Chapter XIV: Wallace’s Specific Remedies--“an Absolute System of Medicine.”

A study of the advertising matter, pamphlets, “treatises,” etc.,
published by the makers of proprietary medicines, even if not
supplemented by analytical investigation of the medicines themselves,
might well induce the belief that human gullibility is unlimited. So
many of such publications reveal at once to an intelligent reader
the ignorance, and often also the knavishness, of the persons making
the statements contained in them that it seems almost incredible
that moderately educated people can be duped by them; but it seems
quite clear that they are so duped. Probably most people, by a few
judicious inquiries among their friends, will come across cases of
individuals of fair education and acumen in other matters accepting
unquestioningly quite absurd statements widely advertised about
some nostrum, or the diseases which it is asserted to cure. The
particulars given in this chapter of a set of so-called “specifics
for the eradication of all organic and functional diseases incidental
to the present generation during infant and adult life” well
illustrate the power of nonsense to get itself believed and accepted.
These medicines appear to be put forward by two persons of the
name of Wallace, one of whom professes to be their “discoverer,”
and the discoverer of the “Origin and Unity of Disease in Man and
Animals.” Such statements as that the white corpuscles of the
blood are yeast cells, and that phlegm consists simply of masses
of them, or that acetic acid is an absolute poison, surely cannot
impress many readers with respect for the knowledge of the author;
while the grouping together as diseases for which one and the
same preparation--an aconite tincture containing no alkaloid--is
an “absolute specific,” of dropsy, insanity, consumption, mumps,
vermin under the skin, pleurisy, and many others, shows a degree of
ignorance that a cheap-jack pill-vendor in a country market-place
might hesitate to display. The results of analysis complete the
exposure of the worthlessness of the statements made; thus, it is
professed that all alkaloidal substances are absent from all the
preparations, but three out of the six tested were found to contain
one or more of the alkaloids caffeine, hydrastine, and berberine,
while one of those not examined is stated by the “discoverer”
himself to be tincture of hydrastis, which, of course, contains the
two alkaloids last named. Another of the preparations, which is a
tincture of the same drug, is put forward as an “absolute specific”
for cancer of all kinds, for syphilis, and all venereal diseases, and
a host of other disorders. Two others were found to be tinctures of
coffee, one was a tincture of nutmegs, and another showed no active
constituent of any character by which it could be recognized as a
medicinal substance. Possibly if these facts come to the knowledge of
some of the adherents of this “absolute system of medicine” they may
be more inclined to give it the slightly altered name of “an absolute
system of quackery.”

The modest claim advanced for “Wallace’s Twelve Specific Remedies,” which form the subject of the present chapter, is that:

These Specifics are for the Eradication of all Organic and Functional
Diseases incidental to the present generation during infant and adult
life,

and the prescribing of the “specifics” is regarded as a complete system of medicine. These preparations are supplied from the offices of _The Herald of Health_, London; their authors appear to be Mr. Joseph Wallace and Mrs. C. Leigh Hunt Wallace. The medicines are supplied at the uniform price of 2s. 9d. per bottle, containing one fluid ounce, but it appears that the proprietors do not confine themselves to merely selling these preparations. In a list of “Terms for Medical and Hygienic Consultation with Mrs. C. Leigh Hunt Wallace (The Wallace Specifics only prescribed)” fees are named ranging from half a guinea as “reduced terms for domestic, railway, and other servants,” to two guineas for ordinary “consultation by appointment”; and from the same list it appears that Mr. Wallace’s terms are three guineas for a consultation and five guineas for “visits to patients’ own residences, within three miles of Russell Square.” It is not necessary to express any opinion as to whether the “system” is one of deliberate and conscious fraud and imposture, or whether the persons concerned are protected by the completeness of their ignorance from full realisation of the true nature of their practices. The extracts given below from their publications are sufficient evidence of that ignorance.

