�·

' .
... •J>
-...

Cancer Cures
and

Treatments

"Secret cares can never be

what they promise, for there
is no one scientifically trained
or susceptible to the ordinary
demands of the human con­
science who woald withhold
for his private means sach an
important matter as the dis­
covery of the care of this dis­
ease."-Elliott C. Cat/er, M.D.

Prepared and Issued by the

BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
ol The Journal of the American Medical Association
638 North Dearborn Street, Chica110
 WHAT IS THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION? ..
The American Medical Association is the national organization of the medical
profession. It comprises the combined membership of the various state medical
associations, which, in turn, are made up of local (district or county) medi­
cal societies. Among the thousands of physicians who form the American Medical
Association are the leading members of the medical profession of the United
States. Most of these physicians are Fellows of the Association, i. e., members
who have associated themselves to form the Scientific Assembly.
The Association publishes The Jounial A. M. A., the leading medical journal
of the country, Hygeia, a health magazine for the public, several monthly journals
devoted to special fields of medicine, and also issues, annually, hundreds of thou­
sands of books, pamphlets, reprints, etc. The Association also maintains a number
of councils, bureaus and committees, through which many of its activities are
carried on. One of these bureaus is the Bureau of Investigation.

WHAT IS THE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION?

The Bureau of Investigation conducts one of the educational activities of the
American Medical Association and has, for its primary object, the collection and
dissemination of information on "patent medicines," quacks, medical fads, and various
other phases of pseudo-medicine. It is a clearing house for information on the
subjects with which it deals. Federal, state and municipal health officials, teachers
in schools and colleges, physicians, and others interested in the public health refer
inquiries to the Bureau of Investigation.
The Bureau collects its information through (a) original investigations often
supplemented by analytical work done in the Chemical Laboratory of the American
Medical Association or in other high-class laboratories; (b) data received from
federal sources (the Food and Drug Administration of the United States Depart­
ment of Agriculture, post-office fraud orders, Federal Trade Commission, etc.)
as well as from state and municipal boards of health; (c) information published
in technical and other journals, both domestic and foreign and (d) reports of
special commissions, etc.
The Bureau disseminates its information mainly by means of letters in answer
to inquiries, thousands of which are received each year. In addition, the Director
of the Bureau prepares articles for publication in The Journal A. M. A. and
Hygeia, which are later reprinted in pamphlets and in the book, "Nostrums and
Quackery." There have also been prepared and published by the Bureau of
Investigation a number of educational posters dealing with individual "patent
medicines" and quacks. The Director of· the Bureau, in addition, gives illustrated
public lectures on the subjects handled by the Bureau.
:tvfany newspapers and magazines call on the Bureau for information regarding
the advertising of products that come within its purview. The National Better
Business Bureau and affiliated local Better Business Bureaus are in close coopera­
tion with the Bureau of Investigation. Large business organizations, having
departments for looking after the health and safety of their employees, call on the
Bureau for information regarding medical devices and products that may be offered
to their workers.

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION ARE

WHOLLY EDUCATIONAL IN CHARACTER - NOT PUNITIVE
 NOSTRUMS
AND QUACKERY
[1921]

By Arthur J. Cramp, M.D.

"NOSTRUMS and QUACKERY" is written in a straight-

forward, vigorous, entertaining style. Facts are handled without
gloves and a fraud is called a fraud. The illustrations are abundant
-actual advertisements, labels, packages, testimonials, death certifi-
cates, etc., are reproduced in facsimile still further to visualize the
subject matter of the work.

Here Are Some of the Chapters:

Drug Habit Cures Mineral Waters
Consumption Cures Nostrums for Kidney Dis-
Deafness Cures ease and Diabetes
Epilepsy Cures Obesity Cures
Female Weakness Cures Quackery of the Drugless
Mail-Order Concerns Type
This book is issued in a permanent and attractive form,
bound in dark green cloth, stamped in gold. More
than 800 pages. Over 500 i//11strations.
$1.50

AMERICANMEDICALASSOCIATION
838 NORTH DEARBORN STREET, CHICAGO
 Illustrated Pamphlets on
PatentMedicines,
Quacks,Etc.
Prepared and Issued by the Bureau of Investigation
of the American Medical Association

Alcohol, Tobacco and Drug Cures.-Price 15 cents.

Cancer Cures and Treatments.-Price 15 cents.
Consumption Cures.-Price 15 cents.
Cosmetics and Allied Preparations.-Price 15 cents.
Deafness Cures.-Price 15 cents.
Epilepsy Cures.-Price 15 cents.
Female Weakness Cures.-Price 15 cents.
Mechanical Nostrums.-Price 15 cents.
Medical Institutes.-Price 30 cents.
Medical Mail-Order Concerns.-Price 25 centt
Men's Specialists.-Price 30 cents.
Mineral Waters.-Price 10 cents.
Miscellaneous Nostrums.-Price 30 cents.
Miscellaneous Specialists.-Price 20 cents.
Nostrums for Kidney Diseases and Diabetes.-Price 15
cents.
Obesity Cures.-Price 15 cents.
The "Patent Medicine" Problem.-Price 15 cents.
Quasi-Medical Institutions.-Price 15 cents.
Testimonials.-Price 10 cents.

(Prices include postage)

This list is subject to change. Write £Qr a descriptive

price list of pamphlets and other publications dealing with
the nostrum evil and quackery.

AMERICAN MEDICALASSOCIATION
535 NORTHDEARBORN STREET,CHICAGO
 INDEX
PAGE PAGE
Absorbent Compress Company. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Koch Cancer Foundation .................. 21
Adler Laboratories, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Fred C ................................ 21
Louis ................................. 3 Laboratories ........................... 21
treatment . • . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Louis ................................• 21 ·
Alpbacatalyst .. . .. .. .. .... .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. 4 Synthetic Anti-Toxin ................... 20
American Journal of Health ............... 31 William F .••.........................• 20
Armstrong, Robert A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Lamotte Cancer Institute ................. ; 21
Baker Institute . . . . . .. . .. . .. . . . . .. . .. . .. . 7 Edward ............................... 21
Norman ............................... 5 Leach, L. T ........................ 10, 19, 21
Barone, Peter J. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Lehr~ Clarence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Basic Cancer Research. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Lem1y, Charles C ......................... 16
Chemical Corporation of America. . . . . . . . 7 Lindgren, John ........................... 22
Bohannon, A. J. L ........ ·................ 8
Cancer Institute .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. . 8 McNeill, Charles A .... , .................. 19
G. C•.•......... , ..................... 8 Medical News Bureau ....... ·.............• 7
Mercantile and Financial Times ...... ·. . . . . .
BJ,;d;,· t: ·E:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
g Mild Combination Treatment for Cancer. . . .
29
20
Burnside's Purifico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Mitchell, Charles H.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . 11
Bye, B. F .............................. 9, 10 Mixer, C. W ............... .............. 22
D. M. ................................ 10 L. N .................................. 22
w. 0 ................................. 10
National Bio-Chemical Laboratory. . . . . . . . . . 28
Cancerine Tablets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 National Cancer Remedy Company. . . . . . . . . 18
Cancerol ........................ :. .. . .. . 21 Research Institute and Clinic... . . . . . . . 17
Cantassium treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Society for the Prevention of Cancer. . • • 16
Chamlee, S. R........... ................. 12 Nevins, H. Company ...................... 23
Chamley, S. R ........................... 12 Herbert •.......•..•..................• 23
Cherokee Sanitarium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Sanitarium . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 23
Cliff View Sanatorium .................... 10 Nichols, lack ............................ 25
Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society. . . . . .
Curry, G. M.............................
7
13
§!~'itori~::s.::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ~i
Osmo-Calcic Solution .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 29
Dillin, C. W .............................. 8 Osmotic Mangano-Potassic Solution. . . . . . . . 29
Dupuis, Dennis .......................... 31 Ox;rcatalyst .. .. .. .. .. • .. . .... . .. . .. .. .. .. 4
Oz1as, Charles 0......................... 5
Evans, R. D:_.. ; . . . • . • . . . . . . . . . . • • . . . . . • • 13
Parkview Sanatorium .................... 19
Farnsworth, Merle G.. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. 4 Postirraduate College of Electrotherapeutics. 31
Faupel, W. • . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Pouhn, WiIIiam J.. .. • . . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Frasier, E. A ............................ 13 Purifico ................................. 8
Galanga! Cancer Salve .................... 22 Radio-Sulpho .. .. . .. . . .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . 25
Gast, G. F ................................ 14 Radium Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Sanatorium.. . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Research Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Geiger, F. J ....................... ; ..... 28 Rado! ................................... 32
Green, B. H •............................ 14 Robinson, Beverly K.. .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. 28
E. P .................................. 28
Halanum ................................ 4 Root, Charles C ........................... 19
Hand!, Ernst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Sal-Tassia ............................... 27
Harris, James M ......................... 14 Sauls, Willard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . 12
Heinzelmann, Arthur .................... 10 Schuch, Philip, Jr ........................ 25
Hestand Cancer Clinic. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . 16 Seaman, C. 0.. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . .. .. . . . . 27
Davis M ..•........................... 15
Hiller, L. E ............................. 27 ~: ~::::::::::·.-.-.·.-.-.:::::::::::::::: ~~
Hoque Cancer Foundation ................. 16 Sanitarium . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . • . . 27"
Stroop, Professor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
~i!ie".'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.:::::
:: : :: :: :: ::: : : : : ~: Stroopal .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 28
Sulfo-Selene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
W. F •................................ 16
Howe, Eleanor Elizabeth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Swedish Cancer Sanatorium •......... ·..... 22
Hoxide Institute .. . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Hoxie Cancer Clinic.. .. .. .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . 18 Teglassy, Bela . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 3
Hoxsey, Harry M .................... .. 5, 17 Tekarkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
John C................................ 17 Therapeutic Leaves ..................... :: 28
Tilton Laboratories .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. .. . 30
Humphreys, F. W........................ 7 Lester .......•........................ 30
Toxo-Absorbent .. . . .. . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . .. 30
Indianapolis Cancer Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Warner, Frederick Welles ............... . 30
Jenner, W. A.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Wells, D. Rupert .•....................... 31
Johnson, 0. A ............................ 19 Wilkens' Cancer Specific ................. . 32
Remedy Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Peter ................................. . 32·
Williams, Boyd T_•....................... 32
Kirk, F. S ............................... 13
Klein, Frederic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 w!.ii:;~r~'.'1E·:::
::::::::::·:.:::
::::::::: 32
7
 33

A short time thereafter Williams' elaborate booklets that he sends out to

prospective patients announced that he was moving his sanatorium from Minneapolis
to Hudson, Wis. The reason that he gave for this change of location was to
get away "from the never-ending smoke, soot, grime and noise of a large city"-
and, one opines, also to get away from a very definite likelihood that he might go to
jail if he stayed in Minnesota. In the booklet that Dr. Williams issues, he urges
in large and very black type that patients with cancer "avoid burning and irritating
J applications." Yet it seems that the so-called "Williams Treatment" comprises
the use of escharotics and the burning out of tissues with the electric cautery.
·-[May, 1933.J
 32
Dupuis was one of the first to realize what an asset to quackery was the
public's interest in radium. The Dupuis "cure" was known as "Rado!"; it was
to be taken internally and applied externally. According to Dupuis-or "Dr. D.
Rupert Wells"-Radol was "a radium-impregnated fluid prepared according to
the formula and under the supervision of Dr. D. Rupert Wells, St. Louis, Mo."
The facts were that Rado! was nothing more marvelous than a little quinine sulphate \
in a mixture of acid, alcohol and water. It had no more radioactivity than dish
water. The reason for using a combination of this sort was that an acidulated
solution of quinine sulphate has a flaorescence, and quack Dupuis in his advertising
literature called attention to the "bluish fluorescent glow imparted to Rado! by the
radium."
The postal authorities finally got around to Dupuis. In spite of the trans-
parency of the humbug and the heartlessness of the swindle, the case was stubbornly
contested and "Dr. \,Veils" was defended by legal talent drawn both from St. Louis
and Chicago. However, the federal authorities declared the thing a fraud and
in 1909 a fraud order was issued against "Dr. D. Rupert Wells.'' It was estimated
at the time that this swindle was debarred from the mails that Dupuis was taking
in about $70,000 a year. With the issuance of the fraud order, this income, of
course, ceased, and the smug religious and lay publications that had made it possible
for Dupuis to carry on his cruel scheme ceased to participate in these unholy
profits.-[Abstracted from The Journal A. M. A., Feb. 20, 1909.]

WILKENS' CANCER SPECIFIC

One Peter Wilkens of Muscatine, Iowa (the town from which the Baker
cancer-cure concern was operated), for some years put out an alleged cancer cure
called "Wilkens' Proprietory Cancer Specific." It was sold at $5 for two bottles.
It w.rs alleged to be "made from roots, herbs, flowers and bark." Wilkens also
had some incidental nostrums, such as an "Asthma Medicine," "Pile Ointment,"
a "Healing Salve" and an "External Cancer Ointment."-[May, 1933.]

