WBC S971s 1828 ^•^ ^\ ■ N 1NI3I0IW JO A IV18II IVNOIIVN 1NOI01N JO A I V I 8 I 1 IVNOIiVN INI N 3NI3IQ3W JO A I V « 8 I 1 IVNOIiVN 1NI3IQ3W JO A » V « 9 I 1 IVNOIiVN INI N 3NI3I03W JO AIV18I1 IVNOIiVN 3NI3I03W JO A I V * 8 I 1 IVNOIiVN INI E NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NAT i<2^ i y%>1'Q N 3NI3I03W JO AIV18I1 IVNOIiVN 3NI3I03W JO A1VI8I1 IVNOIiVN 3NI Yg\^ E NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE i -Yf t \Ai N 3NI3I03W JO A IV 88 II IVNOIiVI '==V ? yw • n^/v LIVI8I1 IVNOIiVN 3 N I 3 I a 3 W JO A8VI8I1 IVNOIiVN 3NI3IQ3W JO A 8 V I 8 I 1 IVNOU «ARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICI AIVI8I1 IVNOIiVN 3NI3IQ3W JO A8VI8I1 IVNOIiVN 3NIDIQ3W JO AIVI8I1 IVNOU AIVIIII IVNOIiVN 3NI3I03W JO A8VI8I1 IVNOIiVN 3NI3I03W JO AIVI8I1 IVNOU a a * ■a e e RARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICI 1 (~& « RARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDIC IIVIBII IV iVN 3NI3I0.3W JO AIVXQI1 KNOIII A PUBLICATION PHILADELPHIA MEDICAL SOCIETY CONCERNING ;ti SW AIM'S PANACEA. 4/ / / / «*»*© «<«••— 4. z z.^ Magna est Veritas et prcevalebit. PHILADELPHIA: 1828. Y/BC &m is \%3$ /T;A, f UJ 2+r ,..,. | v® wmm www&m* A report of the Committee of the Philadelphia Medical Society, purporting to be an inquiry into the remedial value of Swaim's Panacea (among other medicines), has lately been distributed in a pamphlet form, and also crowded into the columns of a newspaper. This report, although purporting to be a scientific transac- tion, is obviously intended for popular effect; at least this may be fairly inferred from the structure of the argument and the mode in which it has been published and distributed. Although but a " Quack" in the estimation of the Committee, yet I have not passed through life without making some observations; and among others, that assertions, however broad and un- founded, if permitted to pass into the mind of the hearer, without contradiction, will frequently be received with the acquiescence due only to established truth. The public will therefore duly appreciate my motives, when I raise my voice in denial of the manifold statements and conclusions of the Committee; and I on my part will promise, that although attention should not be requited by instruction, yet it shall not be fatigued by prolixity. Is not this a singular spectacle— a learned body striving with all the might of authority to crush an unsupported, unfriended individual, who has risen to no- tice, not by occult arts, but by curative miracles, performed 1 in open day, and to which he invoked the attestation ot tin Faculty? I am then no ordinary " quack." Most of that race have been merely despised—I have risen to the dignity of being hated. To oppose this simultaneous movement of the learned, (for several medical societies have joined in the hue and cry,) need I do more than invoke attention to those re- markable cures which from time to time have been published —from the case of M'Roy, the first triumph of the Panacea, to that of Nancy Linton, which covered my enemies with confusion. To reiterate them is unnecessary; they are before the public, couched in language plain and comprehensible by the general understanding—all the contortions of ingenuity or the dogmas of science will not convince the -people that these diseases w ere unreal, or the cures accidental; and per- haps the Faculty may owre something to a " Quack," (him- self one of the unlettered throng, and well acquainted with their habits and opinions) when he admonishes them, that un- til they can learn not to reject from their medical materials every simple or compound not protended by the hand of scien- tific research, they must not complain that the people often- times think for themselves, and leave them the enjoyment of abstract truth. I have assumed the entire honour of this castigatory visita- tion: although other popular specifics are noticed and cen- sured, none will doubt my title who will consider that all the acrimony is congested on me—and, indeed, I am denounced as responsible for the misdoings of all the others. The report commences with an apology for the paucity of their proofs; and really it is needed;—for if we consider the immense distribution of the medicine, and the length of time it has had notoriety, it is strange that the Committee have not 5 been able to rake together more materials of detraction. The), it is true, shower the opinions of physicians thickly upon us: this seems unnecessary for any other purpose than to make a show of proof; for so far as the interested opinions of physi- cians can avail, they are confessedly numerously sustained. The adoption of this report by the Medical Society has impli- cated at least a majority of that body in its sentiments. The opposition of the Faculty I had anticipated: and it has ensued, with some exceptions of remarkable candour. The success of my medicine was an invasion of their province, and should be resisted;—it mortified their pride of learning, and should be discountenanced. It is, moreover, a cardinal prin- ciple