The Quack Doctor

Source: Detroit Medical Journal August 1905

As you can see, this ad is aimed at the medical profession, and the product was accepted by orthodox practitioners of the time – it was the claims made about their efficacy that pushed these items into the nether regions of quackery.

After the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, US promoters of medicines had to be very careful what they said in their advertising and packaging, but this did not apply to non-drug medical devices. The dilators, (patented in 1892 by Frank E Young but not widely promoted until the early years of the 20th century), were touted as ‘A Radical Cure’ for piles and constipation, the idea being that well-trained muscles in the area in question would be able to cope with even the most solid of ‘solids’. The newspaper ads of 1907 and 1908 (aimed at ordinary punters rather than doctors) included assertions like: ‘cure even the worst cases’; ‘guaranteed to cure’; ‘positive and lasting cure.’ Had they been talking about a drug, the manufacturers would have been in trouble.

To take advantage of the supposed benefits, here’s what you had to do:

First warm dilator in warm water; then lubricate outside of dilator with Dr Young’s Piloment (or if it is not available, with vaseline) and while in a squatting position—or while lying on the side with knees drawn up—gently insert in the rectum as far as the flange or rim. Hold in place a minute and the anal muscles will hold and retain it. Sit or lie down and allow it to remain for half an hour or an hour to get the best results. Ten minutes will accomplish much. When ready to go on to the next larger size, it is best first to use for a few minutes the same size you have been using, inserting and withdrawing it a few times.

In case you’re wondering, the big ‘un was 4 inches long and an inch in diameter. Although at the time of this ad they were made of rubber, Bakelite was later used, and the design changed so that the flange at the bottom was flat and the dilators could stand upright, as in this photo of the exhibit at Glore’s Psychiatric Museum in St Joseph, Missouri (with thanks to cometstarmoon on flickr for the pic).

It wasn’t until 1938 that the new US Federal Food, Drugs and Cosmetics Act encompassed the sale of medical devices, and once that was in force it didn’t take long for the dilators to fall foul of the courts. In 1940, a shipment of dilators and their lubricant, Piloment, was seized at New York and the US Attorney for the Southern District of NY filed libels against them, alleging that they were misbranded.

The misbranding allegations related to the claims that the dilators would permanently cure constipation and piles, that they had many other benefits including promoting refreshing sleep, and that the instructions advised ‘you need have no fear of using them too much.’

The hearing accepted that ‘it would be dangerous to health when used with the frequency and duration prescribed, recommended, or suggested in the following labeling,’ and the consignment was condemned and destroyed.

Similar products, however, survive to this day – you can buy ones almost identical to the above on Amazon, though I’ll refrain from giving a link as I’m sure if you’re that keen you can find them for yourself.

RHEUMATISM
Cured
Through the Feet
Without Medicine

An external cure so sure that the
makers send it FREE ON APPROVAL.
Try it.
Send your name and address to the makers of Magic Foot Drafts, the great cure for every kind of rheumatism; Chronic or Acute, Muscular, Sciatic, Lumbago, Gout, etc., no matter where located or how severe. You’ll get a pair of the Drafts by return post—prepaid—free on approval.
Magic Foot Drafts are worn without inconvenience, and cure rheumatism in every part of the body by drawing out the poisonous acids in the blood through the great foot pores. You can see that this offer is proof of their merit, for hundreds of thousands of persons answer these advertisements, and only those who are satisfied with the benefit they receive send any money. Write to-day to the Magic Foot Draft Co., 43, Pugh’s Buildings, Pugh’s Place, Golden Square, London. W., for a trial pair, and be cured. A valuable illustrated book on rheumatism also sent free.
CAUTION. Magic Foot Drafts are prepared after the original formula only by us. Note carefully the address.

Source: The Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times Sat 7 May 1904

.

Magic Foot Drafts originated in Jackson, Michigan in 1902 and quickly became established in London too. In case it’s not clear from the ad, they were large and very sticky plasters that you were supposed to put on the sole of your foot, where they would somehow (by magic, presumably) draw out uric acid through the skin. The plaster was made of oilcloth coated with a mixture of pine tar, cornmeal and poke-root. As Samuel Hopkins Adams said in The Great American Fraud (1905/6):

Of course, they might as well be affixed to the barn door, so far as any uric acid extraction is concerned.

