Orangeine powders administered by her own hand, whether accidentally or otherwise, unknown to the jury.'"
Last July an 18-year-old Philadelphia girl got a box of Oranegine powders at a drug store, having been told that they would cure headache. There was nothing on the label or in the printed matter inclosed with the preparation warning her of the dangerous character of the nostrum. Following the printed advice, she took two powders. In three hours she was dead. Coronor Dugan's verdict follows:
"Mary A. Bispels came to her death from kidney and heart disease, aggravated by poisoning by acetanilid taken in Orangeine headache powders."
Prescribing Without Authority
Yet this poison is being recommended every day by people who know nothing of it and nothing of the susceptibility of the friends to whom they advocate it. For example, here is a testimonial from the Orangeine booklet:
"Miss A. A. Phillips, 66 Powers Street, Brooklyn, writes: 'I always keep Orangeine in my desk at school, and through its frequent applications to the sick I am called both "doctor and magician."'"
If the school herein referred to is a public school, the matter is one for the board of education; if a private school, for the Health Department or the county medical society. That a school teacher should be allowed to continue giving, however well meaning her follhardiness may be, a harmful and possibly fatal dose to the children instructed to her care seems rather a significant commentary on the quality of watchfulness in certain institutions.
Obscurity as to the real nature of the drug, fostered by careful deception, is the safeguard of the acetanilid vender. Were its perilous quality known, the headache powder would hardly be so widely used. And were the even more important fact that the use of these powders becomes a habit, akin to the opium or cocain habits, understood by the public, the repeated sales which are the basis of Orangeine's prosperity would undoubtedly be greatly cut down. Orangeine fulfills the prime requisite of a patent medicine in being a good "repeater." Did it not foster its own demand in the form of a persistent craving, it would hardly be profitable. Its advertising invites to the formation of an addiction to the drug. "Get the habit," it might logically advertise, in imitation of a certain prominent exploitation along legitimate lines. Not only is its value as a cure for nervousness and headaches insisted on, but its prospective dupes are advised to take this powerful drug as a bracer.
"When, as often, as you reach home tired in body and mind . . . take an Oranegine powder, lie down for thirty minutes' nap - if possible - anyway, relax, then take another."
"To induce sleep, take an Orangeine powder immediately before retiring. When wakeful, an Oranegine powder will have a normalizing, quieting effect."
It is also recommnded as a good thing to begin the day's work on in the morning - that, take Orangeine, night, morning and between meals!
These powders pretend to cure asthma, biliousness, headaches, colds, catarrh and grip (dose: powdere very four hours during the day for a week! - a pretty fair start on the Orangeine habit), diarrhea, hay fever, insomnia, influenze, neuralgia, seasickness and sciatica.
Of course, they do not cure any of these; they do practically nothing but give temporary relief by depressing the heart. With the return to normal conditions of blood circulation comes a currence of the nervousness,