of their sect to decry secret preparations—nor could it be expected that their reprobation would be confined to the medicine, and that I personally should escape censure,—for whatever abstraction there may be in their researches, it does not obtain in their controversies. But putting aside opinions, the facts stated by the Committee are scanty indeed; and some of them so insignificant as scarcely to be read with gra- vity. A lady with a real or fancied rheumatism takes some bottles without avail—a gentleman has a small sore on his leg, and takes the Panacea without benefit, but is cured in a week by the regular skill of the physician: these wretched details serve only to show how much that cause lacks weight, which cannot spare from the balance even the atoms of plau- sibility. There are some statements however of deeper impression. I am accused of having caused the death of several of my fel- low-creatures: perhaps the Committee would allow me the pal- liation of ignorance; but I reject it with indignation. Where human life may be jeoparded, ignorance is criminal. I am d intimately acquainted with the powers of my medicine, and watch its operation in such cases as I can immediately super- vise with the utmost caution;—and I call God to witness that my conscience is without reproach.* Let it be recollected that during the first years of my career, none came under my care but cases of desperation—such as had been abandoned by the physicians—of a class of diseases by many deemed incura- ble; and even of that class the most hopeless. Let this be borne in mind; and compare the number of deaths with those which occur in the practice of the most eminent physicians. The result will redound to my advantage—all the diligence of the Committee has only gleaned seven cases of death from the many thousands in which the medicine has been adminis- tered. That death in these cases can be justly attributed to my medicine, I utterly deny. But what does my feeble contradiction avail against gradu- ate authority; and why should I contradict, when from their own mouths I can derive their refutation?—for I propose passing these cases of fatal termination in review, before the public. They require a consideration separate and apart from the rest of the report; both because they tend to cast a darker shadow on my moral character than the others, and because they are more appalling to the imagination, and there- fore, more injurious to the medicine. The first in the list of reporters is Dr. Emlen. Before I examine his cases which terminated fatally, permit me to di- * I may be permitted to state, that whatever may have been my earlier pur- suits, I hare not of late years, altogether neglected to inform myself on me- dical subjects, by a careful attention to books—a course of medical lectures in the University of Pennsylvania—and private lectures on anatomy, surgery, chemistry, &c 7 gress into some observations upon his minor statements. He informs us of his having seen " a number of poor sailors, who applied for admission into the Hospital, after expending all the funds they had, in this and other panaceas:" and also, " that a poor carter told him, that he had spent fifty dollars in Swaim's Panacea, which had done him no good." These statements are eminently calculated to prejudice me with the public, to array every generous sympathy against me, and stamp me the heartless depredator of the poor. And upon what evidence are they founded? Dr. Emlen is told by these people that they have been using Swaim's Panacea— and is he ignorant that imitations of my medicine are sold in every nook and corner of the city, for the most part at a cheaper rate than the genuine ? That these, together with a host of other specifics, real, or pretended, which are fraudu- lently sold to applicants for my Panacea, by their proprietors, (and of which I have so often cautioned the public) have ren- dered it very uncandid to rely upon what the patients say they have taken ?—In two-thirds of the cases they are mista- ken. Did Dr. Emlen ascertain that it was really my medi- • ine with which these poor people were deluded; or has he, with a full knowledge of these various impositions, endea- voured to blast my reputation as a man, and to deprive me of the countenance of my fellow-citizens, upon such unsatisfac- tory evidence ? Again, Dr. Emlen has endeavoured to charge me with un charitable and harsh conduct, to some of the poor who were under my care: these statements have the same tendency and purpose/as those upon which I have just remarked. They cannot in any way affect the essential value of my medicine; and, it is therefore somewhat strange, that we find them in a 8 scientific report. But although foreign to the real question. I cannot pass them without comment. Dr. Emlen states these facts from the information of others—for there is no pretence that he has any of his own. In his answer to the circular of a scientific body, he should have confined himself to scientific facts; or, at least, if he chose to wander into my character and visit my