The Judge's Library: A Magazine of Fun. No. 34 (Jan 1892), advertisement for 
Gauss' Catarrh Cure

The American Farmer (ca 1904), The American Farmer Company, advertisement 
for Gauss' Catarrh Cure



[both ads essentially the same text]



[Are you losing] . your sense of taste? Are you gradually going deaf? Do you 
hear buzzing sounds? Do you have ringing in the ears? Do you have nausea of 
the stomach? Is there a [co ....] taste in the mouth? Do you have a cough? 
Do you cough at night? Do you take cold easily? If so, you have catarrh."



            "Catarrh is not only dangerous in these ways, it causes 
ulcerations, death and decay of bones, loss of thinking and reasoning power, 
kills ambition and energy, often causes loss of appetite, indigestion, 
dyspepsia, raw throat . and reaches to general debility, idiocy and 
insanity."



            "It needs attention at once. Cure it with Dr. Gauss' Catarrh 
Cure. It is a quick, radical, permanent cure, because it rids the system of 
the poison germs that cause catarrh."



            "In order to prove to all who are suffering from this loathsome 
disease that Gauss' Catarrh Cure will actually cure any case of catarrh 
quickly, no matter how long standing or how bad ."



Hearings on The Pure Food and Drugs Act, U.S. House Committee on Interstate 
and Foreign Commerce, Government Printing Office, 1912.



[Gauss' Catarrh Cure cited as one of many egregious claims of permanent 
cures]



p85 - Gauss Catarrh Cure. - "A quick, radical, and permanent cure. Will 
actually cure any case of catarrh, no matter how long standing or how bad."



~~~~~~~~



Gauss' Catarrh Cure (and many other such spurious snake-oil formulations) 
seems to have disappeared shortly after enactment of the Pure Food and Drugs 
Act.



Bob Skiles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"There is also an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, 
without either virtue or talents ... The artificial aristocracy is a 
mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to 
prevent its ascendancy."


- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Allen Vegotsky" <[log in to unmask]>

> The Gauss Catarrh Elixir and the information that Jennifer Low provided on
> the formula are interesting.  Catarrh can be translated as congestion
> (mucus) mainly in the head and throat.  The formula that Street provided
> was obtained by chemical analysis. The key ingredient is the "vegetative
> extractive" and chemical analysis of organic plant extracts, especially in
> the early 20th century, is not very illuminating.  This extractive would
> have likely been very complex chemically.  The 14% alcohol might have been
> needed to keep the plant extracts in solution.
>
> Allen
>