WILLIAMS SANATORIUM
The Williams Sanatorium, until recently in Minneapolis, now (May, 1933) in
Hudson, Wis., is conducted by Boyd T. Williams, who was graduated by the
Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery in 1901, a year before it went out
of existence. After practicing for a short period in Ohio and Colorado, Williams
obtained a license to practice in Wisconsin in 1907, and he started practicing in
Hudson, Wis., soon thereafter. In 1911 Williams moved to Minneapolis, where
he established what he called "Dr. Williams Sanatorium for Cancer.'' He
attempted to get a license to practice medicine in Minnesota, but he was denied
the license by the State Board of Medical Examiners. He carried the matter
up through the courts to the state supreme court, but without success.
. In spite of the fact that Dr. Williams was given no license to practice in
Mmnesota, he continued to maintain his cancer sanatorium in Minneapolis. He
was repeatedly arrested and fined, but not until the Basic Science law was enacted
in Minnesota did it seem possible for that state to protect itself against Dr. Williams'
illegal practice. Following the passage of that law, Williams was arrested in
February, 1928, and fined $100. In March, 1930, he was fined $250. In December,
1931, he was fined $1,000, with the option of a year in the workhouse. He paid
the fine.
 31
Warner apparently had some political influence, and in September, 1913, the
fraud order was revoked. In connection with this revocation, the Post Office
Department stated that the "fraud order was revoked with the understanding that
the use of the name the Toxo-Absorbent Company would not be used thereafter
by F. W. Warner, proprietor, in the operation of any mail-order business, and
that any business thereafter operated by him through the mails would be con-
ducted in strict conformity with the regulations of this Post Office Department
and the Department of Agriculture." The To~o-Absorbent Company did actually
go out of existence, but the "Absorbent Compress Company" came into existence,

Toxo-Absorbent-·
·ca~cerCure
. I
.No.8•
Pr)ce$5.oo. SQCfor $25.oo;
;:• This i~ ·th~ most successful cure for
i• · Cancers ever· qiscovered, It has the
chemical ~nity (or the poisons an
~crobes which cause the dise,se. It
dislodge~ them an\i draws }hem out
thro~gh the po:i;es. Absorbs the growth
and builds up the wasted tissues.
· It cures Tuinorsbyib.e same· process.
Cancers and Tumors, ;whether, external
or_ internal, are cured by Toxo-Ab-
sorbents.
Reproduction of one of the items from the descriptive price-list of the Toxo-Absorbent
Company, Toxo-Absorbent No. 8, according to the government analysis, was composed of
97.25 parts sand and clay and 2.75 parts of charcoal. Each "pack" of this expensive
mixture sold for $5.

and this for some years continued to advertise its "Absorbent Compresses" for
cancer and various other conditions. Part of the advertising material of the
Absorbent Compress Company purported to be an editorial endorsement of
the Absorbent Compresses, published by the American Journal of Health. The
American Journal of Health was a publication that would endorse any fake or
quack that would pay the price.-[Modified from The Journal A. M. A., Feb. 12,
1910, with additions.]

"D. RUPERT WELLS" (DENNIS DUPUIS) ·

For many years one Dennis Dupuis, advertised under the name of "Dr. D.
Rupert Wells," claiming that he could cure cancer. As part of his business, Dupuis
created out of thin air an alleged medical college that he called the "Postgraduate
College of Electrotherapeutics of St. Louis,'' and appointed himself "Professor of
Radiotherapy" in this non-existent institution. Dupuis' advertisements appeared
mainly in religious publications, which shared with him the blood money obtained
in swindling those who were suffering from cancer.
 30
LESTER TILTON
Lester Tilton, originally from Clinton, Iowa, for many years exploited an
alleged cure for cancer. Like most of the alleged cancer cures, it was an escharotic,
having a zinc salt as the active ingredient in a base of carbonized peat as the
mystery element. Tilton had an "institute" in Clinton, where he treated at differ-
ent times cancer, tuberculosis and syphilis. His letterheads used to carry the
description: "Tilton Cancer and Blood Poison Treatment." In 1923 he was
advertising his business as the "Tilton Laboratories." The man had no medical
or pharmaceutical training.
About 1929 Tilton came to Chicago. He worked the religious angle heavily
and was peculiarly successful in interesting well-meaning but technically untrained
members of some religious orders in supporting his schemes. He even played his
cards so well that a wealthy individual living near Chicago became interested in
Tilton and instructed an attorney to draw up a trust deed giving Tilton a huge
sum of money for the furtherance of clinical work among persons afflicted with
cancer. The attorney, being a man of intelligence, suggested to his client that
action be delayed until Tilton's claims could be investigated. He also suggested
that the School of Medicine of Northwestern University might be persuaded to
look into the matter, and a conference was held between the principal, the attorney,
and representatives of Northwestern University. As a result, it was agreed that
in the interests of the public and to the end that a large sum of money should not
be devoted to the furtherance of what would appear to be quackery, an investiga-
tion was warranted and justified.
A committee was appointed on the faculty of Northwestern University Medical
School to interview Tilton and look into his claims and observe the course and
results of Tilton's treatment. After many months the committee issued its report,
which at the time summarized its findings by stating that of the twelve patients
treated, eight were dead, one was moribund, two still had cancer, ·both clinically
and microscopically, and one was free from cancer-as she had been when the
Tilton treatment was begun I
Finally the state authorities took action against Tilton, and on June 16, 1932,
Lester Tilton was found guilty of conspiracy to violate the medical practice act of
the State of Illinois and was sentenced to serve from one to five years in the
penitentiary and fined $2,000. Those who are interested in getting in greater
detail Tilton's activities in the cancer-cure field will be sent a reprint on request
if a three-cent stamp is enclosed to cover postage.-[Co1uieiised from The Journal
A. M. A. of various dates.]

TOXO-ABSORBENT
The Toxo-Absorbent Company was a "cancer-cure" concern operated by one
Frederick Welles Warner of Rochester, N. Y. Warner was neither a physician
nor a chemist, but claimed to have discovered what he called "Toxo-Absorbent
Packs," which were advertised as a cure for cancer and other conditions. To
a man who wrote Warner that his wife had cancer of the breast, Warner sent-
for $10---a number of cloth packs holding pulverized earth and referred to as
Toxo-Absorbent Packs, also some tablets to be taken, labeled "Cancer and Tumor
Tablets," and a "Cancer Ointment" that was to be applied locally.
The Absorbent Packs were analyzed by the federal government and were
reported to be a mixture of sand and clay, about 98 per cent, and about 2 per cent
charcoal. The Cancer Tablets were essentially milk sugar, while the Cancer
Ointment was vaseline mixed with oil of tar. The Post Office authorities in
January, 1910, declared the Toxo-Absorbent Company a fraud and debarred it
from the United States mails.
 29
Edward Percy Robinson was born in 1871 and holds a diploma from the Bellevue
Hospital Medical College, New York, 1897, and a New York license of the same
year. He is not a member of his local medical society or, of course, a Fellow
of the American Medical Association. For some years Robinson seems to have
specialized in "facial contouring," which was a high-hat term for "beauty specialist."
Part of the old beauty specialist advertising of Edward Percy Robinson was
what purported to be a reprint of an "editorial" from the Mercantile and Financial
Times of March 11, 1914. It was a pretentious puff of Robinson, tellirig of his
"scientific attainments" and his marvelous secret preparation used in "youthifying
the face." The name of the Mercantile and Financial Times is well known to
those who desire to purchase editorial approbation ; it is an utterly discredited
sheet that has been described by the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World
as an "example of publications that serve as convenient tools of fake promotors."
The files of the Bureau of Investigation of the American Medical Association
contain editorial endorsements that appeared in the Mercantile and Financial Times
on a fraudulent consumption cure, "Nature's Creation," another fraud, the "Ideal
Sight Restorer," and the "Oxypathor," a swindle so preposterous that its exploiter
was sent to the federal penitentiary.
Some years ago there was a fake obesity cure exploited from New York City
known as "Get Slim." One of the featured testimonials for Get Slim was credited
to E. P. Robinson, M.D., 1402 Broadway, New York. This was the address of
Dr. Edward Percy Robinson in_ 1912.
The trade journal Therapei#ic Leaves, published a rehash of_four papers of
Edward Percy Robinson that had appeared originally in the New York Medical
Record. In these papers Robinson advanced the theory that cancer is caused by
an excess of sodium chloride in the blood and tissue and that can be cured by
administering a solution of potassium nitrate; hence the exploitation of Tekarkin,
which was said to be merely a solution of potassium nitrate. Incidentally, Dr.
Robinson has also gone on record as stating that "the enormous prevalence of
baldness is also due to an excess of salt in the diet."
In addition to his Tekarkin, Dr. Robinson also had two other nostrums that
were to be used in connection with Tekarkin in the treatment of cancer. One
of these was called "Osmo-Calcic Solution"; the other "Osmotic Mangano-Potassic
Solution." The various issues of Therapeutic Leaves carried the usual number of
testimonials, that sheet-anchor of the cancer-cure exploiter. With the passage
of time, possibly due to the falling off in demand, the Tekarkin treatment was
recommended for many other conditions besides that of cancer, such as nephritis,
varicose veins, high blood pressure, menorrhagia, arthritis, neuralgia, etc.
Following the publication of an article on Tekarkin and Edward Percy Robinson
by the Bureau of Investigation of the American Medical Association in 1921, the
business seemed to wane, while Dr. Robinson's name appeared more prominently
in connection with the beautification of women than in the treatment of cancer.
More recently-early in 1933-the Tekarkin schem~ has taken on a new activity
and physicians have been circularized by the National Bio-Chemical Laboratory,
urging them to use Tekarkin. The product, no longer directly described as a
cure for cancer, is recommended "as an aid in treatment of inoperable cancer or
tumor." However, there are published in the circulars that are sent out testimonials
-alleged to be from physicians-that make it quite unnecessary for the National
Bio-Chemical Laboratory to claim that Tekarkin is a cure for cancer. The
implication in the testimonials cannot be escaped. It is worthy of note, also,
that Tekarkin today is not described merely as a solution of potassium nitrate,
but as a "compound" solution of potassium nitrate. Just what has been added
does not seem to be mentioned in the advertising.-[Abstracted from The Journal
A. M. A., May 28, 1921, with additions.]
 28
STROOPAL
For many years a nostrum known as "Stroopal" was sold on both sides of
the Atlantic as a cure for cancer. The stuff apparently originated in Germany.
For some years it was exploited from London, and the fraud was exposed by
London Truth in 1910. In the "Cautionary List" which that militant weekly
issued annually at that time, the following .brief paragraph appeared.
"STROOPAL.-A cancer cure purveyed by a Mr. Vv.Faupel, of Windsor-lodge, Hartfield-road,
Wimbledon. The cure is made in Germany by a 'Professor' Stroop and consists of three
powders to be taken at monthly intervals when the moon is new. Its advertisement has been
stopped in Germany under the law which forbids the advertisement of secret remedies."

According to Gehe's Codex (January, 1913, page 99), Stroopal is composed

of the powdered leaves of water germander or wood garlic.
For seventeen years, and probably longer, Stroopal was exploited in a small
way from Chicago. At first it seems to have been sold by a crude concern known
variously as the "Institute of Regeneration" and "Institute of Reform," which
operated from various addresses in Chicago. This seems to have been conducted
by one E. P. Hand!, and addressed itself especially to the German-Americans, a

INSTITUTE OF iREPORIII
~2,_~..~~.:.~_L
.., - .. ~2:,11,~s>.:,~1;-,
R<11l1t~N!d
ln .trnoal ...,.,, dwll!&od c:uuno, ' : Spoaal remedy for -• llmloJa
hrp1,11,,
urcmcd,loreancerllftd uJcerlllldotherio-tk,iu,~
..UilJddiacaea. of~udblood.~

::~~l~I~~~~ :~~'!S. ~• XU.

large part of the advertising matter being printed in German script. Part of the
"come-on" literature consisted in photographic reproductions of so-called Diplomas
of Merit from European expositions, each showing that such a "Diploma" was
issued to Mr. A. Stroop, the originator of Stroopal. In addition, there were
reproduced photographically the official trade-mark specifications issued to Ernst
Hand! from the United States Patent Office for certain nostrums.
Later Stroopal was advertised under the name of the Stroopal Company,
2101 Belmont A venue, Chicago. This was the address of a small butcher shop.
The postal authorities on August 13, 1930 issued a fraud order against the
Stroopal Company and notified the Chicago postmaster to return all letters
addressed to the Stroopal Company to the original senders, after having stamped
on the letters "Fraudulent."-[Modified from The Journal A. M.A., Oct. 4, 1930.]

TEKARKIN
"Tekarkin" is the trade-mark name of what has been alleged to be a solution of
potassium nitrate sold for the cure of cancer. It is put out by the National
Bio-Chemical Laboratory of Mount Vernon, N. Y., which, in the past, seems to
have been a trade name used by Dr. Edward Percy Robinson of New York City.
This nostrum was extensively advertised in 1921. The trade journal for the
National Bio-Chemical Laboratory was rather imposingly called Therapeutic
Leaves, and its joint editors were given as E. P. Robinson, M.D., and W. A.
Jenner, B.A. There also appeared in connection with this publication the names
of Beverly K. Robinson and F. J. Geiger.
 27
Philip Schuch, Jr., died under mysterious circumstances in March, 1911. At
first it was thought he had been murdered, and two men were arrested in the
case. There were also rumors of suicide. However, according to later reports, his
death followed a "heart attack."-[Abstracted from The Journal A. M. A., Dec. 3,
1910, with additions.]