sins upon the devoted medicine, be should have re- stricted himself to his own knowledge, instead of repeating this calumny, and thus making himself responsible for all the misconception and untruth in which it originated; at all events, it would have been more dignified, and more conso- nant to that high character which he has hitherto sustained. To prove a negative, if it»were possible, is not in my power. I have an indirect refutation, in the constant applications of the indigent, which are never in vain, in the gratuitous distri- bution of my medicine so liberally made, and in the pecuniary relief so freely given. My house has for years been a con- stant infirmary—but, I have said too much already—the most malicious attacks shall not provoke me to give publicity to charities, which derive half their virtue from concealment. I cannot forbear, however, to cite the testimony of Dr. Gib- son, which is already before the public, in the National Ga- zette of January, 1825. "He, (Dr. Gibson,) likewise spoke of Mr. Swaim personally, acknowledged the generosity which he had shown in the distribution of the medicine to the poor, and in the support of whole families, until a cure was effect- ed."— The first fatal case, reported by Dr. Emlen, is the case of a female slave from Charleston : she was afflicted with scro- fulous tumours and an incipient consumption. Dr. Emlen declared his opinion, that medical treatment was not likely to 9 be of avail. Under these circumstances, it is stated, she was put under my care, by her mistress, a southern lady.—The Panacea was administered for some time without success, when the " prescribed' found that his medicine (thus runs the story) produced violent symptoms—he withdrew it, and could not he prevailed upon to furnish more. Does this statement contain any thing but what redounds to my credit ?—a case of despe- ration, in the opinion of the physician,—the medicine fails— have I ever asserted that it was infallible—or can this death from atrophy be imputed to its noxious ingredients;—and, as to my conduct, did it discover a mercenary feeling, to with- draw my medicine, when it was found unequivocally useless ? It might still have been continued to my profit. I have given above, the substance of the case, the language is not the same: my mode of withdrawing the medicine, is thus described in the original: " He run away with his bottle." It is easy to give a ludicrous cast to language; were I to condescend to such an artifice, I should find no difficulty in making even the grave Dr. Emlen ridiculous.* The next fatal case, furnished by Dr. Emlen, is that of a boy, who had been afflicted for years with scrofulous tumours, all over his body. The case had been treated without success, by various physicians. My Panacea was procured while the * Dr Emlen seems to have adopted the very convenient, but not very sa- tisfactory \ogic,posthoc, ergo propter hoc, which, if applied to his own practice, would make a lamentable impression on his professional reputation. Has Dr. Emlen ever prescribed for a case of scrofulous consumption? i\o doubt! Has be ever cured a case ? No, never ! This ruthless disease has, hitherto, bid de- fiance to all the known resources of the healing art. What would the Dr. say if A* prescriptions were held up as injurious, merely because h.s patient, died Perhaps, the Dr. thinks, that as his patients died, under a course of boluses prescribed secundum arttm, the logic which he applies to the Panacea, does not apply to his own prescriptions. 10 hoy was in extremis. Dr. Emlen protested against it as useless expense. The patient died before he had finished one bottle. Can this case suggest any other sentiment than re- gret, that the Panacea was not resorted to sooner ? The next case of like issue, is that of a woman, who had " some ulcera- tion of the throat;" she took the medicine for some time, finally desisted, and a few months ago, died. This case is con- veyed in such general language, as to afford no points assail- able by criticism. But, asneither Dr. Emlen, nor the Com- mittee, wotdd fail to give it the strongest terms it could sus- tain, we may fairly infer much, from this very generality. It is not stated that her death was caused by this slight ulcera- tion, and we may infer that it was not. It is not stated what interval occurred between abandoning the Panacea and her death; and we may infer, that it was so great as to negative the idea, that the Panacea conduced to that event. The case seems stated, principally as a vehicle for a charge upon my conduct. " The proprietor was continually holding out hopes of amendment, which were never realized." Can any phy- sician seriously consider that as a cause of complaint, which they all practise, or will they deny me alone the license of in- fusing hope into the mind of the patient, that best auxiliary, not only of mine, but of every other medicine ? The next reporter is Dr. Emerson. The only fatal case that he mentions, is that of a relative of his, who was afflicted with a cancer. The Panacea was