- Two hoary old nostrums which were finally
banned by Federal authorities
-
- During the past 23 years, William Koch, a
discredited M.D., and his brother Louis have
widely marketed from their Koch Laboratories a
phony synthetic "antitoxin" for cancer called
Glyoxylide. They claimed it was made from fatty
sulfur compounds, sold it for prices ranging
from $25 to $300 a thimbleful. Since cancer is
not caused by bacteria but is an anarchy of the
body's own cells, a cancer antitoxin is a
contradiction in terms. Last week the Koch Bros,
were arrested for violating the Federal Food,
Drug and Cosmetic Act. Their brew was found
watery. Said Assistant U.S. Attorney John C.
Ray: "Chemical analysis shows that the dilution
[of Glyoxylide] is so infinitesimal that
it would be like dumping a cocktail in the
Detroit River and expecting to get a kick out of
the water going over Niagara Falls."
-
- "Pandiculate for Health! Grow Tall! Get
Well! Be Young!" Exuberant ads like this,
running in health-fad magazines since 1914, have
proclaimed the virtues of a spine-stretching
device called the "Pandiculator." The
Post Office last fortnight barred the promoter
of this fraud from using the U.S. mail. A
rectangular box about four feet long, worked on
the principle of a medieval rack, the
Pandiculator has T-shaped iron posts at each
end, one fixed, the other movable on a cable
pulley system. To pandiculate, all a gull had to
do was lie down on the box, strap his head to
the fixed post, his feet to the adjustable one;
when he turned a wheel on the side, he could
stretch his legs and hear the joints crack. The
promotion copy claimed that this Procrustean bed
would cure "every conceivable condition."
-
 -
- Deux vieilles panacées anciennes
qui ont été finalement interdites
par des autorités
Fédérales
-
- Pandiculer pour votre Santé!
Allongez-vous! Allez bien! Soyez Jeune!
-
- Des annonces miraculeuses comme celles-ci,
se multiplient dans des magazines de
santé depuis 1914. Elles proclament les
vertus d'un dispositif étirant la colonne
vertébrale appelé le
"Pandiculator".
-
- La Poste américaine, voici une
quinzaine, a interdit au promoteur de cette
fraude d'utiliser ses services pour distribuer
cette escroquerie.
-
- Voici sa description : un socle
rectangulaire d' environ quatre pieds de long,
ornemanté comme un support
médiéval, le Pandiculator a
des poignées de fer aux
extrêmités une fixe, l'autre mobile
avec un système de poulies et de
câbles.
-
- Pour une bonne pandiculation, la victime se
couche sur l'engin, attachant sa tête
à la partie fixe, et ses pieds à
la partie mobile; quand on tourne une roue sur
le côté, les jambes s'allongent
puis le tronc est étiré faisant
craquer les articulations. La publicité
prétendait que cet engin le Pandiculator
guérissait "tous les maux imaginables"
!
|