SAL-TASSIA
"Sal-Tassia" was put out by the Sal-Tassia Company of Seattle, Wash., which
seems to have been a trade name used by one Mrs. L. E. Hiller. Sal-Tassia has
been described on the company's stationery as "The Elixir of Life for .Cancer,"
but the stuff has also been recommended for goiter, diabetes, anemia, arterio-
sclerosis, rheumatism, neuritis, tumors, and ulcers of the stomach. According to a
letter signed L. E. Hiller and written in 1930:
"This is a European remedy and sold nowhere else in the United States except through
this office. We sell a ninety-day treatment for $45 or a two-months' for $35, and we believe
that you can fool those doctors if you don't waste any time." ·

It appears from a Sal-Tassia advertising booklet that the preparation is not

one of the usual escharotics for external application, but some tablets to be taken
internally. According to the Sal-Tassia Company, cancer is caused by "an
unbalanced condition of the Blood," and Sal-Tassia Tablets are said to contain
the "valuable mineral salts and elements" of which the person suffering from
cancer is claimed to be "so badly in need." Sal-Tassia was exploited on the mail-
order plan. Advertisements of Sal-Tassia have been carried by newspapers that
certainly knew better, but whose desire for revenue outweighed their conscience.
The Seattle Star in June, 1929, ran a story on the Sal-Tassia quackery. One of
the Star's reporters ·went with a state inspector and called on Mrs. Hiller of
Sal-Tassia. While Mrs. Hiller was shrewd enough not to attempt a diagnosis,
she was very positive that she had the only cure for cancer. The Star article stated
that the chief ingredient of Sal-Tassia was baking soda !-[May, 1933.]

SEAMAN'S SANITARIUM
Dr. R. C. Seaman of Cherokee, Iowa, conducted a so-called sanitarium devoted
to the alleged cure of cancer. The institution was known variously as "Cherokee
Sanitarium" and "Seaman's Sanitarium." R. C. Seaman was born in 1878 and
was graduated in 1906 by Bennett College of Eclectic Medicine. He had connected
with him a Dr. C. 0. Seaman, who was described as "retired," and also one
D. A. Seaman as manager.
The treatment was the use of escharotics, or, as the advertising matter described
it, "Liquid Escharotic with Combinations." In the advertising matter R. C.
Seaman stated that his father was "a cancer doctor for over forty years." If
he was, the records of the American Medical Association fail to show that he
was ever graduated by any reputable medical school. C. 0. Seaman carried on
the "cancer cure" business for many years, for a time conducting his business
in Des Moines, Iowa, and traveling over the country "treating'' cancer and appar-
ently evading the law by working in connection with a man who did have a medical
license.-[Abstracted from The Journal A. M. A., Aug. 18, 1923.]
 26

This was the ,me conservative statement in the booklet which was sent out
by the concern. The mere thought of plastering a sick person with such an
indescribably nauseating mess as Limburger cheese and glycerine is enough to
sicken one. Nor was this all! The nostrum itself reeked with sulphuretted
hydrogen (the gas which imparts the distinctive odor to rotten eggs) and the
state chemist of Colorado aptly characte~ized the nostrum as "a bad smell
capitalized for a million dollars."

Radio·
Sulpho
RADIO·SULPHO
BREW Dissolvesam:!.absorbs all poisonsfrom
the Human system. Is a powerful germ-
icide, -anttseptiCanit po~ecleanser
PrincipaJly used for Uric Acid, Urin• Thisis theGreatest
Internal in theW-0rld
Remedy
em1a. Poiso.na, Rbcwnatlsm, Swellings,
Blood •Pollona, Cancen, ett,
ts succeasful in the hands of l.nybody.
whCndirectiOnsarc followed.
Prh:e per bottle, $1.00, One dozen bot-
tles $10.00,.express paid. -
l{A.DIO-SULPHO BREW. Internal
Remedy. This .is the Greatest- Blood
Remedy in· the World. h can be.-taken
by everybody. It removes the .Acids,
Poisons, Elietc Matter and the Catarrbal
condl\ions from the bTood, stomach. kid•
ncya, liiteati.Qcs l\.rld the bladder. This
BREW shows its great beneficiaL effect
within 12 hours. Price, $1.00 per bottle.
By ,xprcss, $1.25 Wei,ght, 2¼ p01mds.
These Remedies can be used and ap•
plied anywhere in the world.
We allow good discounts to the. Pro-
fession and Drug Trade.
A letter or postd will bring you valu•
able in(ormation, Write today. •
We have thousands of Honeljt Tesii-
monials from Prominent People. .
We haw: one Institution in this city
where the complete RADIO.SULPHO
treatments are given for Rheumatism: we will soon have others•
opened throughout the Un~ted States.
Send for our Pamphlets and descriptive literature. Free for
the asking. Address ... - -. .....
o. .. _ ____
.. ___ _ .., __ _

THE RA_DIO-SULPHO co~ co..~:N:~c;.

THERADio.suLPHO ~~c:.c;
DEN~ER, COl-0.R_AD.0 CINOORPORATeD OH&•IGT.I

The Radio-Sulpho Cancer Cure; "a bad smell capitalized for a million dollars." This
nostrum when used in conjunction with a p]aster made of Limburger cheese was supposed
to "cure cancer."

Radio-Sulpho Brew was to be taken internally at the same time that Radio-
Sulpho was used as a "wash." Both these products were analyzed by the
Colorado State Board of Health, which reported :
"Radio-Sulpho itself consists of a strongly alkaline solution of sodium sulphid, with a
little sodium carbonate and a decided odor of hydrogen sulphid (made presumably by heating
together sulphur and commercial caustic soda in water).
"Radio-Sulpho ·Brew is a weakly alcoholic solution of Epsom salts disguised with a bitter
vegetable.''

The cost of this evil-smelling treatment was $25 a month "and upward."
Victims were told that "cancer of the womb and breast are the simplest, easiest
and quickest cures made." Schuch, Jr., who had no medical education and no
legal right to practice medicine, stated in this booklet : "I treat personally the
white race only." His charges were: "$100 per day or part of a day and all
railroad expen~es going to points east of the Mississippi, or west of Sa.It Lake,
Utah. "
 25
these had risen to $201,600, with nef profits amounting to $71,720 after all expenses
had been paid. The business was evidently a profitable one.
The Nichols concern has for years issued elaborate and expensively prepared
booklets, printed on deckle-edged paper, with numerous illustrations both in color
and monotone. A large part of the book lists, according to states, the names
and addresses of "cured patients." A few years ago the Bureau of Investigation,
with the aid of the physicians of a county in Missouri, undertook to investigate all
of the cases of patients whose names were given as coming from that county.
Fifty-five cases were looked into. Investigation disclosed that forty-seven of the
fifty-five patients were still living; eight were evidently actual cancer cases, for the
patients were dead. Of the fifty-five patients, forty-three had had the diagnosis
of cancer made, not by independent physicians, but by the Nichols concern itself!
Three of the patients had their cases diagnosed as cancer by physicians, but no
microscopic examination had been made, the diagnoses being of a clinical character
only. In a few of the other cases detailed information could not be obtained.
In some of the older advertising one Jack Nichols was listed as being con-
nected in some way with the Sanatorium. Although his picture has been published,
it is not at all clear just what place Jack Nichols has in the scheme of things at
the Nichols Sanatorium. In July, 1931, the American Medical Association received
a letter reading as follows :
Gentlemen: As a member of the Dr. Nichols Sanatorium Incorporated, and thru long
association with this concern. I have acquired a knowledge of what I believe constitutes a
violation of the good practice of medicine. If I can satisfy you as to the fact of this
violation and will give you my full s.upport, what may I expect from you by way of rectification
in the same? ·
Sincerely yours,
Jack Nichols

Mr. Nichols' Jetter was answered as follows:

"We should say that it would not be necessary to have any long association with the
concern mentioned in your letter to he convinced that there had been 'a violation of the good
practice of medicine.' We have been convinced of the same thing for very many years"
[May, 1933.]

RADIO-SULPHO
"Radio-Sulpho" was sold by the Radio-Sulpho Company of Denver, a concern
that was incorporated for $1,000,000and had for its president one Philip Schuch, Jr.,
who modestly-described himself as a "chemist and cancer specialist." Mr. Schuch,
Jr., declared that the vaccine used in vaccination is the cause of cancer, and that
he was "able to culture the cancer germs direct from the vaccine." Schuch, Jr.,
"cured;' cancer by means of a combination of "Radio-Sulpho," "Radio-Sulpho Brew"
and Limburger cheese. This was not a joke, but a "treatment" recommended by
the Radio-Sulpho Company.
The patient was instructed to wash the cancer with dilute Radio-Sulpho
solution and then apply the "cheese poultice." The poultice was to be made by
taking one pound of "real imported" Limburger cheese and kneading it thoroughly
with five ounces of pure glycerine. The poultice and washing were to be renewed
every twelve hours. To quote Mr. Schuch, Jr.:
"A person that has a weak constitution . . . should never use the Limburger cheese
for a poultice, as it is too powerful a magnet. A person must be robust and healthy, . aside
from the cancer, to stand .the powerful drawing _of Limburger cheese, prepared as described.''
 24
Perry Nichols got his notion for going into the "cancer cure" business when
as a· young man he was selling real estate in Kingsley, Iowa, a short distance from
Cherokee, where an advertising "cancer cure" outfit was operating. Nichols
is said to have met and later entered into a partnership with the men connected
with the Cherokee concern, and they opened an alleged sanatorium in Des Moines
in 1896. They treated one patient-unsuccessfuJly-and then the partnership was
dissolved. ·
In November, 1896, Nichols started in the "cancer cure" business on his own
responsibility, although he had no medical education. He treated ·patients who
had, or thought they had, cancer, keeping within the law by engaging a licensed
practitioner to assist him. Later Nichols obtained a medical diploma from a low-
grade (class C) institution that went out of existence in 1909. He first began
practicing medicine at Watertown, S. _D., with cancer-curing as a side-line. Within
eighteen months he moved to Sioux Falls, S. D., and later to Hot Springs in
the same state, where he started his first cancer cure "sanatorium." He conducted
this for some years, in the meantime opening a branch sanatorium at Excelsior
Springs, Mo. But Excelsior Springs would h.ave none of him and passed an
ordinance that resulted in Nichols' leaving that town. He continued to operate
his Hot Springs institution until 1914, when he decided that he would get a little
nearer the center of population, and went to Savannah, Mo.
The Nichols concern, of course, uses the escharotic treatment. According to
the statement that has been made for many years, both before Nichols died and
since, this has been vaguely described as :
". . • a double compound, about four times the strength of chloride of zinc plaster, or
the arsenical or Marsden's paste, and acts with decidedly less pain."

The claim is further made that the escharotic they use "is not poisonous."
This contradicts the information furnished us by the Reverend Mr. W--, a Pres-
byterian minister who had also been a professor of biology. This gentleman's
wife was induced to go to the Nichols Sanatorium. In a letter that he wrote to
the American Medical Association, he described the situation as follows :
"I was present at the Nichols Sanatorium the day Mrs. W--· - was examined. A woman
nurse who is now Superintendent of the institution since Dr. Nichols died examined my wife.
The examination was concluded in less than ten minutes. The nurse felt of Mrs. W---'s
breast (there was no sore) also felt under her arm, and said 'The cancer extends under arm-
serious. case.' Mrs. W--- was assigned a room and the next morning was put under
the influence of drugs while the arsenic poison was applied to burn out the supposed
cancer. . . .
"No effort was made at Dr. Nichols Sanatorium for Cancer to find out definitely if
Mrs. W--- had cancer before administering treatment of arsenic poison in poultice form.
"For nearly ten days Mrs. W--- was constantly under the influence of drugs. Then
hurried out of Sanatorium three weeks from the day she entered to make room for other
dupes and victims of this alleged 'Cancer Cure.'
"Since Mrs. W--- left Nichols Sanatorium she has had a nurse and doctors-several
nurses and several doctors. The arsenic poison has so filled her system and destroyed her
vitality that she is now dying."

Since Nichols' death his institution seems to be conducted by a woman who

was associated with Nichols for many years and who has been described both as
"Superintendent" and "Director of Treatments." According to the elaborate booklet
issued by the Nichols concern in 1931, there are two licensed physicians connected
with the concern.
In 1924, a year before Nichols died, prospectuses were sent out advertising
"First Mortgage Serial Coupon Gold Bonds" issued by the Dr. Nichols Sanatorium
Corporation. These were to pay 7 per cent interest, payable semi-annually, and
to mature in 1927, 1929 and 1931, respectively. The prospectus gave the amount
of cash that Nichols had allegedly taken in annually from the time he started in
1905 up to and including 1923: In 1905 his cash receipts were $3,300; in 1923
 23
6. Cancer Salve: A salve composed of vaseline and lamolin, incorporating powdered opium
and tannin.
7. Cleanoine Soap Powder: An antiseptic soap powder containing borax and thymol.

Following the investigation by the postal authorities, a fraud order was issued
in January, 1910, and in November, 1910, the food and drug officials haled Mixer
into court, where he pleaded guilty to ;.i, charge of misbranding his "treatment."
Mixer was persistent however, and continued to carry on his trade by the simple
expedient of changing the name of his concern from "Drs. Mixer" to "Mixer
Medicine Company, successor to Drs. Mixer." This change was effected by means
of a rubber stamp on the old stationery of the company.-[Abstracted from Nos-
trums and Quacker:v, Vol. 1, 1912.]

