The patent medicine Liquozone was not merely useless but actively harmful

Evidence

In fact, the six guinea pigs inoculated with diphtheria bacilli and treated with Liquozone died within seventy-two hours, whereas two out of three untreated guinea pigs remained alive after receiving the same amount of diphtheria culture. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1177

Categorization

• SEED: An angle: the 19th-century turn to animal testing in exposing patent-medicine fraud — how the industry’s own claims about ‘curing’ were disproven by killing guinea pigs.
• XREF: connects to: Liquozone was diluted sulfuric acid with zero curative effect — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 115; Patent medicines were primarily alcohol, narcotics, and fraud rather than medicine — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 112; 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

Broader Connections

• Liquozone was diluted sulfuric acid with zero curative effect #expands (0.95) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 115
• Patent medicines were primarily alcohol, narcotics, and fraud rather than medicine #exemplifies (0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 112