administered, until the sto- mach became so irritable as not to retain food, and death was hastened by inanition. Originally, I had hoped my medicine would prove efficacious in cancer: time was constantly deve- loping some latent virtue, and it had already proved itself so- vereign in many analogous diseases. Under this hope, it was 11 administered to some labouring under that malady; but they and their relatives, were advised, that it must he considered as an experiment, from which something might be hoped, but nothing certainly expected. It has proved to be unavailing, and I have long since refused to administer it in those cases. To what property Dr. Emerson ascribes its effect upon this patient's stomach, does not appear. The fact is certainly at war with every observation made upon its effects, by both friend and enemy. Dr. Emerson however, does not consider the medicine as the cause of death, but merely that it hastened it; and, perhaps, this may be safely averred in a greater or less degree, of every medicine which fails of its intended effect, in debilitated constitutions.* The next reporter is Dr. Harris. This gentleman narrates the case of a scrivener, who was afflicted with dyspepsia. 01 this case it may be observed, that abdominal dropsy, which was the immediate cause of the patient's death, would not be an unnatural result of obstinate dyspepsia; and it is very pro- bable, the disease may have been the dropsy altogether; for sa- livation is often the means, by which that disease endeavours to discharge itself; and the dyspepsia has, of late years, be- come so fashionable, as to be charged with much that is not its own: or, should this conjecture not be deemed satisfactory, it must, at least, be admitted by the candid, that the continued salivation in this case, was some idiosyncrasy, or, at all events, induced by some other cause than my medicine. For, to per- * It ought to be recollected too, that great irritability of the stomach, is by no means an uncommon occurrence in the latter period of cancerous and other fatal ulcerous affections. Is Dr. Emerson ignorant of the fact, that few patients die of diseases of this kind, without the supervention of chronic inflammation, or, at least, a high degree of irritation in the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels, even where no medicine whatever had been taken ? 12 sist three months in salivating a patient, until he was reduced to the condition which is here depicted, is not consonant to the tenor of my conduct, as represented by another reporter. Dr. Emlen says, that when the Panacea produced violent symptoms, I became alarmed, and ran away with my bottle; and yet, here I am represented as persisting, notwith- standing my medicine produced continual salivation and mer- curial ulcers. If mercury be one of the ingredients of my medicine, as the Reporters affirm, and which, I sometimes ab- stract and sometimes retain, nothing but common idiocy could have induced me to continue it, in that which I administered to this patient. Next follows Dr. Horner. He has reported a case where death ensued the taking of the Panacea. It is that of a female who died in the Alms-house; her intestines were in a cancer- ous state, and she had been labouring^under a stricture of the rectum for fifteen years; a surgical operation had been per- formed for the disease before she used the Panacea; and the intestine was discovered to be in a tuberculous and schirrous state. Nothing short of a miracle, under these circumstances, could have saved her life. She took a small quantity of the Panacea, but not under my directions: it was only in time, however, to afford these gentlemen a pretence for adding this case to the number of their proofs. The absurdity and in- justice of adducing this case as an evidence against my medi- cine, is so palpable, that it is a matter of surprise, that even Dr. Horner should not have seen its utter futility. A person labouring not only under stricture of the rectum, but also a tuberculous and schirrous state of the intestines, with enfee- bled strength, depressed appetite, abdominal pain, and slight diarrhoea, takes a few doses of the Panacea, and finds this 13 medicine to «disagree with her stomach, and increase the diarrhoea;" and the medicine, forsooth, is put down as a dele- terious article! Dr. Horner ought to know, that the mildest remediate articles—nay, the simplest articles of food, would be likely under such a condition of the intestinal canal, to disa- gree with the stomach, and to increase the diarrhcea. He should know, too, that to ascertain the peculiar powers of a medicine, it would be absurd to select a person whose intestinal canal is in a state of inflammation. What would he and the learned Committee say, if any one who desired to test the powers of the sulphate of quinine, for instance, were to administer ir to a person with a cancerous intestinal canal, and because it increased the diarrhcea, and disagreed with the stomach, which it probably would do, to stigmatise it as a dangerous article?