THE· NEVINS SANITARIUM

Herbert Nevins for many years conducted an alleged cancer sanitarium in
Peoria, Ill. Nevins was born in 1859 and holds a diploma from the Hahnemann
Hospital College of San Francisco, 1891, and was licensed in Illinois in 1898.
Nevins seems to have been located at San Francisco from 1893 to 1896, at Chicago
in 1900, and at Sycamore, Ill., from 1902 to 1908. He apparently has been in
Peoria since 1910. In 1915 a Peoria daily paper, the Transcript, wrote to the
American Medical Association stating, in ·effect, that Nevins was suing the paper
for alleged libel and slander because the Transcript, in reporting a law suit in which
Nevins was the defendant, had called Nevins a cancer-cure faker.
In 1915 Nevins had been brought into court by a young woman who charged
that the doctor had beaten and choked her in an argument that arose over her
wages. It was reported that he was found guilty and fined. When testifying in this
case, Nevins was reported to have admitted that he was a "cancer specialist" and
a manufacturer. When questioned as to what he manufactured, he replied 'that he
made shoe polish and stove blacking. Nevins' attorneys, following the verdict of
guilty, filed an appeal. Whether the matter ever reached the appellate court, we
do not know, nor do we have record that the libel suit started by Nevins against
the Peoria Transcript ever developed into anything more formidable than a bluff.
Peoria papers some time later reported that Herbert Nevins had had thr.ee
executions issued against him and that at the same time Nevins had filed a petition
in bankruptcy in which the three judgments figured on his schedule of liabilities.
The papers reported that Nevins scheduled his liabilities in the sum of $2,065,
with assets amounting to only $113. The assets consisted of three items, an
automobile valued at $100, a watch and chain valued at $3, and five shares of
stock in the H. Nevins Company, valued at $10. Nevins has claimed in his adver-
tising that he does not "use the knife, electricity in any form, or the burning
plaster," but that his applications to the cancer are made from "powdered extracts
of vegetable remedies."- [May, 1933.]

NICHOLS SANATORIUM
In Savannah, Mo., a small town a few miles north of St. Joseph, there has
been for some years an institution known as the Dr. Nichols Sanatorium for
Cancer. It was founded by one Perry Nichols. Perry Lewis Nichols held a
diploma from the University of the South Medical Department, Sewanee, Tenn.,
1901. He died in 1925.
 22
of "external cancer," Leach would send the victim what he called "Night Oil,"
which was also cottonseed oil; a "Day Oil," which was ichthyol; an alcoholic
preparation which contained opium ; a salve which was reported to be vaseline in
which were incorporated boric acid and bismuth ; and a caustic paste containing
34 per cent of arsenic.
The postal authorities in 1909 declared Leach's business that of using the
United States mails as a means of obtaining money by fraud, and the mails were
closed to him. Less than a year later Leach was brought into court by the food
and drug officials on the basis of a seizure that had been made in February, 1909,
of some of Leach's nostrums. These preparations were declared misbranded.
Leach at first pleaded not guilty, but later pleaded guilty. He was fined $25 and
costs.-[From Nostrums a11d Quackery, Vol. 1, 1912, with additions.]

JOHN LINDGREN
John Lindgren manufactured and sold what he called "Galanga! Cancer Salve.".
He conducted the Swedish Cancer Sanatorium in Golden, Colo., and also had an
office in Denver. Lindgren was not a physician, but placed the mystic letters
D.C.M. after his name. He apparently used escharotics.-[May, 1933.]

"DRS. MIXER"
"Drs. Mixer" was the name under which C. W. Mixer of Hastings, Mich,,
conducted a mail-order "cancer cure" business. In 1909 Mixer was cited by the
postal authorities to show why a fraud order should not be issued against his
concern. The charges brought against Mixer were that he was conducting a
scheme for obtaining money through the mails "by means of false and fraudulent
pretenses, representations and promises." The scheme, briefly, was outlined as
follows: Advertisements were published in newspapers soliciting those persons who
believed themselves to be afflicted with cancer, to write to Drs. Mixer for a
"cure." Those who answered the advertisements were sent printed letters, circulars,
pamphlets and leaflets .in which they were urged to send money for the Drs.
Mixer's "treatment" for the cure of cancer. The concern further represented that
a diagnosis of cancer could be given from the answers which prospective victims
might make to a list of printed questions on a blank furnished for that purpose.
· It was brought out at the hearing that there was no Dr. Mixer. Charles W.
Mixer, who ran the business, had no medical education. The concern, it seems,
was founded by the father of Cparles W. Mixer, one L. N. Mixer, who had been
dead for many years. There were seven different preparations that were sent
out by the Mixer quackery to the victims who took the "treatment." These were
reported to be : ·
1. Mixer's Ca.nccr and Scrofida Syrup: A syrup containing potassium iodide and a smalJ
amount of vegetable ingredient similar to sarsaparilla flavored with methyl salicylate, and
containing about 6 per cent of -alcohol.
2. No. 1 Wash: An ordinary solution of hydrogen peroxide.
3. No. 1 Alterative: A hydro-alcoholic solution containing a large amount of gylcerine
and a small amount of vegetable matter similar to gentian.
4. Ca,ticer Reducer: A strong alcoholic solution of camphoraceous oils combined with
considerable glycerine.
5. Cancer Paste: An ointment paste made up of vaseline, incorporating a large amount
of grouna flaxseed, 3.nd including therewith a camphoraceous substance and alkaloidal bearing
matter . which resembles hyocyamus.
 21

also as a "difficultly prepared synthetic structure, worked down on· a recrystalliza-

tion process." Both of these descriptions, while imposingly sonorous, tell nothing
and apparently mean less.
The exploitation of the Koch treatment has been distinguished much more by
its economic implications than by any scientific background or therapeutic results.
Physicians belonging to what has been called the "twilight zone" of professionalism,
where it is difficult to distinguish between the shrewd quack and the unbalanced
visionary, have been Koch disciples. In February, 1926, there was organized the
Koch Cancer Foundation, with William F. Koch as director. There was also
organized Koch Laboratories, Inc., which corporation was said to be the sole owner
and manufacturer of the "Synthetic Anti-Toxin." There were four incorporators
of the Koch Laboratories-William F. Koch, Louis Koch, Fred C. Koch and
Clarence Lehr. There was said to be a contract between the Koch Laboratories
and the Koch Cancer Foundation whereby "the antitoxin will be distributed through
the Foundation only to its stockholders and members." It was reported by a
physician who was using the Koch preparation that the Koch Cancer Foundation
specified that the physician using the product was to charge not less thaff $300
for the first treatment and $200 for subsequent treatments. There seems ·to have
been no maximum charge.
The composition of the Koch remedy, from the time of its inception fourteen ·
years ago until the present (1933), has been kept secret. The Bureau of Investiga•
tion of· the American Medical Association has published several articles on the
Koch nostrum, which included some rather gruesome reports of a large number
of deaths of cancer victims who took the Koch preparation. This matter has
been reprinted in pamphlet form and a copy of this pamphlet will be sent on request
to anyone who will send three cents to cover postage.-[Abstracted from The
Journal A. M. A. of various dates.]

LAMOTTE CANCER INSTITUTE

The Lamotte Cancer Institute was conducted, for some years in the little village
of Garden in the upper peninsula of Michigan. It was founded by a man without
medical education, Edward Lamotte, who died in 1925; the son, Edward Lamotte,
Jr., carried on the work. In January, 1929, Lamotte, Jr. was reported as having
been arrested for practicing medicine without a license. According to the reports at
the time, a woman with a mole on her face went to Lamotte for examination, and
he immediately pronounced it cancer and offered to cure it for $75. The Lamotte
"treatment" was said to be a paste made from herbs and roots.-[May, 1933.]

L. T. LEACH.
L. T. Leach of Indianapolis was the son-in-law of D. M. Bye, the father of
Benjamin F. and William 0. Bye, all of whom at different times, have been in
the trade of selling alleged cancer cures. Leach was graduated by the Medical
College of Indiana in 1901. For some time after his graduation Leach assisted his
father-in-law. Leach did business on the mail-order plan. There were a number
· of drug preparations used by Leach, but the theme so·ng of Leach as of the Bye ·
family was "Healing Oils."
Leach's remedy "Cancerol" when analyzed by the federal authorities, was
reported to be nothing but cottonseed oil. There were, in addition, however, an
alleged "Blood Renovator" (alcohol 10per cent) a disinfectant of the cresol type,
some sugar-coated pills containing baking soda, iron sulphate and red pepper, all
of which comprised Leach's treatment for "internal cancer." In the treatment
 20
Treatment for· Cancer" misbranded. Johnson made no attempt to defend his claims,
but put forward the argument that the National Food and Drugs as it existed at
that time did not apply to therapeutic claims. This position was upheld by the
courts, with the result that the Sherley Amendment was passed, which specifically
states that false and fraudulent therapeutic claims constitute misbranding. About
the same time that Johnson was prosecuted under the Food and Drugs Act, the
postal authorities took up his case of selling a "cancer cure" on the mail-order
plan. Johnson was cited to show cause why he should not be barred from the use
of the mails. Rather than have a fraud order issued against him, Johnson sub-
mitted to the government a signed, sworn statement promising that he would
"entirely cease and quit the use of the mails in the home treatment or in the
treatment by mail" of cancer.
The Food and Drug officials analyzed Johnson's nostrum and reported the fol-
lowing results of their analysis :
"Cancerine Tablets."-These were reported to consist of over 95 per cent sugar and a
little over 4 per cent of inorganic material and ash. .'
"Antiseptic Tablets."-These w~re reported to be potassium permanganate.
"Blood Puri/ier."-Tbis preparation was reported to have 18 per cent alcohol and over
18 per cent of sugar with small amounts of glycerine, licorice, burdock root and senna.
"Special No. 4."-Tbis was reported to be a liniment containing turpentine, ammonia,
camphor and soft soap.
ucancer'lne No. 17:'"-This, according to the government chemists, was an ointment having
a petrolatum base and containing powdered belladonna root, poke root, and lobelia herb.
"Cancerine No, 1."-This, the federal chemists declared, was also an ointment consisting
of petrolatum with some powdered drug, apparently oak bark.

In some of Johnson's advertising matter he published what purported to be

"a partial list of cured patients." The vast majority of these alleged cures were
skin affections that might easily be other conditions than cancer (syphilis, etc.).
Two cases of alleged cures of cancer of the breast published by Johnson were
looked into, and it was found that both women were dead, one having died of
cancer of the breast and the other of cancer of the liver. Still other cases of
alleged cures of cancer published by Johnson were followed up and the usual
results found, namely, that some of the cases were not cancer at all and in others
the patients died following the Johnson treatment.
Of late years Johnson seems to have abandoned his "cancer cure" activities
and to have substituted a cure for hemorrhoids (piles).-[May, 1933.]

KOCH'S SYNTHETIC ANTI-TOXIN

In 1919 Dr. William F. Koch of Detroit declared that he had "developed a
real specific cure for cancer." This declaration was made less than a year after
Dr. Koch had been graduated in medicine and at the time that he was thirty-four
years of age. Dr. Koch seems to have claimed that cancer is caused by a· germ
resembling the spirochete of syphilis, but scientific medicine has never been able
to find any basis for such a claim. The Wayne County (Detroit) Medical
Society made no fewer than three carefully controlled investigations of the Koch
remedy. Each of the three reports was unfavorable, the last of the three closing
with the statement:
"I!' no instance have we found a case where the diagnosis of cancer. was absolutely
established and where no other form of treatment had been used in which a cure or any
decided benefit had ever been obtained."

Koch has called his product a "Synthetic Anti-Toxin," and it has been described
as a "synthetic chemical compound of very definite molecular arrangement" and
 19
INDIANAPOLIS CANCER HOSPITAL
The Indianapolis Cancer Hospital was long a disgrace, not only to the State
of Indiana but also to the middle west. Finally, in the summer of 1929, it closed
its doors ~nd a receiver was appointed for the outfit by the circuit court. The
Indianapolis Cancer Hospital was originally known as the Parkview Sanatorium
and later as the Leach Sanatorium. The Parkview Sanatorium was started by
Leon T. Leach, w°ho is dealt with elsewhere in this pamphlet; it was essentially
a mail-order business. In 1910, after Leach's business had been declared a fraud
by the postal authorities and debarred from the mails, the name was changed to
Leach Sanatorium. In 1913 the concern was incorporated with Leach as president
and principal factor, his wife secretary and treasurer, and one Charles A. McNeill
vice-president. In 1916 the name was again changed to Indianapolis Cancer
Hospital, and McNeill became the president and Charles C. Root tr~asurer. Root
had been in the employ of Leach for some years. Root and McNe1II were class-
mates of Leach, all three holding diplomas issued in 1901 by the Medical College
of Indiana. ·
Root and McNeill used to obtain the names of prospective victims whq were
suffering from cancer, or who thought they were suffering from cancer, by mailing
to clergymen a small booklet containing a batch of testimonials of the usual "cancer
cure" type. All of the testimonials were alleged to be from ministers of the gospel.
Accompanying the booklet was an offer to the clergyman to whom it was made.
He was asked to send in the names of any persons known to be suffering from
"cancer, lupus or tumor." As a reward· for this "sucker list" the ministers would
receive a pocket knife or a pair of cuff buttons, a watch fob, a fountain pen, a
. clothes brush, or some similar trinket. Still another scheme was worked with the
clergy. "Certificates" that were said to be "good for $25" were sent to ministers
and the minister was asked to interest himself personally in sending a "patient"
to Root and McNeill. After the victim arrived at the Indianapolis institution, the
preacher was supposed to receive a check for $25.
The Root and McNeill method of treating cancer was, of course, kept secret.-
However, as they published a list of individuals they claimed to have treated
successfully, and as many of the names published by them appeared in Leach's old
testimonial literature, one might be justified in assuming that Root and McNeill
used the Leach methods.
The closing of the Indianapolis Cancer Hospital was brought about through
the untiring activity of the Indianapolis Better Business Bureau and its manager,
Mr. T. M. Overley. In preparing its case against this outfit, the Better Business
Bureau submitted to the Bureau of Investigation of the American Medical Associa-
tion specimens of what quacl< Root called his "Liquid Laboratory Product," which
was said to be injected into the cancer. Examination in the American Medical
Association's Chemical Laboratory disclosed that the essential drug in the mixture
was zinc chloride. .
In May, 1929, the State Board of Medical Examination and Registration of
ln~iana found Charles C. Root, proprietor of the Indianapolis Cancer Hospital,
guilty of charges filed by the Indianapolis Better Business Bureau and revoked
his _licenseto practice medicine. According to the report at the time, the charges
agamst Root were that of repeated intoxication while in charge of patients and
his misrepresentation of his ability to cure cancer.-[Co11densed from The Journal
A. M. A. of various dates.]