The principal account of the “system” is given in a book of about 170 pages, entitled “_Physianthropy, or, The Home Cure and Eradication of Disease_. By Joseph Wallace (Lex et Lux) and C. Leigh Hunt Wallace,” which is sold at 6d. and 1s. The date of the eighth edition of this, now being sold, appears to be 1901 or 1902; this is supplemented by a pamphlet dealing only with the specifics, dated 1906, and described as

SECOND EDITION. By which “Physianthropy” may be corrected and revised
up-to-date.

The book is divided into several parts, all characterised by a display of great ignorance and great assurance; the part with which we are now concerned is entitled,

AN ABSOLUTE SCIENCE OF MEDICINE, IN OPPOSITION TO STATE-PROTECTED
EXPERIMENTAL QUACKERY,

its claim to being “absolute” apparently depending on its being unrelated to facts, at least in any such way as the sort of science which is stigmatised as “experimental.” In the introduction to this part an account is given of how Mrs. Wallace first became acquainted with these remedies from their “discoverer,” Mr. Wallace; but it is not stated whether he discovered them in a dream, or in some other manner equally free from the charge of being experimental. But we are told that

This invaluable system he has only divulged to clergymen and doctors,
who each gladly paid him a hundred guineas, and bound themselves,
legally, not to reveal the names or the method of preparation of his
medicines, till after he had published his complete medical work,
which would give to the world the free and full benefits of his
discoveries.

Certain possible criticism is thus dealt with in advance:--

It is evident that those who say this book is written for the
purpose of advertising the sale of _quack_ medicines utter a false
and slanderous assertion upon one whose desires and works are ever
devoted to the best interests of humanity.

The “Specifics” are thus referred to collectively:

The Medicines, here introduced to the public for home use and private
purchase for the first time, consist of

Twelve Absolute Specifics.

_They are scientifically curative of the various diseases and
conditions of the body, which are here carefully enumerated, as
indicating their requirement._

_At present these Medicines are merely distinguished by numbers, as
“No. I.,” “No. II.,” “No. III.,” etc._

_It must be explained that they are prepared in an alcohol denuded
of fusel oil, and are treble the concentration of those of a
similar kind prepared by the usual homœopathic or allopathic mode,
but, as explained elsewhere, the whole of what may be called the
accumulative, alkaloidal, or poisonous principles of the plants have
been removed, and thus their curative powers, when combined with a
truly curative regimen, are enhanced in a marvellous degree._

_Although it may be considered almost hopeless to expect any of these
Specifics to be improved upon, or superseded, yet should others be
subsequently discovered which are more prompt in palliative action
under any conditions, non-cumulative in the human system, and
permanently curative, they will be described in a future edition of
this work._

A footnote states that this was written in 1883; since only twelve specifics are still described, it appears that the faint hope suggested of anything else being discovered worthy to rank with them has not been fulfilled in the twenty-nine years that have since elapsed, in spite of the many advances and new discoveries in that time in mere ordinary “experimental” medicine; but progress is, of course, incompatible with “an absolute system” of anything.

No. I.--This is stated to be made from _Aconitum napellus_, but to be non-poisonous. It is stated in the preface that:

This was the subject, in 1891, of a prosecution, as Mr. Wallace
desired to send it out without the label “POISON” being put upon the
bottle containing it. But it is, _technically_, a poison, because
it is prepared from the poisonous plant _Aconitum napellus_. Mr.
Wallace has taken a patent out for his method of producing from
it a non-poisonous tincture.... When the law was made that all
preparations of that plant were to be labelled “Poison,” it was not
contemplated that a non-poisonous preparation could be made. The law
is behind the times, and needs repealing.

In regard to its mode of action, we are informed that:

The chief action of “No. I.” is over the whole circulatory and
nervous systems, controlling them when diseased, in a most marvellous
manner, without causing any unnatural suppression of the vitality. It
has a wonderful power of paralysing the white, or yeast corpuscles
in the blood, and thus staying their power of reproduction, or
growth, and multiplication; reducing the fermentative abnormal heat
of the blood in a corresponding degree, thus relieving congested
and inflammatory states, and so causing the skin pores to become
more elastic, open, and free, as the capillaries get rid of their
congestive blockings. The mucous membranes are also enabled to allow
free exit to the phlegm, or yeasty excretions from the blood, which
the microscope reveals to be one mass of white corpuscles. It is by
virtue of this wonderful power of clearing out this effete matter
that the normal circulation becomes rapidly established, and the
yeasty impurities of the blood, or death force, which was locked up
in the brain, or upper parts of the body, has to descend _outwards_,
and _downwards_ (according to Nature’s law of cure), thus cooling the
head, and, by balancing the circulation, warming the feet at the same
time. “No. I.” also possesses the curative property of encouraging
and assisting Nature in her expulsion of iron and other mineral
drugs, hence its wonderful control over neuralgia and lung bleedings,
which are drug (_iron_) created diseases, or conditions. Thus it
is that all abnormal hæmorrhages, and discharges are specially
benefited by it, diseased matter rapidly expelled, and healthy
fluids conserved, while the healthy normal action of the organism is
restored in the least possible time.

A pretty specimen of “absolute” nonsense!

The names of diseases for which this “non-poisonous tincture” of aconite is to be taken, and the list of their symptoms, occupy several pages. A few specimens will show the catholic nature of this “specific”:

Dropsy. Insanity. Tubercular diseases. Consumption. Bronchitis.
Asthma. Heart, stomach, and liver diseases. Inflammatory and
painful diseases of the spleen, pancreas, womb, kidneys, bladder,
and bowels. Mumps. Abscesses. Scrofula.... Hydrocephalus....
Measles.... Small-pox. Fevers of all kinds.... Organic debility.
Angina pectoris.... Diphtheria.... Whooping cough.... Bleeding of the
nose, eyes, or ears.... Polypus of the nose, etc.... Vermin under
the skin.... Poisoning by bad or putrid fish.... Erysipelas....
Boils.... Piles. Hysteria. Tooth, jaw, and face-ache. Sciatica.
Neuralgia. Lumbago.... Pleurisy.... Epilepsy.... Painful, prolonged,
and difficult parturition.... Difficult, deficient, painful, or
suppressed menstruation.... Leucorrhoea.... Squinting. Sunstroke....
Sore throat. Cold in the head.... Bright’s disease. Diabetes....
Cataract. Amaurosis. Short-sightedness.

Can anything be left for the other eleven specifics to do?

With regard to the non-poisonous nature of this tincture, it is explained that:

The plant from which “No. I.” is made is a poisonous one; but this
tincture is not prepared from, and does not contain, that portion
of the plant known to be poisonous and consequently cumulative in
the human organism. The alkaloid of the plant has to be almost,
if not wholly, eliminated by the peculiar mode of preparation and
preservation in a non-poisonous alcohol, which has been previously
deprived of its fusel oil and other poisonous properties. So much
so is this the case, that this preparation of “No. I.” has been
taken by mistake by several patients with delicate organisms, and
by people who mistook it for brandy, _in quantities_ equal to _two
large wineglassfuls or more at one time_, without the least permanent
injurious after-effects, beyond being very much frightened by the
peculiar electrical effects produced on the nervous system.

“Two large wineglassfuls” would be from 4 oz. to 10 oz. or more, according to the meaning of “large.” The draught would therefore cost from 11s. to 27s. or so, enough to make the patients “very much frightened.”

The dose for adults is stated to be “20 drops to 40 drops, according to temperament.”

It is somewhat surprising, in view of its non-poisonous nature, to read that the antidote to overdoses of “No. I.” for adults is “No. III.” in 30-drop doses. It is added that “the poisonous aconite sold at the chemist’s needs port wine as an antidote.”

It did not appear to be worth while to analyse every one of the twelve “specifics,” and “No. I.” was not examined.

No. II.--The action of this is described as follows:

The great power of “No. II.” consists in antidoting, or neutralizing,
the virulence of the corrosive action of the matter of bad,
offensive, painful, burning or eating ulcers, whereby all pain
is allayed and completely averted, when it can be applied as
directed. Coming directly in contact with the excreted and excreting
yeast corpuscles, it at once so neutralizes their ammoniacal and
putrefactive surroundings, however degraded their source, that nature
can immediately set up, and keep healthy, granulations of the part,
until all offending matter which nature has to expel by that outlet,
has oozed out, or been discharged, and thus if “No. II.” is taken
at the beginning, it is able to avert skin scars where they would
unavoidably be produced without it. Hence it is specially curative
for all broken, open, raw, or ulcerated surfaces, either internally
or externally.