Adams also gave his opinion on why some nostrum vendors allowed punters to take their products on a free trial:

Other concerns send their “remedies” free on trial, among these being the ludicrous “magic foot drafts” referred to above. At first thought it would seem that only a cure would bring profit to the makers. But the fact is that most diseases tend to cure themselves by natural means, and the delighted and deluded patient, ascribing the relief to the “remedy” which really has nothing to do with it, sends on his grateful dollar. Where the money is already paid, most people are too inert to undertake the effort of getting it back.

The British version of the Foot Drafts had different ingredients – powdered white hellebore and stockholm tar.  Nostrums and Quackery (1912) pointed out that the difference ‘bears out what has been stated many times – that the composition of nostrums can never be relied on,’ but to be fair, pokeweed is indigenous to North America but not Britain, so the London branch of the company probably couldn’t get regular supplies.

Consumptives
There is Hope
for You!
Derk P. Yonkerman, Specialist,
discoverer of a remarkable Cure for
Consumption.

To every consumptive person there is  hope  of  life
and health,   for,   incredible  as  it  may  seem,  a
specific which cures Consumption has at last been
found.    Seeking   year  after  year,  working  early
and late, complete success  has  at  last  crowned
the  efforts  of  that  renowned  Specialist,  Derk  P.
Yonkerman,  and  to-day  hundreds  of  former  con-
sumptives, once hopeless and helpless, testify with
joy  and   heartfelt  gratitude  to  the  healing  power
of  his  remarkable  discovery.   This  latest  product
of science is, we  believe,  destined  to revolutionize
the treatment of consumption, for it has  cured after
all other remedies tried and failed  and  changes  of
climate proved  unavailing;  so  potent  is its healing
power  that  even  cases pronounced hopeless have
been by it restored to perfect health.
If you are  in  consumption  you  may  prove   for
yourself the virtue of this wonderful specific.
………….. ABSOLUTELY FREE
Simply send your  name  and  address to the Derk
P.  Yonkerman  Co., Ltd.,  Dept.  444, 6, Bouverie
Street,   London,   E.C.,  and  they will forward by
return   of   post  a  free  trial  treatment,  together
with   explicit   directions  for  the  treatment  and
cure  of  Consumption.  Don’t  delay.  If  you  have
Consumption  your   life  is   in   danger  and  you
should   not   hesitate   to   avail  yourself  of  this
marvellous cure.

Source: The Penny Illustrated Paper, Sat 4 February 1905

A rare foray into the 20th century today, with Derk P. Yonkerman’s Tuberculozyne. Yonkerman hailed from Michigan – or to be more precise, a town named Kalamazoo. (Which I had only ever heard of as the name of the cat in Della and the Dealer, but I looked it up and the modern-day city looks absolutely delightful.)

In 1882 Yonkerman graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College and began practising at the Cleveland Veterinary Infirmary in Ohio. In 1901, after tests on cattle, he announced a treatment for TB, claiming to have discovered a way of introducing copper into the blood in order to kill the bacilli (Davenport Daily Republican, Iowa, 6 June 1901). By early 1902 the product was being advertised in the US, and it reached Britain about a year later.

In the UK, a month’s treatment cost £2 10s and comprised two bottles of liquid labelled No 1 Tuberculozyne and No 2 Tuberculozyne. After every meal, the patient had to put thirty drops of each into a glass of milk, stir well and drink immediately.

The BMA analysed the two mixtures and found No 1 to contain potassium bromide, glycerine, oil of cassis, tincture of capsicum, cochineal to give it its bright red colouring, caustic soda and water. No 2, a brown liquid, was glycerine, essential oil of almond, burnt sugar, water and 0.01% copper. The estimated cost of ingredients for the two together was 2½d.

Patients could send off for a free sample, which was a ½oz bottle of each liquid. If they did not go on to purchase further supplies they would receive regular letters offering increasing discounts.

In 1912, the American Medical Association publication, Nostrums and Quackery, quoted the BMA analysis and noted that, whereas in the past British quacks had once been a nuisance to America, ‘the current has set in the other direction and now instead of the American public being fleeced by the English medical fakers the American quack is finding the English public “good pickings”‘. This was due in part to the US Food and Drugs Act of 1906, which meant quacks like Yonkerman had to be very careful what they claimed. The British laws were less strict, allowing for much more exaggerated claims in the advertising and packaging.

Sources:

Secret Remedies: What they cost and what they contain, British Medical Association, 1909

Nostrums and Quackery: Articles on the the Nostrum Evil and Quackery reprinted, with Additions and Modifications, from the Journal of the Americal Medical association, 2nd ed. 1912