JOHNSON REMEDY COMPANY

The Dr. Johnson Remedy Company, Kansas City, Mo., was the name under
which 0. A. Johnson sold an alleged treatment for cancer. In 1910 the officials
enforcing the National Food and Drugs Act declared Johnson's "Mild Combination
 18

two men who had been with Hoxsey apparently went with another cancer-cure
fake. Hoxsey then went back to central Illinois and established what was known
as the Hoxide Institute of Taylorville, Ill. It was at this time that the Bureau
of Investigation of the American Medical Association looked into the matter and
published an article on the subject in The I ournal of the American M cdical Asso-
ciation, Jan. 2, 1926. i::
In closing its article detailing the Hoxsey cure, it was prophesied that in time ll_
the weight of experience would overcome the force of advertising and then the ,
Hoxide Institute would close its doors. The prophesy was fulfilled-the Hoxide
Institute at Taylorville did close its doors leaving i11its wake a string of deaths.
In the meantime, because of The Joitrnal's article, the Hoxide Institute entered
suit against the American Medical Association and its editor for a quarter of a
million dollars. Like so many libel suits brought by those· whose methods have
been the subject of criticism by The Jo11rnalof the American Medical Association,
the case dragged along for some years, until finally the Association insisted that
it either be brought to trial or thrown out of court. It was thrown out !
In November, 1927, Hoxsey, who for a year had been charged with the
responsibility for the death of one of his victims, was finally brought to court,
where he pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawfully treating human ailments and
was fined $100 and costs. It was early in 1928 that the Hoxide Institute closed
its doors. About the same time Hoxsey was advertising his "cure" from another
Illinois town-] acksonville---under the trade name "National Cancer Remec)y
Company." This attempt to resurrect the Hoxide Institute apparently failed, and
then Hoxsey advertisements began to come from still another Illinois town, Girard.
This, too, in due time seems to have gone the way of the others. The next heard
of Hoxsey was in connection with the notorious Norman Baker, whose quackeries
in the cancer field are dealt with i'n greater detail elsewhere in this pamphlet. It
was the Hoxsey "treatment" that was used for cases of "external" cancer in the
Baker "Hospital."
The Hoxsey cure is, essentially, another one of the old escharotic treatments,
with arsenic as the chief ingredient. Illinois papers in April, 1932, reported
Hoxsey's arrest on charges of practicing medicine without a license in violation of
the Illinois medical practice act. According to the newspapers, Hoxsey had been
found guilty of violating the medical practice act of Illinois in 1929 and was
again found guilty and fined for a similar offense in 1930.
Following his association with Norman Baker, Hoxsey decided to seek more
metropolitan fields and went to Detroit. Here he headed an alleged cancer clinic
and, as usual, hired a renegade M.D. to help him to evade the medical practice act
of that state. Ho"".ever, after Hoxsey came in conflict with the authorities he
left that state.
Hoxsey was next heard from in 1932 at Wheeling, W. Va., in connection with
the Hoxie Cancer Clinic. Soon after opening it he is said to have been arrested and
held under bond. Hoxsey's next move was to Atlantic City, N. J., where, accord-
ing to information received from the Chamber of Commerce of that city, he
interested three laymen, two of them from Philadelphia and one from Wheeling,
W. Va., in financing his "cure" with the idea of opening another Hoxsey Institute.
According to the same source of information, a corporation has been formed
in New Jersey to take over a hotel at Brigantine Beach, which is but a short
distance from Atlantic City. In due time this bubble will burst, as it has burst
elsewhere. Hoxsey's victims will be dead and buried and Hoxsey will move to
new fields. A more detailed account of the Hoxsey cancer-cure exploits will be
sent to any one who includes with his request a three-cent stamp.-,-[From The
Journal A. M. A. of varioits dates, with additions.]
 17
HARRY M. HOXSEY
Harry M. Hoxsey has for some years been exploiting an alleged cure for cancer.
The cure is said to hav_e originated with Hoxsey's father, one John C. Hoxsey,
who used to dub himself "Doctor." Hoxsey, Sr., was said to have dabbled in
veterinary medicine, faith healing, and cancer cures. He, with two others, was
indicted by a grand jury on a charge of attempting to blackmail a dentist. Follow-

ANOTHER
HOXIDEDE.ATHA
DAY SOWERS,
OHIO, I

DIES WEEK'S
. PATIENT RECORD DIESHERE
IN
0FPNEUIONIA·11THE
HOXIDE SANITARIUM
W. N. Rodgers, 65, o[ Bonnio, nca
ML Vernon, died· at a p. m. Tu DeathCertificates.Show
Pneu•
day nt tlie IOondike botcJ. H
had been in this cji:y fh•o ,wooks IINllliaAs InQan•
Cause
eching the Hoxide trentmeat·far th
remotal of~cr. Bia OO!ltb is cerCases.
llllidto bq.\·ob«n ca~ fron\ pueu-
lmonlo.
Mrs. Rocl~'S orri\"00 !&en. tl1
mon1i11i:
iH'to:npanicd by relfLtiV09
Tho body wns shippod to Mt,Vomon
where I aervieos and bnria1 wil
.t •

OHIO
WOMAN f~L.JOHN&O
.,
DIES
HEREIN euNTON,
DIES
.SANITARIUM ATHOTELHERE
I - -·-
Hiss Kary C. Tblgle, l!O of
ZanesriUe.O., died s~ly-aftor 1;1000 pof~~;e~P]~!t: ~~O:ts~=
, ::: 1 .~:lire:rwrs ;t tho Klonkido hote1. He CAmeto
this eity two 'Weeksago and· w8S re-
' ment for cancer Ot the liver. Before
· her entrance to the sanitariu,m on ~r!°t t1M~t.f1& lMe&~:t
£rompncmnouia. He was about 72
:Febraary ZT, she hod submiUed to
two operations. )'Clll'S old.
~ Tingle was liorn. in Newport. Tho body'wos removed to the Con•
Ky~ Dee. 18,1876,the do.ughte, of nolly aod Wolln<c Undorta!tiff;!,s!al,.
11.'oo, Jishment pendiDgword from relatlvea
llln. William T. Tingle. Un'_
lit'her illness she WBB emplo)'ed aa
stenographer a_tthe American Rolling
CHICAGO
MAN. in British Colambia.

«=pan)" iD Zanesville. She was a

member or the Episcopal chlll"Ch of
~~ .!~tw~ aiatefl,llni.c. o. Sor•
DIED
HERE
TODA
der ond Hn. W. B. Neikirk both of
ZanesviUe, the' latter of wbom wu 1.. •\. 0M·i£, i.l. orChi.-.1:ro,rlird nt
here with lli88 Tingle.
't!:Ji
~v~!t~:iii:u:~•tt!: j,~~o;;;;·k
a!,~ Bern
~~:~ ~i::i~:r~:h~
• will place..
\ices and burial ·
take
Niu,mf.ut hi:tt'•two
Jtt('Uali,.
mnnlhs. for f'IUll'.rr
Ilic
of the lips.
ThP bod~·WR!Ishi11rcdat 10!':ts Ibis,
morni11:.:to Cliire,ro, 1thC'r1! funrral
serviet'c>nnd )111ri1dwill tol::e r!ttN'.

While the Hoxide quackery was thriving at Taylorville some gruesome news items appeared
in a local paper detailing the deaths of a few of the victims. No wonder the local undertaker
was reported as showing enthusiasm about the Hoxide Sanitarium.

ing the indictment, Hoxsey, Sr.; is reported to have disappeared for a time although
the two conspirators were convicted and punished. Hoxsey evaded arrest for some
months, then was jailed until he furnished $500 bail. However, he escaped punish-
ment. John C. Hoxsey died in 1919; cause of death, cancer!
Following the death of John C. Hoxsey, nothing further was heard of his
alleged ·cancer cure until 1924, when Harry M. Hoxsey, with two other men,
formed a common law trust having the somewhat imposing name "National
Cancer Research Institute and Clinic," with headquarters in Chicago. Later the
 16

Dr. Hestand, according to information on file, appears to· have entered into a
business arrangement with a person who was described as a "gospel singer, a
choir leader and soloist always available for religious meetings,"• who "gave up a
non-productive law practice to become an insurance agent and gave that up to form
a company that would sell filling-station supplies at cost." It appears that Dr.
Hestand and this layman were associated in the "Hestand Cancer Clinic" in putting
up a twenty-five-bed hospital in Sherman, Texas, that seems to have been known
variously as the Chiropractic Hospital of Texas and as the Hestand Hospital.
In 1932 Texas newspapers reported that a state charter had been granted to the
"National Society for .the Prevention of Cancer," with Dr. D. M. Hestand of
Houston as president.
At the present time (May, 1933) Dr. Hestand seems to be conducting what he
calls "The Hestand Clinic" from Houston, Texas, and sending out advertising
booklets entitled "CANCER Its Cause-Its Cure." Dr. Hestand deplores the use ·
of surgery in the treatment of cancer as also the use of x-ray and radium.. He
uses escharotics and states that his method has as many advantages over surgery,
x-ray, etc., "as an electric Hght has over a tallow candle." He claims : "My
method of treatment stands alone in the world." Of course testimonials form
part of Dr. Hestand's advertising matter. One such is published under the heading:
"Important Letter from a Doctor." It is from a person who signs himself "Most
Cordially Yours, Dr. Charles C. Lemly, Waco, Texas." So far as the records·of
the American Association show there is no physician of this name at Waco, Texas
or anywhere else in the United States: The Association however, does have a·
record of a chiropractor of Waco, Texas, named C. C. Lemly who was convicted
in 1926 of unlawfully practicing medicine and fined.-[May, 1933.]

HOQUE CANCER FOUNDATION

The W. F. Hoque Cancer Foundation was operated from Los Angeles. Accord-
ing to a report made by the Board of Medical Examiners of the State of California,
members of the Hoque family, none of whom ever seems to have had any medical
training, for years exploited a "cancer cure" in San Jose, Calif. The treatment
is said to have originated with F. Marion Hoque, who died in 1921. In May, 1902,
F. M. Hoque of San Jose, the vender and manufacturex: of an alleged cancer-cure
salve, was reported to have been found guilty of practicing medicine without a
license, and in 1908 he was ,again found guilty on the same charge. In April,
1921, it was reported that ·Mrs. Minnie Hoque had been arrested in San Jose
for violation of the medical practice act. In June, 1922, Mrs. Minnie Hoque is
reported to have called on the State Board of Medical Examiner:; to complain
about her step-son, W. F. Hoque, who, it seems, was operating the Shirley Cancer
Institute in Oakland, Calif. At this time one W. D. Hoque was said to be operating
a "cancer ·cure" in San Jose. The state authorities tried several times without
success to convict Hoque in the courts of San Jose, but in May, 1929, W. F.
Hoque was reported as having been found guilty in the Superior Court and fined
$500 for violation of the medical practice act. In the spring of 1932 letters were
being sent out on the stationery of the "W. F. Hoque Cancer Foundation" of
Los Angeles, with the name of Herbert Hoque given as business manager and
one Peter J. Barone, M.D., as medical director. From various reports, it appears
that the preparations used in the Hoque quackery are escharotics.-[May, 1933.]
 15
Supreme Court as a plain country woman of limited intelligence, about 62 years
of age. Mrs. G- went to Harris in October, 1922, because she was afflictecl
with what she believed to be a cancerous growth of the breast. Harris diagnosed
the case by rubbing the fingers of his left hand along the woman's arm, and then
informed her that she did not have cancer but that she had a growth that would
develop into cancer if it was left alone and .she also had kidney trouble. He
persuaded the woman to purchase two sixteen-ounce bottles filled with a reddish
fluid, which Harris called "Oil of Radium." Mrs. G- paid Harris $125 for
the two bottles of medicine, the contents of one bottle of which were to be rubbed
on the growth and two teaspoonfulls daily of the other bottle to be taken internally.
When Mrs. G- came back three weeks later, Harris informed her that the
"growth" had developed into a cancer and offered to furnish her· with more of the
"Oil of Radium" of a "higher specific," that would cost her $45. He told her, how-
ever, that if she would wait a month, he would furnish it for nothing. Mrs. G-
returned in about ·a month, but Harris would not even give her any attention,
although his secretary gave the poor woman a bottle of medicine and advised her
to come back in about a week, which she did. On this visit Harris told
Mrs. G-- that she was doing all right but must have more medicine, for which
he demanded a check for $45. She gave Harris a check, but her husband refused
to allow the bank to honor it, with the result that Harris came to see the woman,
used profane language, said that the government was backing him, and that he
was worth $50,000 and would spend all of it before he would allow Mr. G-
to stop payment on the check.
Then in May, 1923, Mrs. G- brought suit against Harris for $10,000 damages
on the grounds that Harris' statements and claims were false and fraudulent and
made with the design to cheat and defraud her and to obtain money from her
without any consideration; that Harris was not a physician or surgeon; that he
had no experience, knowledge or skill in the practice of medicine; that by reason
of his acts, on which she had relied, he had caused her to neglect proper medical
attention with the result that her disease grew worse until it was too late to
obtain a cure.
The case came to trial in April, 1924; and the jury awarded the woman $7,500
actual damages and. $2,500 exemplary damages; the court rendered judgment
accordingly. Mrs. G-- died of cancer in October, 1925.
Harris, with the effrontery of the quack, appealed the case, but the Supreme
Court held that the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed. The quack
then petitioned for a rehearing. The Supreme Court denied it.-[M odified from
The Journal A. M. A., Aug. 6, 1927.]