It has another wonderful power, as an extension of the above, in
rooting out hereditary and acquired diseases from inoculation, and
subsequent allopathic or other unscientific treatment. It will
root out these old diseases, and mineral drugs, even when lodged
in the bones, throwing to the surface the rotten bone with other
offending matter; thus enabling nature to recuperate, and restore
the lost parts. With seemingly latent, or internal abnormal growths,
or growing ulcers, such as cancer and ovarian dropsy, when taken
internally, “No. II.” not only stops their slow growth, but, by
neutralizing the virulence of the corrosive or putrefactive ichor
excreted from the degraded yeast or other germs in the affected
parts, enables nature to disperse gradually and surely, as a foreign
but inoffensive substance, the effete matter without injury to the
vitality, and with but comparatively little general disturbance.

In burns, scalds, and corrosions from cauteries, and corrosive
minerals, and mineral acids, externally applied, it is all powerful
in allaying the pain, preventing suppuration, and healing the part.

The list of diseases “_for which it is the absolute specific for all or some of their phases_” includes such trifles as:

Syphilis, and every form of venereal disease. Cancer in every form,
whether situated in the stomach, womb, bowels, kidneys, liver,
lungs, breast, brain, throat, tongue, mouth, nose, or any other part
of the body. Ovarian dropsy. Whitlow. Fistula.... Diphtheria....
Itching, soreness, or eruption of the reproductive organs, from
whatever cause in male or female.... Deafness, with suppuration of
the ears.... Necrosis, or rotting of bones. Hernia.... Varicose
veins. Aneurisms.... Confluent small-pox. Itch. Psoriasis. Eczema....
Tendency to miscarriage.... Diabetes.... Cystitis and Bright’s
diseases in syphilitized persons. Effects of poisoning by corrosive
minerals and mineral acids.

Under “administration” it is stated that:

This specific can be taken in almost any quantity, without organic
or functional disturbance being created, but when large doses are
persisted in for a considerable length of time, its power and
purpose, as already described, become _too_ evident, by the general
disturbance created in the digestive organs, owing to the _extra_
wave of pent-up latent matter being poured into the stomach, through
the uprooting power of the medicine, creating for the time acidity,
heartburn, and other fermentations in the stomach and bowels, but
which symptoms cease if the medicine is discontinued or lessened in
quantity for a few days.

The adult dose is given as “from _seven_ to _ten_ drops three times daily”; it is also to be used externally as a lotion--“_twenty drops_ to one half-pint of water (preferably hot),” and a medicated oil--“_twenty_ to _fifty_ drops of the tincture to each fluid ounce of pure Lucca oil.”

The statement already quoted, that “the whole of what may be called the accumulative, alkaloidal, or poisonous principles of the plants have been removed,” applies to this as to the others. Nevertheless, analysis of “No. II.” showed the presence of the alkaloids berberine and hydrastine, the proportions being

Berberine 0.05 per cent.
Hydrastine 0.11 „
Alcohol 32.3 per cent. by volume
Extractive 2.7 „
Ash 0.3 „

The ash showed the usual composition of the ash of vegetable extracts. The extractive agreed in its properties with the extractive of tincture of hydrastis (which also contains hydrastine and berberine); this, however, is usually made of about twice or four times (_U.S.P._) the strength of “No. II” in regard to hydrastine. Careful search gave no indication of any other ingredient.

Tincture of hydrastis, _B.P._, is not standardised, but an average sample with an equal quantity of water would contain about the same proportions of hydrastine and alcohol as the liquid under consideration. This gives about 2¹⁄₂d. as the cost of the contents of a 2s. 9d. bottle.

