pills are ' specially ' suitable for Females. They remove all impurities." Somewhat lengthy directions are given for diet, &c, as well as for taking the pills, in various cases; from which it appears that the usual dose is— " For a male adult, one Pill three times a day; a female adult, one Pill twice a day: children, one Pill at bed-time." The pills are coated with French chalk, coloured red externally; when deprived of their coating, the average weight was 276 gr. Analysis showed them to contain quinine equivalent to 173 per cent, of the crystalline sulphate, 217 per cent, of potassium-iodide, small proportions of powdered rhubarb and liquorice, and vegetable extract or extracts. A mass prepared from the following formula agreed closely with the pills irr general properties and in results on analysis in various ways: — Quinine-sulphate ... ... ••• ••• ••• ... 17 Potassium-iodide ... ... ••• •■• ••• ... 22 Powdered rhubarb ... ■•• •■• ■■• ... 16 Powdered liquorice ... ••• ■■• •■■ •■■ 8 Extract of sarsaparilla ... ... ■■• ■■• ... 12 Extract of burdock ... ... •■■ •■■ ... 12 Extract of taraxacum ... ■•■ ••■ •■■ ... 12 Divided into 36 pills. Estimated cost of ingredients for twenty pills, fd. Professor 0. Phelps Brown's Blood Purifier. Prepared by Professor 0. Phelps Brown, 60 Chandos Street, Covent Garden, London. Price 2s. 9d. a bottle, containing six fluid ounces. The following paragraph appears on the label: — "This medicine is a concentrated preparation of Rock Rose and Stillingia, combined with other plants, well known for their specified action on the blood, which makes a compound medicine, that has never been equalled, and will be hard to surpass in the scientific future. It is impossible to give a full account of its virtues and cleansing capacities on this label, and the Prof, must, therefore, be content with briefly stating that it is an infallible remedy for All Diseases of the Blood, be they Constitutional, Hereditary, or of Recent Contraction. Nearly every ailment known to the medical faculty is in a greater or lesser degree dependent for its appearance and its virulence upon a Disease of the Blood. Ulcers, Tumours, Scrofula Bunches, Fistula, Piles, Painful Eruptions, indeed all afflictions manifested upon the outer surface of the body are the consequences of diseased blood. Many terrible maladies, which take the shape of Internal Inflammation, Sores, &c, and appear in the form of Fevers, Aches, Swellings, Glandular Disturbances, Mental Derangement, and General Debility, also proceed from the same cause. It is an admitted fact that, with Pure Blood and Regular Bowels, no individual ever can be permanently, seriously, or dangerously ill, if ill at all. "J)ose. —For Adults, one tablespoonful three times a day before eating. For Children, the dose must be reduced to a teaspoonful." Analysis showed 100 fluid parts of the liquid to contain 197 parts of solids, of which 155 parts were sugar (partly inverted): a good deal of mucilage was present, but no alkaloid and no mineral substance except the small quantity of ash always present in vegetable extracts : alcohol was present to the extent of 23 per cent, by volume. Evidence was obtained of the probable presence of a preparation of stillingia, but this drug does not contain any active principle by which it can be certainly identified. Rock-rose (Cistus canadensis) has been used to some slight extent medicinally, but no particular virtues appear to have been assigned to it; it is, however, described as bitter and astringent. The 3 or 4 per cent, of extractive matter present in the mixture under consideration showed neither bitterness, astringency, or any other property by which it could be identified, or which would indicate any medicinal quality. 4.—1. 14.