DAVID M. HESTAND
David M. Hestand of Houston and. Sherman; Texas, places the letters M.D.
and D.C. after his name, as well as the claim "Chiropractor." Dr. Hestand has a
diploma from the Medical Department of Baylor University issued in 1914, and
a license to practice medicine in Texas. In 1919 the Biographical Department of
the American Medical Association wrote to Dr. Hestand, asking him whether
he was the person whose name appeared on a prospectus of the Carver Chiro-
practic College as one of the "faculty" of the "college." Dr. Hestand replied:
rsic!] or not I studied Chiropractic
"I don:t consi9er it a!1y of your busines~ as to ".'-'1:ather
or taught m a Ch1ropract1c College. I practice Medicine and Surgery and also use Chiropractic
in a great many of my. cases, that is, if you want to call it Chiropractic, and I find it very
beneficial to a good many of my patience." [sic!]
 14
positively and permanently removed and cured hundreds of cancers." His story was
that Dr. E. A. Frasier (who died in March, 1931) had bequeathed him (Kirk)
the formula. It may be interpolated here that the late Dr. Elmore A. Frasier
of Enid, Okla., was licensed in Oklahoma on "years of practice." So far as the
records of the American Medical Association show, he was not a graduate of
any medical school, although some Polk's Medical Directories of about forty -i
years ago credited Dr. Frasier with graduation from the Homeopathic Medical
College of Missouri in 1885. Mr. Kirk made the following proposition to the
physicians to whom he sent his circular letter: If they wanted Dr. Frasier's
"cancer cure" formula and would sign an agreement not to sell or in any way,
directly or indirectly, give away or dispose of the formula or its contents to
anyone before the year 194-0,they could get a copy of the formula by sending
Mr. Kirk $25. Accompanying Mr. Kirk's offer was an advertising booklet of
the usual "cancer cure" type containing testimonials-also of the usual type. The
booklet also carried what purported to be a brief biography of Dr. Frasier. One
fact in the doctor's biography, however, was conspicuous by its absence, not only
from the booklet, but from all of the material that Mr. Kirk sent out to physicians,
namely, that Dr. Frasier himself died of "cancer of the lower jaw."-[May, 1933.]

GAST SANATORIUM
The Gast Sanatorium of Prospect, Ohio, seems to be conducted by one G. F.
Gast who, according to the advertising cards, is manager. In a letter written by
Gast in 1932, he said: "My method of treatment for cancer is a plaster." Gast
puts in certain days at Columbus, Ohio, and the rest of the time is at Prospect.
Gast was asked in 1932 whether he had any licensed physicians connected with
his hospital; he replied that he had, and gave the name of a reputable physician
in Prospect. This physician was immediately written to· for the purpose of learn-
ing directly whether there was any truth in this claim. The physician in question
replied that he was in no way connected with the Gast Sanatorium or any other
similar concern.-[May, 1933.]

B. H. GREEN
B. H. Green, who called himself a cancer specialist, did business for some years
from Bessemer, Ala. His nostrum was known as "B. H. Green's Wild Woods
Cancer Preparation and Female Tonic." Judging from a letter signed by Green,
the man was as illiterate as he was medically ignorant. In· April, 1931, Dr. J. D.
Dowling, County Health Officer for Jefferson County, Ala., reported that B. H.
Green had been convicted in the local courts.-[111ay, 1933.]

JAMES M. HARRIS
James M. Harris of Tulsa, Oklahoma, for some years exploited a "cancer cure"
called "Radium Oil." He operated not in the city of Tulsa, but on a farm about
two miles in the country, and according to reports he did a large business.
The Supreme Court of Oklahoma in 1927 affirmed the judgment of the trial
court that had awarded Mrs. G-- $10,000 damages because Harris had treated
what, at the outset, was an operable case of cancer of the breast and allowed the
matter to progress until it became inoperable. The victim was described by the
 13

G. M. CURRY
Dr. G. M. Curry for many years operated a mail-order cancer-cure fake from
Lebanon, Ohio. Curry was born in 1848 and held a diploma from the Medical
College of Ohio, 1885. He was licensed in Ohio in 1896. Curry claimed not only
to have discovered the "germ of cancer," but also a sure cure for it. Mr. Samuel
Hopkins Adams in his "Great American Fraud" series called attention to quack
Curry and emphasized the fact that in his notorious enterprise Curry had the
support of the local county treasurer, the sheriff, the recorder, the auditor, a judge,
two attorneys and two bankers, to say nothing of several other prominent citizens.
All this Mr. Adams brought out in 1906. In 1909 the United States postal
authorities investigated the Curry quackery, declared it a fraud, and on August 9
of that year debarred it from the United States mails.
As a sample of many claims made by Curry, we quote:
"The percentage of deaths from· cancers which have been treated with the Curry cure is
absolutely down to nothing."

Curry used to publish his picture as part of his advertising "come-on," and
under it declared that he was a member of the state medical societies of Ohio and
Kentucky. He was a member of neither. Curry's trade name was "The Dr. Curry
Cancer Cure Company" and his letterheads carried a picture of the "Curry Sani-
tarium and Offices." When the various nostrums sent out by Curry were analyzed
by the federal authorities, a number of them were found to be simple antiseptics,
some of them were antiseptics to which had been added opium; there were some
alcoholic tonics, a preparation of opium to deaden the pain, a cocaine preparation,
an astringent, some laxative pills to relieve the constipation produced by the
administration of opium, some ointments, hydrogen peroxide, crystallized carbolic
acid-a wickedly dangerous substance to put in the hands of the layman-and a
concentrated solution of chromic acid, a caustic, together with some concentrated
acetic acid, a powerful tissue destroyer. ·
Prior to the closing of the mails to Curry, the federal officials who enforced
the National Food and Drugs Act proceeded against the nostrums sent out by
Curry and declared them misbranded because of false and fraudulent claims. Fol-
lowing the issuance of the fraud order, the Curry cancer-cure sanitarium had its
name changed to Cedar Hill Sanitarium. Apparently the institution has ceased
to exist for some time. Curry himself died in October, 1918.-[Abstracted from
Nostrums and Quackery, Vol. 1, 1912.)

R. D. EVANS
R. D. Evans of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, sold what he alleged was a positive
cure for cancer. Like most quacks, he claimed to have made his discovery "after
many years of research and experiments." He sold his nostrum for "One Hundred
Dollars in advance." From analyses made in the Chemic'al Laboratory of the
American Medical Association, it appeared that the $1Cl0treatment of Evans
consisted essentially of 5 cents' worth of dried copperas (green vitriol), in a dab
of lard.-[Abstracted from The Journal A. M. A., June 3, 1922.)

THE E. A. FRASIER FORMULA

In August, 1931, physicians received a letter printed in imitation typewriting
on the stationery of one F. S. Kirk, a live stock and real estate auctioneer. Mr.
Kirk stated that he had "a reliable and dependable formula . . . that has
 12

body with potassium salt, the theory being that cancer is due to a deficiency of
potassium in the system. The Cantassium treatment in the United States seems
to be exploited by a California chiropractor, one Willard Sauls.-[May, 1933.]

S. R. CHAMLEE (CHAMLEY)
S. R. Chamlee, or, as he sometimes spelled his name, "Chamley," was one of
the most notorious cancer-cure quacks of his generation. With heartless cupidity
he defrauded the sick for more than a quarter of a century. Declared a fraud
by the government and denied the use of the United States mails in St. Louis,
where he conducted one branch of his trade, Chamlee calmly moved his offices to
other cities. From these he continued to defraud the public with impunity.
According to Chamlee's claims, he had the "only infallible cure ever dis-
covered" for cancer. He declared that his remedy was from "a Pacific Island
plant" that "purifies the blood and removes all cancer virus from the system."
When Chamlee's nostrums were analyzed by the federal authorities, his "Cancer
Specific" was found to consist of over 99 per cent water and alcohol, with minute
quantities of iron and strychnine, sweetened with saccharine. Another of his
products was a liquid found to contain 22 per cent of alcohol, an equal amount of
water, together with tannin, carbolic acid, opium, and a large amount of glycerine.
A third preparation was a wax-like substance composed of bees-wax, resin and fat.
In December, 1909, when Chamlee was living in St. Louis, but also operating
from Los Angeles, a fraud order was issued against him under his various names
applying both to his St. Louis and to his Los Angeles offices. Then Chamlee
changed the name of his concern in St. Louis and in January, 1910, the fraud order .
was extended to cover the new name. Chamlee transferred his Los Angeles
sw.indle to Oakland, and some weeks later the fraud order was still further extended
to cover the Oakland address. Chamlee then opened new offices in St. Louis and
Los Angeles under still other names and the federal authorities denied these the
use of the mails. Then in March, 1910, Chamlee filed an affidavit with the federal
authorities that he would go out of the cancer-cure business and the fraud orders
were revoked in so far as they affected his personal name. His oath, of course,
was just as worthless as his business was villainous, and he continued his trade.
In 1915 Chamlee was indicted by a grand jury in San Francisco for obtaining
property tinder false pretenses. It seems that he frightened a woman into believing
that she had cancer and then obtained a promissory note for $2,000 for an opera-
tion which he persuaded the woman he would have to perform. After the victim
had paid $1,500 on the note, quack Chamlee told her she must be operated on again,
and he demanded more money. Two women who acted as nurses for Chamlee
testified before the grand jury that Chamlee admitted that he knew this woman
had no cancer; but that he meant to get all the money that he could. The federal
officials again took action against Chamlee and still another fraud order was issued
in April, 1916. In this connection Judge Lamar, Solicitor for the Post Office
Department, had this to say about Chamlee :
,
"It may be said that the business of Dr. Chamley, contemplating as it does the extortion of
money for a worthless and often harmful 'treatment' through a deliberate propaganda of terror
among impressionable women by means of the cancer advertisements and other liter'ature
referred to above, is one of the most vicious which has ever been before this office, and con•
. stitutes a more sinister parasite on the community than the dread disease which Dr. Chamley
offers to 'cure.' "
In April, 1917, Chamlee was fined $100 and given a suspended sentence of
100 days in the city jail for practicing medicine without a license. In all the years
that this notorious quack and swindler pursued his villainous trade, he was able,
by some means or other, to keep out of the penitentiary. He finally died of heart
disease Oct. 27, 1920.-[Abstracted from The Journal A. M. A. of various dates.]
 11

Following the issuance of the fraud order against W. 0. Bye, he continued his
business by requiring his victims either to come for a · personal examination or
to have a local physician fill out a card that Bye would furnish, stating that the
patient had cancer. An Indianapolis physician reported in 1932 the case of a
patient of his who was dying of cancer of the cervix and, having seen one of
W. 0. Bye's advertisements, wrote to Bye. Bye replied to the poor woman
as follows:
"I have your letter and in reply will say, before furnishing you treatment, I would first
like to make an examination of your case, if possible, in order to get a good und~rstanding
of it and to prepare treatment accordingly. If desired, I will agree to come there, to your
home, examine you, and furnish a month's treatment for $100.00 and the expenses of the trip,
money to be paid while there. Expenses means railroad fare both ways, sleeper, meals, etc.,
en route. This price includes the first month's treatment, price, thereafter should more be
needed, to be $30.00 per month for treatment. After examination, I can give all information
desired. I will bring the medicine along, prepare and leave one month's. supply, at no extra
charge, with full directions, so you can use it yourself."

Bye has for years sent out an advertising booklet entitled "A Message of Hope."
In this he leads the recipient to believe that operations and the use of x-ray :;ind
radium' in the treatment of cancer are to be avoided. The booklet contains testi-
monials from persons who are alleged to have been cured of cancer by W. 0. Bye.
The edition issued in 1933 is less than half the size of that issued ten years pre"
viously-forty-eight pages as compared with one hundred and one pages. The 1922
edition of "A Message of Hope," which, by the way, was from the "Press of the
Western Baptist Publishing Co., Kansas City, Mo.," reproduced what purported-to
be "before and after" pictures of three women who were said to have been cured
of cancers of the face. To anyone familiar with photographic processes, it seemed
obvious that the pictures used to show the patient "after" the growth had allegedly
been removed were made from the same negatives as the "before" pictures, the
engraver or photographer having skillfully removed the growth with a retouching
pencil!
While the W. 0. Bye newspaper advertising deals only with his cancer "cure,"
it appears, according to "A Message of Hope," that he is willing to turn his
talents to the treatment of "Gastric Ulcer" and "Skin Diseases." He used to extend
his specialties to include, also, "Chronic Nasal Catarrh," "Rectal Diseases," "Female
Diseases" and "Uterine Displacement."
W. 0. Bye still advertises. The advertisement reproduced with this article
appeared in the January, 1933, issue of one of those cheap publications that seem
to depend for their existence on the revenue from advertising that would be
rejected by magazines and newspapers that had any ethical conscience.
In Bye's "Mess~ge of Hope" sent out in March, 1933, he makes this statement
about the character of his treatment :
"Our treatment is both local and constitutional in all cases, and is prepared especially
for each individual. The local remedies are app!ie,I directly to the affected parts in the
form of oils [Italics ours.-Eo.], ointments, powders, pastes, liquids and injections."