No. III.--It would scarcely be of interest to quote what is said about each of the “specifics” as freely as in the preceding cases, and a few extracts will serve. No. III is introduced with much verbosity, in which “the yeast animalculae, or white corpuscles,” again figure; alcohol is referred to as “this singular product ... (which no chemist that we are aware of has been able to _absolutely_ analyse)”; a “Wallace improved distilling apparatus” is referred to, which separates alcohol and oenanthic ether from

their poisonous associates, acetic acid and fusel oil, which from
their being absolutely poisonous, less volatile, and therefore
cumulative, as this apparatus demonstrates, they form the chief
factor in producing those evils commonly attributed to alcohol alone.

The diseases for which No. III is to be taken include

Seasickness, biliousness, and bilious vomiting, morning vomiting of
drunkards, morning sickness during pregnancy, asthmatic breathing
from alcoholic indulgence.... Fatty degeneration of the heart. Acne.
Diabetes. Diarrhoea.... Megrim. Short-sightedness.... Dipsomania....
Delirium tremens.... Poisoning by deleterious chemical products and
herbs.

Among the symptoms “_which indicate the requirement of_ No. III.” are:

Excessive selfishness.... Kleptomania. Excessive meanness.... Intense
pain, as if a nail were driven into the brain.... Parched tongue....
Weak action of heart.... Rumbling in stomach and bowels, with
sickening pain....

The dose for adults is stated to be _ten_ drops three times daily in chronic cases, and in acute cases every five or ten minutes till all painful or acute symptoms are dispelled; but in the more recent pamphlet the dose is stated to be twenty drops in both kinds of cases.

Analysis showed it to contain

Caffeine 0.25 per cent.
Cane sugar 1.7 „
Glucose or invert sugar 0.6 „
Ash 0.52 „
Alcohol 47.25 per cent. by volume
Extractive 3.12 „

The ash had the composition common to the ash of plant extracts; the extractive showed the peculiar character of the extractive of coffee. Unroasted coffee contains cane sugar, which is mostly changed to invert sugar and caramel in roasted coffee; both contain caffeine. Tinctures of raw and roasted coffee were prepared, and it was found that a mixture of the two agreed almost perfectly with “No. III.” in its characters and behaviour to tests; a tincture of a pale-roasted coffee would have the same composition as the mixture of tinctures of raw and roasted, and it is probable that that is what was actually employed. The proportion of caffeine indicates about 1 part of coffee to produce 5 parts of the tincture. The cost of the contents of a 2s. 9d. bottle would be about 1¹⁄₂d.

No. IV is stated to be a specific for warts, to be applied by touching the parts affected several times daily. Very little is said about it, and it was not analysed.

No. V and No. VI are stated to be worm specifics, No. V being for small threadworms and long round worms, and No. VI for tapeworms. No. V alone was examined. The dose is stated to be seven to ten drops in a wineglass of water three times daily. Analysis showed it to contain:

Alcohol 30.5 per cent. by volume
Ash 0.2 „
Reducing sugars 2.9 „
Extractive 1.7 „

The tincture was slightly acid. No active principle of any sort could be detected, and the extractive and ash showed no distinctive characters by which the plant from which they are derived could be identified. The liquid was compared with tinctures of drugs that are or have been used for worms, but with only negative results.

No. VII.--It is stated in the book that:

“No. VII.” is the Specific for gout (_and is a tincture of Nux
Moschata [Nutmegs], prepared according to a special formula and from
specially selected fruits_).

In the more recent pamphlet no information is given as to what it is prepared from. The dose is given as twenty to thirty drops in water, three times daily.

Analysis showed it to contain:

Alcohol 51.05 per cent. by volume
Ash 0.22 „
Reducing sugar 1.0 „
Fat and extractive 2.1 „

A tincture of nutmeg was prepared (not, however, “according to a special formula”) and compared with it, and the two were found to agree in all respects. No indication was obtained of any other ingredient; the proportion of nutmegs appeared to be about 1 part to make 5 parts of the tincture.

The cost of the contents of a 2s. 9d. bottle would be about 2d.

No. VIII is for whooping-cough; but little is said about it in the book, and it was not examined.

