Patent medicines sold at huge markups with negligible active ingredients

Evidence

In 1905 and 1906 he wrote twelve articles under the general title “The Great American Fraud.” Of these seven appeared before the act of 1906 was passed. He compared the chemical analyses with the curative claims of scores of patent medicines. Many of these contained alcohol, opium, or cocaine as the chief element. “Liquozone,” he claimed, was composed of nine-tenths of a percent of sulphuric acid, threetenths of a per cent of sulphurous acid, and nearly ninety-nine per cent of water. And this was advertized to cure thirty-seven varieties of diseases. nPeruna” contained twenty-eight per cent of alchohol and often led to tuberculosis and drunkenness. It cost eight and a half cents to produce and sold for a dollar. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 994

Categorization

• CANDY: flagged by the selector, no supporting note recorded
• XREF: connects to: Patent medicines routinely contained opiates and mislabeled poisons before 1906 — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 995; Interstate commerce defeated state-by-state pure food regulation, pushing federal law — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 987; Patent medicines relied on mysterious secret ingredients to feed consumer hope — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 97 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Patent medicines relied on mysterious secret ingredients to feed consumer hope #corroborates (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 97
• Patent medicines were primarily alcohol, narcotics, and fraud rather than medicine #expands (0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 112