From this, it seems evident that the "oil treatment" still persists.-[Modified
from The Journal A. M. A., June 3, 1933.]

CANTASSIUM TREATMENT
The Cantassium treatment apparently originates from Twickenham, England,
with one Charles H. Mitchell as manager. There seems to be a Canadian branch
or agent in Toronto. According to the advertising matter, the Cantassium treat-
ment is "a treatment by potassium administration" and consists in supplying the
 10

The government brought out the fact that Benjamin F. Bye claimed member-
ship in a number of organizations that were shown to be quackish to a degree, and
showed, further, that Bye had never been in private practice, his entire medical
experience having been gained in the mail-order cancer-cure business. Bye's claims
to those who wrote to him were that he had discovered a combination of vegetable
oils that would practically cure every case of cancer. The first price asked was
$25, which was reduced by easy stages to $3 where the victims did not bite readily.
When the government analyzed Bye's nostrums, they reported that they "were
found to amount to cottonseed oil and some ordinary tonics."-[Abstracted from
Nostrums and Quackery, Vol. 1, 1912.]

W. 0. BYE
William 0. Bye of Kansas City, Mo., has long been in the cancer cure
field. He was born in 1870and holds a diploma issued in 1897from Bennett College
of Eclectic Medicine and Surgery. Associated with him for the past few years
Bye has had one Arthur Heinzelmann, who holds a diploma issued in 1907 from
the Eclectic Medical University of Kansas City, a low-grade school that went out
of existence some years ago. In 1912 Heinzelmann's name appeared as super-
intendent of a "cancer cure" concern, the Cliff View Sanatorium of Kansas City,
Mo., which advertised the escharotic treatment of cancer.

~ , CANCERJts
successru1 treatment wttb•
out use ot the knife. Hun• 1
jreds of satisfied J)atienta 1ea-
t1tY to th1a mild method. Write for free
I t>ooll. rems bow to care for patfents sui~
fertng trom cancer. Address Dr. w. o..
Bye, Kansas cu~. Mo.
I

From some 1933 advertising.

William 0. Bye for many years operated his "cancer cure" through the mails;
but the postal authorities in 1910 declared this business a fraud. William 0. Bye,
his brother, Benjamin F. Bye, their father, D. M. Bye, and their brother-in-law,
L. T. Leach, all four have, at one time or another, operated mail-order "cancer
cures." All four of them have claimed to have an alleged "oil treatment" for the
cure of cancer. When the postal authorities got around to W. 0. Bye and the
federal chemists analyzed the nostrums comprising his treatment, it was reported
to consist of five different preparations: (1) A mixture of cottonseed oil and
almond oil; (2) a product resembling syrup of sarsaparilla; (3) sugar pills;
(4) vaseline; and ( 5) a clay poultice.
W. 0. Bye in his old mail-order advertising claimed that he had "an infallible
cure for all forms of cancer" and that he had "effected cures in some of the worst
cases of internal cancer." In 1907 W. 0. Bye's license to ,practice medicine in
Missouri was revoked by the Board of Health of that state, but Bye took the matter
to the courts, where he submitted depositions from those he was supposed to have
cured of cancer. The court ordered the Board to restore his license I The postal
authorities later showed that the depositions that Bye had presented were, in many
instances, from individuals whose alleged cases of cancer had never been diagnosed
as cancer at all.
 9
In 1910 or 1911, the Purifico Company did business from Forestville, N. Y.,
and apparently conducted a concern known as the Forestville Sanitarium where
the nostrums were employed. In November, 1917, the Diffins, doing business as
the Purifico Company, were charged by the government with violating the federal
Food and Drugs Act in shipping their nostrum. The charge was specifically that
the claim that Purifico was an effective remedy for cancer and other conditions
was false and fraudulent. The two Diffins pleaded guilty.
In May, 1923, C. W. Diffin was called on by the postal authorities to show
cause why a fraud order should not be issued against him and the Purifico Company.
Diffin, through his attorneys, applied for and obtained a number of continuances,
and action was not definitely taken on the case until more than a year later-in
June, 1924. It was· brnught out in the Post Office hearing that an analysis of
the Purifico nostrum by the federal chemists showed that Purifico No. 1 was a
mixture of water, alcohol and sugar, with cinchona ( the tree from the bark of which
quinine is obtained), vegetable extractives, a vegetable laxative, and potassium
iodide. Purifico No. 2 was a mixture of alcohol and water, with cinchona, vegetable

extractives and potassium iodide, the only difference between No. 1 and No. 2 being
the presence of a laxative in the No. 1. Purifico No. 3 was found to be a mixture
of water, alcohol and sugar, with some vegetable extractives, including valerian.
Following the Post Office hearing, at which Diffin testified and at which he
admitted that he had pleaded guilty to the charge of the officials who enforce
the National Food and Drugs Act that he had made false and fraudulent claims
for Purifico, Judge Edgar M. Blessing, Solicitor for the Post Office Department,
notified the Postmaster-General that Purifico was offered for sale through the
mails under false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, and he
recommended the issuance of a fraud order. On June 6, 1924, the mails were
closed to the Purifico Company and C. W. Diffin of Buffalo and Ashville, N. Y.,
and Bridgeburg, Ontario, Canada.-[Modijied from The Journal A. M.A., July 5,
1924.]

B. F. BYE
Benjamin F. Bye of Indianapolis was denied the use of the United States mails
August 7, 1909. The facts in the case, as submitted at the time to the Postmaster-
General by R. P. Goodwin, Assistant Attorney-General, were in part as follows:
"Dr. Bye is engaged in treating persons, afflicted with cancer, through the mails. He has
succeeded to the business of his father, who for a number of years was engaged in a similar
practice at Indianapolis, Indiana. He is also a brother-in-law of Dr. L. T. Leach, who conducts
a similar business from Indianapolis and against whom this office has recommended the
issuance of a fraud order. While Dr. Bye adYertises to have a sanitarium at Indianapolis,
where he treats personally patients who come there, the fact is he has no sanitarium of his
own and such few persons as do go to Indianapolis for sanitarium treatment he locates in
boarding houses and such places.
 8

some years ago, published a complete list of press agents and the interests those
agents represented. The list contained the name of D. E. Woolley, who at that-
time was press agent for the National Association of Piano Dealers. Apparently
the publicity which the American Medical Association gave to this attempt to float
another "cancer cure" was too much for it, for nothing further has been heard of it.
-[Abstracted from The Journal A. M. A., Sept. 3, 1921.]

BOHANNON CANCER INSTITUTE

The Bohannon Cancer Institute was conducted for some years in Berkeley,
Calif. Dr. C. B. Pinkham, the Secretary-Treasurer of the Board of Medical
Examiners of the State of California, reported in December, 1930, that G. C.
Bohannon, who conducted the Institute and who was not a graduate of any
reputable medical school, after having pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to violate
the medical practice act, was sentenced to pay a fine of $4,000. The judge who
sentenced Bohannon is said to have stated that he would have sent the man to
jail, but because Bohannon was an advanced diabetic, a fine was assessed instead.
The Bohannon concern seems to have been founded by one J. L. Bohannon, who
for some years conducted the Pacific Cancer and Tumor Institute in Oakland, Calif.
J. L. Bohannon died in 1914 and the concern was then said to be run by a
Mrs. A. J. L. Bohannon. J. L. Bohannon was not a graduate in medicine and
was never licensed to practice. He was one of the incorporators of the Anti-
Vaccination League of Berkeley, Calif. California newspapers in 1910 reported
that J. L. Bohannon had been arrested for the illegal practice of medicine and
fined $300. Bohannon appealed the case, but lost. The Bohannon treatment 1s
said to consist in injecting a preparation of the escharotic type.-[May, 1933.]

E. E. BUNDY
Mrs. E. E. Bundy of Boise City, Okla., was reported in 1932 as carrying on an
extensive "cancer cure" business. The treatment seems to be of the usual escharotic
character. One physician wbo wrote regarding this woman's activities reported
that he had come in contact with a Bundy victim. The poor patient had an exten-
sive necrosis of the abdominal walls, due to the application of the Bundy plaster,
and the post-mortem revealed that the patient had carcinoma of the stomach, colon
and liver. Incredible though it may seem, it was reported that early in 1933, an
attempt was being made to get the state legislature to grant her a special license
to practice and also to make an appropriation for a cancer hospital.-[May, 1933.]

BURNSIDE'S PURIFICO
Eleanor Elizabeth Howe, who was graduated by the New England Female
Medical College in 1867, married a preacher by the name of Burnside in 1871 and
about 1881 began the manufacture of an alleged cure for cancer known as "Burn-
side's Purifico Nos. 1, 2 and 3." Many years later--in 1903-the daughter of this
woman, Mrs. C. W. Diffin, took over the Purifico business and, with her husband
conducted it under the name of the Purifico Company. This trade name was
employed until about September, 1920, at which time the name of the business was
changed to "C. W. Diffin" and "C. W. Diffin Manufacturing Chemist." at Buffalo
and Ashville, N. Y.
 7
magazine, T N T, published an article to prove that results in the five test cases
showed that "Cancer is Conquered." Investigation by the American Medical
Association disclosed that every one of the five test patients was dead I In spite
of this Baker continued to reprint and distribute the article, stating or implying
that the patients were cured, for months after the victims were in their graves.
Case after case was brought to the attention of the jury by the American Medical
Association of poor victims who had taken the Baker "treatment" and were told
by the Baker concern that they were cured, but who, in fact, died.
One case, not so tragic, was also brought out by the American Medical Asso-
ciation : A young Iowa farmer, suffering from what he thought might be cancer
and having heard Baker over the radio, went to the Baker Institute, where he was
· treated for cancer. Not being satisfied that the Baker concern knew much about
his case, the young man went to the Dermatologic Clinic of the State University
of Iowa. Here reputable physicians found that he was actually suffering from
nothing more serious than "barber's itch."
A detailed account of Baker's activities, as brought out during the libel suit
trial, was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association March 19,
1932, and in Hygeia for May, 1932. Reprints of the Hygeia article will be sent in
answer to all requests that are accompanied by a three-cent stamp. [May, 1933.)

"BASIC CANCER RESEARCH" AND "COSMOPOLITAN

CANCER RESEARCH SOCIETY"
Medical journals and some other technical publications in 1921 received what
purported to be items of news sent out by the "Medical News Bureau," 77 Seventh
Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. The manager of this alleged Bureau was one D. E.
Woolley. The news items were to the effect that while it was well known that
cancer could be cured by radium, one F. W. Humphreys of Brooklyn was declaring
that cancer could be cured by the use of selenium and tellurium. Humphreys was
described as a "student of chemistry and science who has devoted years to the
study of the cause of cancer and the discovery of methods of relief." The press-
agent material went on to state that the Basic Cancer Research had been organized
and that Humphreys had expressed the opinion that he estimated that within ten
years "cancer will no longer be considered a fatal .disease." This was in 1921.
Newspapers also got similar material from D. E. Woolley, but instead of being
on the stationery of the "Medical News Bureau," it was on the stationery of the
"Cosmopolitan Cancer Research Society," which had the same address as the Basic
Cancer Research outfit. Part of the ballyhoo for this alleged cancer cure was to
the effect that a Dr. Frederic Klein had evolved a test that was "a most wonderful
and vafuable discovery in the diagnosis of cancer."
Behind the Medical News Bureau was found to be the "Basic Chemical Cor-
poration of America,'' which had F. W. Humphreys as its president. Investigation
t - showed that Humphreys had previously been in the photographic and real estate
business. Another official of the corporation was said to have been a grocer in
a small Missouri village, later selling out and coming to Brooklyn and entering
the insurance business. Still another official was in the fish business. There was
also a local practicing physician connected with it and his name appeared in the
files of the Bureau of Investigation of the American Medical Association as having
given testimonials for two nostrums.
The Dr. Frederic Klein who was described as an "eminent authority" was
not a physician at all, but had previously been connected with a product known as
"Sulfo-Selene,'' which had been exploited in the newspapers in 1916 as a remedy
for cancer. Who the D. E. Woolley was who sent out the press notices was. not
clear. The American Newspaper Publishers' Association, in a bulletin it issued
 6

American Medical Association-dwindled until, for the month of January, 1932,

he took in only about $7,000.
The evidence showed that _Baker's education had gone no further than a year
and a half of high school work, after which for two years he worked in machine
shops. He then went into the vaudeville business, putting on "hypnotism" acts.
He continued in that field for about eight or ten years, but in 1914 came back to
Muscatine, where he started to manufacture calliopes. This work was interrupted ·
for a short time when he again went on the road "putting on an act." In 1920

his factory burned, and he then started a mail-order business. Although Baker
admitted that he could not paint, nevertheless he advertised to teach "oil painting
in ten lessons by mail." His broadcasting station went on the air in November,
1925. The Federal Radio Commission in 1931 revoked Baker's broadcasting license
because it found his operation of the station inimical to the public interest.
In starting in the "cancer cure" business Baker broadcast over his radio station
that he wanted five men or women who were suffering from cancer to consent
to become test patients and that he would pay all their expenses, including doctors'
bills, nurses, care, medical fee, room and board, etc., and that the only expense to
which they would be put would be the cost of transportation to the hospital. It
was brought out at the libel suit trial that, as a matter of fact, practically all the
test patients paid their own expenses, both transportation and fees. Later Baker's
 5
value in impotency and frigidity. These and similar claims were declared false
and fraudulent, and the court condemned the product and ordered that it be
destroyed.
Apparently it was after Armstrong's break with the Radium Research Founda-
tion that Farnsworth transferred the business to Chicago. The Farnsworth Labora-
tories are just as vague regarding the composition of the Alphacatalyst as Arm-
strong was regarding the Oxycatalyst. The only difference between the two is
that the Farnsworth concern uses fewer words to conceal thought. According to
the booklet of the Farnsworth Laboratories :
"The Alphacatalyst is a solution containing a radium derivative, employing as its active
principle the Alpha particle of radium. It has been described as a colloidal suspension."
In spite of the fact that the Alphacatalyst (Oxycatalyst) has been on the market
six years, there is still no scientific evidence to indicate that it has any value.
A Los Angeles physician who some years ago had tried the Oxycatalyst reported
in December, 1930, that he had ceased using it because of an experience that he
had had a year earlier. It appears that a patient with inoperable cancer was given
a dose of the Oxycatalyst and within three minutes died with all the symptoms
of shock.-[Modified from The Journal A. M. A., May 6, 1933.]