No. IX is described as:

The specific for mechanical hæmorrhages (_and is aloes, prepared
according to a special formula_).

It was not analysed.

No. X is described as the specific for bruises, to which is added in the book (“_and is ‘Wallace’s Formula’ of Arnica Montana_”), but in the later pamphlet nothing is said about the drug from which it is made. It is stated that

it does not produce the slightest erysipelatous swelling or other
irritation of the skin, which is so frequently experienced with
the ordinary homœopathic mother tincture of _arnica_. For this
reason the curative action or healing power can be pushed to such a
demonstration as to surpass ordinary credibility.

The “diseases, symptoms, conditions, and mechanical injuries for which ‘No. X.’ is the specific remedy” include

bruises, strains, sprains, shocks (electric or otherwise).... Effects
of tight-lacing.... Corns resulting from mechanical pressure. Painful
effects of straining with constipated movements of the bowels....
Effects of violent fits; of miscarriages,

etc.

The dose for adults in chronic cases is _seven_ to _ten_ drops three times daily in a wineglass of water, and in acute cases the same every three hours. It is also to be applied externally.

Analysis showed it to contain:

Alcohol 26.6 per cent. by volume
Ash 0.38 „
Reducing sugars 0.55 „
Extractive 1.27 „

It did not possess the characteristic odour of arnica, but had a vinous odour resembling that of sherry; in other respects it agreed with a weak tincture of arnica in characters and behaviour to tests. The official tincture of arnica contains nearly three times as much alcohol as this; the cost of a weak tincture, which would be scarcely affected by adding enough sherry to give the vinous odour, would be about 1¹⁄₂d. for the quantity in a 2s. 9d. bottle.

No. XI. is described as the specific for cholera, and a long extract is given in the book from “a Pamphlet, entitled ‘Cholera, its Cause and Cure,’ by Joseph Wallace.” In this it is stated that the specific remedy is “_Coffœa Cruda_, or Tincture of Raw Mocha Coffee,” the adult dose being _three_ to _ten_ drops in a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful of water every five minutes, prolonging the intervals gradually as amelioration sets in.

It is stated that:

In the early stages of Cholera, when purging, or purging and vomiting
has commenced for a short time, three or four doses at five-minute
intervals I have always found sufficient to restore the bowels and
stomach to as perfectly natural a state as if there had not been the
slightest derangement. Such cases with me have never exceeded twenty
minutes....

If the patient has been allowed to pass into the state of collapse,
and when every energy of the body and mind has been prostrated, the
same course of treatment will produce a like result, but I would
advise the dose of _ten_ drops to be repeated every five minutes till
amelioration takes place, _three_ to _five_ drops after. I would add
hot applications to extremities and sides, hand-rubbing as before,
and in addition, where practicable, _prolonged breathing through a
handkerchief over the region of the heart_; this last will restore
the vital spark when apparently fled.

The formula is given as follows:

Steep one pound weight (avoirdupois) of well-dried and pulverised
raw MOCHA coffee in three and one-third pints (imperial measure) of
strong alcohol for two weeks. Shake it well occasionally: filter
through blotting paper, and it is ready for use.

Analysis of “No. XI.” showed it to contain:

Caffeine 0.1 per cent.
Sugars (chiefly cane sugar) 0.7 „
Ash 0.26 „
Alcohol 51.05 per cent. by volume
Extractive 2.1 „

The tincture was darker in colour than a tincture of raw coffee, and appeared rather to be made like “No. III.,” from pale roasted coffee, the proportion of the latter in this case being only about one part for twelve parts of tincture. No indication was obtained of any other ingredient. The cost would be about 1¹⁄₂d. for the quantity in a 2s. 9d. bottle.

No. XII. is described as the specific for ringworm, for which it is to be taken internally, in the dose (for adults) of twenty drops in a little water every eight hours, and also applied externally, though nothing is said about external application in the book, where the dose is said to be one to three minims in a little water every three to eight hours. This “specific” is stated in the book to be a tincture of Hydrastis Canadensis; it was not analysed.