0547. Misbranding of    Metzger's    catarrh    remedy    and    Spede    Oil.     U.    S.
* * * v. George Franklin Metzger (Metzger Medicine Mfg. Co.). 
Plea of nolo contendere. Fine, $10. (F. & D, No. 14522. I. S. Nos. 
24765-r, 24458-r.)
On June 13, 1921, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania, acting upon a report by the Secretary of Agriculture, filed in 
the District Court of the United States for said district an information against 
George Franklin Metzger, trading as the Metzger Medicine Mfg. Co., Bethlehem, 
Pa., alleging shipment by said defendant, in violation of the Food and Drugs 
Act, as amended, on or about March 16, 1920, and April 25, 1919, from the 
State of Pennsylvania into the State of Ohio, of quantities of Metzger's catarrh 
remedy and Spede Oil which were misbranded.
Analysis of a sample of the catarrh remedy by the Bureau of Chemistry of 
this department showed that it consisted essentially of iodin, a mercuric com- 
pound, gentian, alcohol (43.69 per cent by volume), and water. Analysis of a 
sample of the Spede Oil by the said Bureau showed that it consisted essentially 
of gasoline, oil of eucalyptus, methyl salicylate, menthol, camphor, and ether.
Misbranding of the catarrh remedy was alleged in substance in the informa- 
tion for the reason that certain statements, designs, and devices regarding the 
therapeutic and curative effects thereof, appearing on the labels of the bottles 
and contained in the booklets inclosed in the cartons containing the article, 
falsely and fraudulently represented it to be effective as a treatment, remedy, 
and cure for catarrh, catarrh of the nasal cavity, chronic or ulcerative, catarrh
of the eye, ear, throat, stomach, bowels, and bladder, hay fever, catarrh in every 
form, nasal catarrh, catarrh of the womb and of the bronchial or eustachian 
tubes, lungs, and wherever else there is mucous membrane, catarrh of the small 
intestines, dyspepsia, for rhinitis, catarrh of the nose and fruital sinuses, for 
conjunctivitis, otitis, tonsilit Is, pharyngitis, laryngitis, bronchitis, spitting of 
blood, capillary bronchitis, congestion of the lungs, pulmonitis, lobar pneumonia, 
stomatitis, oesophagitis, gastritis, duodenitis, hepatitis, pancreatitis, enteritis, 
appendicitis, colitis, proctitis, endocarditis, nephritis, Bright's disease, chronic 
diarrhea, ringing noises in the head, cracklings in the ears, loss of memory, head- 
aches, bronchial catarrh, hacking cough, and eczema and deafness from catarrh, 
when, in truth and in fact, it was not. Misbranding was alleged for the further 
reason that the article contained alcohol and the label on the bottle failed to 
state the quantity and proportion of alcohol contained therein. Misbranding 
of the Spede Oil was alleged in substance for the reason that certain statements 
regarding the therapeutic and curative effects thereof, appearing on the labels 
¦of the bottles and cartons containing the article and in the circulars inclosed 
in said cartons, falsely and fraudulently represented it to be effective as a treat- 
ment, remedy, and cure for gout, pleurisy, sore throat, headache, lumbago, scalds 
and burns, swellings, cuts, sprains, wounds, chillblains, fruit bites, frozen feet, 
bites and stings of poisonous insects, inflammation of the breast, sore feet, weak 
?ankles and joints, hay fever, tonsillitis, inflammations, itching piles, blood poison- 
ing, cold in the head and lungs, inflammatory rheumatism, and for all pains 
anywhere on the body, when, in truth and in fact, it was not.
On June 13, 1921, the defendant entered a plea of nolo contendere to the 
information, and the court imposed a fine of $10.
C. W. PUGSLEY, Acting Secretary of Agriculture.