NORMAN BAKER
Norman Baker of Muscatine, Iowa, headed a number of mercantile enterprises,
including the ownership of a radio broadcasting station and an alleged cancer cure,
the radio being used as a means of obtaining victims. The Journal of the American
Medical Association and H ygeia gave the medical profession and the public the
facts regarding Baker's cruel business, with the result that Baker brought suit
for libel against the American Medical Association, asking one-half million dollars
in damages. The case came to trial in the federal courts in February, 1932, and
continued for nearly a month. After all the evidence had been submitted, both by
Baker and by the American Medical Association, the jury decided that Baker
had not been libeled when he was called a quack, and returned a verdict for the
American Medical Association.
Baker's original enterprises seem to have been wholly in the commercial field-
selling cigars, radios, storage batteries, alarm clocks, advertising his wares through
catalogs, a rather lurid magazine that he called T N T (The Naked Truth) and
over his radio station, KTNT. Baker had two fake cures for cancer that were
being given in Muscatine in a building known as the Baker Hospital. First, there
was a treatment for "external" cancer, an arsenic powder exploited by Harry M.
Hoxsey, who is dealt with elsewhere in this pamphlet; and second, there was a
treatment for "internal" cancer that Baker got from one Charles 0. Ozias of
Kansas City, Mo.
When the American Medical Association, through its Bureau of Investigation,
first began warning the public against the Baker "cancer cure" business, Baker
made the fantastic claim that the American Medical Association had offered him a
million dollars for his "cancer cure" in order that it might be withdrawn from the
market so that cancer sufferers would be compelled to resort to surgery, x-ray
and radium ! When Baker was put on the stand in the libel suit, he denied that
he had ever made such a statement, but the American Medical Association offered
in evidence a letter signed Norman Baker and which Baker admitted he had
dictated.
During the trial it was brought out that Baker's monthly receipts for his
"cancer cure" started at about $1,000 for the month of October, 1929, climbed to
over $75,000 a month in June, 1930, and-following the articles published by the
 4

likely not to show harmful results. The treatment was administered in accordance
with Poulin's directions. Dr. Kaplan reports "all three patients died horribly and
miserably."-[Condensed from The Journal A. M. A., May 27, 1933.J

ALPHACATALYST
For some years there has been on the market an alleged treatment for cancer
that was originally known as "Armstrong's 0xycatalyst" but is now called
"Alphacatalyst." Inquiries first came about the product in 1927, and in the Bureau
of Investigation Department of The Journal A. M. A. for May 19, 1928, an article
was published on the subject.
Alphacatalyst is put on the market by a Chicago concern using the trade name
Farnsworth Laboratories. One Merle G. Farnsworth is said to be the main
factor. Armstrong's 0xycatalyst was put out from Los Angeles by the imposingly
named Radium Research Foundation, which at the time was said to be owned by
Robert A. Armstrong, with one M. G. Farnsworth as the active manager. In
The Journal's article it was brought out that while the product was alleged to be
in the experimental stage, commercial agencies had been established in various
parts of the country, doctors were charging $200 for a single injection, and in other
ways the methods of exploitation seemed to smack more of economics than of
scientific medicine.
Following the publication of the article, Robert A. Armstrong wrote to the
Bureau of Investigation in an attempt to defend the methods of exploitation. As
to the composition of the preparation, Mr. Armstrong stated that he was "perfectly
frank in saying to the physician" that :
"Armstrong's Oxycatalyst contains in part the essential elements of metameric protein devoid
of its combustible products, together with anionic halogens in solution with Alpha particles of
Radium derived from fifty micrograms of Radium element together with its derivatives in a
normal saline carrier."

This statement was wholly without meaning, but it was sonorous and carried
an imposingly technical tone. No wonder Mr. Armstrong had no hesitation in
being "perfectly frank" when he could do so without making himself intelligible.
In 1929 some specimens of Armstrong's Oxycatalyst were submitted to the
A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory. Although the advertising of the Armstrong
product has been based on the claim that the preparation is radioactive, no radio-
activity was found in the specimens.
Friction apparently developed between Robert A. Armstrong and the Radium
Research Foundation, for the Los Angeles Times on Sept. 9, 1930, carried an
item reading :
"Demanding $107,670 assertedly suffered through failure to pay for certain patent medicines
furnished by him, Robert A. Armstrong yesterday sued the Radium Research Foundation, Merle
G. Farnsworth, and John C. Hendee, who he says agreed to pay him $12.50 to $20 for each
ampule of medicine supplied. The medicines are known as 'luetic antigen' and 'Halanum,'
and Armstrong claims to be the originator and sole distributor of them. He says the
defendants are preparing substitute remedies dangerous to patients, and asks the court to
restrain their sale or distribution."

In connection with the reference to Halanum in the item just quoted, it is of

interest to recall that the National Food and Drugs officials declared that the
Radium Research Foundation of Los Angeles shipped into Illinois in 1928 a quantity
of Halanum that was adulterated and misbranded. The government charged that
although Halanum was labeled as containing a definite amount of radium, it, in
fact, contained no radium and was actually a weak solution of common salt in
water. Halanum was sold as the greatest aphrodisiac known and of particular
 CANCER "CURES" AND "TREATMENTS"

ADLER TREATMENT
In 1932 the Adler Laboratories, Inc., of Jersey City, N. J., was advertising a
mail-order cure for cancer known as the "Adler Treatment." The treatment was
alleged to be the discovery of Louis Adler, of Newark, N. J., who was described
as an "Hungarian chemist." Adler Laboratories, Inc., had Louis Adler for its
president, an electrical contractor for its treasurer, and two lawyers as vice-
president and secretary, respectively. The concern had for its "medical director"
one William J. Poulin, M.D. Dr. Poulin holds a diploma from Fordham University
School of Medicine issued in 1912, and is licensed in New York and New Jersey.
He is not a member of his local medical society or, of course, of the American
Medical Association.
The files of the Bureau of Investigation of the American Medical Association
have record of a Louis Adler who, in 1921, was arrested in Newark, N. J., on the
charge of violating the medical practice act in the exploitation of an alleged cancer
cure. He was, according to the newspaper reports at the time, found guilty and
fined $200 and costs. While Louis Adler's so-called Adler Laboratories, Inc.,
had its headquarters in Jersey City, N. J., Adler himself, from his Newark
address, put out a line of "patent medicines," among them being "Adler's Wonder
Salve," "Adler's Blood Purifier" (which seems to be another "cancer cure") and
"Adler's Stomach Cleanser."
In a somewhat elaborate booklet issued by the Adler Laboratories, much
space was devoted to a testimonial alleged to have been given by a Dr. Bela
Teglassy, who was described by Adler as "chief physician, assistant professor of the
Clinic of the University of Budapest." The Adler concern published what purported
to be a sworn copy of a letter written by Dr. Teglassy to Louis Adler. The letter
stated, in effect, that he (Teglassy) had been experimenting with Adler's "cancer
cure" and had reached the point where, in a short time, he was going to "insert
an article in one of the newspapers concerning my experiments." Dr. Teglassy
was quoted as stating that he planned to use "the following headline in this article:
'Medicinal Handling and Cure of Cancer and Ulcers Through the Digestive
Organs.'" Dr. Teglassy in the letter was also made to state that he intended to
refer to the cancer cure "as the invention of our compatriot, Louis Adler, now
living in Newark, N. J.'' The letter closed with the request on the part of
Dr. Teglassy that Adler send him more of his "cure" because, the doctor stated,
he was confident that when he published his article in the paper, he would be
"besieged for the remedy."
The Bureau of Investigation of the American Medical Association looked into
this matter and found several things of interest. It was found, first, that there
is a Dr. Bela Teglassy in Budapest, but he seems to be much more important
politically than medically, for, in 1931 he was elected in a provincial district to the
House of Deputies. The University of Budapest definitely denies that Dr. Teglassy
ever acted as assistant professor and states that he was never in charge of cancer
research work. The Bureau of Investigation also has in its possession a letter
written by Dr. Teglassy explaining his connection with the Adler cancer-
cure. Dr. Teglassy's letter is not convincing. He admits that he tried the Adler
nostrum- on some cancer patients, and admits, further, that he wrote "on a prescrip-
tion blank" that he had used the preparation but implies that he wrote no such
letter as the Adler concern publishes.
Of more practical interest to the sufferer from cancer is the report on the
Adler treatment by Dr. Ira I. Kaplan, Director of the Division of Cancer, Bellevue
Hospital, New York City. Dr. Kaplan reports that the Adler treatment was tried
in three cases which had been selected by medical director Poulin as being most
 2

There are various institutions of dubious scientific standing that

advertise that they are devoted to the cure of cancer. In practically
every instance these concerns use caustic or escharotic drugs. Many
of them publish imposingly large lists of "cures." Investigation dis-
closes that the great bulk of these "cures" have occurred in individuals
who have never been proved scientifically to have cancer. Many persons,
especially those past middle age, develop benign growths and, feeling
that such growths are cancerous, go to these institutions that advertise
that they "do not use the knife." They are there told that the condition
is cancerous, the growth is eaten out with caustics, the wound heals, and
the patients go back to their homes living advertisements for the cure
of a cancer-that did not exist! That such concerns may destroy super-
ficial cancers by their caustics and "plasters" is, of course, obvious. But
such a method of attacking even surface cancers is unscientific, painful
to a degree, long drawn-out and, even if all the malignant tissue is
removed, is likely to result in much greater disfigurement than that
following the quicker, cleaner and much less painful surgical removal.
In this pamphlet have been gathered a miscellaneous assortment of
"cures" and "treatments" for cancer that have come to the attention
of the Bureau of Investigation of the American Medical Association.
They range all the way from palpable frauds through those whose
methods seem to smack more of commercialism than of science to those
that may be said to represent the optimistic claims of misguided enthu-
siasts. It is to be born in mind that a person with cancer will die just as
surely by relying on an honest but misguided enthusiast as by submit-
ting to the malpractice of the most blatant of "cancer cure" swindlers.
 FOREWORD

Not a week passes but the Bureau of Investigation of the American

Medical Association receives one or more letters in which the writers
state that they have discovered, or have in their possession, a sure cure
for cancer. Some of these letters have every evidence of having been
written by persons who are sincere and who, apparently, have no special
. desire to commercialize ·their alleged discoveries ; others come from
individuals who are obviously commercial· in their outlook and who
have no interest in their alleged remedies aside from the money they
hope to make by selling them. All ask the American Medical Asso-
ciation to investigate their products. In· answering these letters, it is
explained that the number of alleged cures for cancer brought to the
attention of the American Medical Association is so great that it would
be a physical and financial impossibility to investigate all of them.
Each correspondent is told that before the American Medical Associa-
tion can undertake to devote time and study to his "cure," it will
be necessary for him to fulfil three elemental requirements. These are:
1.-Send in a complete statement of the composition of the remedy, including
not only the name but the quantity of each ingredient for which therapeutic
action is claimed. It is made clear that such information, if sent to the American
Medical Association, will not· be accepted in confidence, but will become part of the
Association's records, to be pass~ on to those who may inquire about the product.
2.-Send in the names and addresses of at least twenty-five persons who are
claimed ~o have been cured of cancer by the product in question.
3.-Send in the names and addresses of the physicians who diagnosed these
cases as those of cancer.

These three simple requirements have so far not been complied with
in a single instance, although hundreds of letters have come from per-
sons claiming to have cures for cancer.
For many years some of the best brains in medical research have
been working on the problem of seeking the cause of, and finding a
treatment for, cancer. As yet, the ultimate cause of cancer has not been
discovered. It has been thoroughly demonstrated, however, that cancer,
when taken in the early stages, may be cured by competent surgical
treatment and, in selected cases, by the use of radium and x-ray.
There is no scientific evidence at the ptesent time to show that
any serum, drug or combination of drugs will cure cancer. Various
kinds of drugs .have been employed, both for internal administration
and for local administration, by injection or by the application of caustic
pastes. The more progressive members of the medical profession have
abandoned the use of caustics in the treatment of what are sometimes
called "external" cancers. The reason is that the action of caustics is
not easily controlled and much better results are obtained by the
judicious use of surgery, radium and x-ray.