* A case furnished by Dr. Hopkinson, is given at large in the Appendix. Would that it had been thus with the foregoing— for, when furnished with the particulars, the real bearing of the case becomes so apparent, that comment is almost unne- cessary. A young woman is afflicted with scrofula, to such an extent, that some portion of the spine was carious, with some other indications equally aggravated, evincing the great depravity of her system. She had originally taken two bottles of the Panacea; but upon applying to Dr. Hopkinson she re- linquished it. He prescribed for some time without effect, and finally, consented to her return to the Panacea. She then took one bottle more. About this time, her mouth became sore with a discharge of saliva; at the same time, she was afflicted * This appears to me to be the most absurd case that has been cited. The learned gentleman could not refrain from putting his finger in the pie, and having nothing else upon hand to serve his purpose, he has endeavoured to .palm this farrago of nonsense upon the public. 14 with a diarrhoea, and a week or two subsequently died. With strong suspicions of the quack medicine, the doctor opened her, and finding the ulceration had extended to her intestines, concludes, that the medicine must have contained corrosive sublimate. This is the only reason he adduces for the con- clusion, unless perhaps, we count as a reason, what he seems to hint, that there is no other way but this, to explain how his skill could be baffled. Dr. Griffith's case should be put entirely aside; for there is no proof that the patient had taken my medicine. In the foregoing cases there is. I have above commented on the de- lusions of the lower orders on this subject; and this man, from his place of residence, appears to have been poor, and liable to these deceptions—and let me add, that if this race of pseudo- panaceas contains deleterious drugs, it is because the Faculty have declared so frequently and so loudly that my medicine is thus composed. The Appendix also contains a communication from Dr. Sa- muel Jackson. I am not surprised to find this gentleman in the ranks of opposition. What the cause may be, I know not; but from the commencement he has evinced towards me a set- tled, bitter and malignant disposition. The mess which he has concocted for the present occasion shows that there has been no dereliction of this sentiment. But one of his statements, however, is now to be considered. He informs us that with his own knowledge the Panacea was administered to his bro- ther for an anchylosis of the ankle-joint. He took six or eight bottles without marked effect. The reporter states, that he examined the first bottle, and instantly detected its composi- tion. Thus much from his text;—but in a note he makes the dark suggestion, that a tuberculous consumption, with which 15 the unfortunate youth died, may be attributed to my medicine. this he conveys as a surmise or apprehension—-a common artifice, where it is desired to do mischief, but at the same time to reserve a salvo for the conscience. He tells us, that at the time, this fatal disease was attributed to a cold; and, that this suggestion is an after-thought of his own. Upon every principle of correct reasoning, a contemporaneous solu- tion is the best—or, perhaps, those who believe that he in- stantly detected (as he says) the constituents of the medicine, will think that he alone is responsible if its consequences were fatal. Thus I have endeavoured to enable the public properly to appreciate what are denominated the fatal effects of the Pa- nacea. Should we admit these cases to be all that my ene- mies wish them to be, those candid persons who will reflect on the length of time my medicine has been known and used, will be inclined to exclaim, Are these all? In short, are there more deaths in proportion to the number of persons to whom it has been administered, than occurs from vaccination?* * Is the Committee prepared to affirm, that, if diarrhcea or salivation, or any other untoward effect, follows the administration of a medicine, that the me- dicine is necessarily in fault, or, that it is to be put down as a poisonous or deleterious article ? Have they never prescribed a remedy, which, though according to universal experience, a harmless one, was followed by very un- booked for, and even injurious effects? Are they to be told of the influence of peculiar idiosyncrasies, of accidental habits of body, and of the many nameless cirumstances which occasionally intervene, to change the operation of reme- diate articles? Opium has been known to purge, the Peruvian bark some- times excites violent vomiting; quinine has been known to excite salivation, and death is daily seen to follow the administration of the mildest articles. Is; it therefore to be wondered, that the Panacea also, should, in some instances, have produced effects which do"not properly belong to it? Does this learned Committee think, that the Panacea is objectionable, because iUoo must some- times yield to the power of idiosyncrasy, and accidental habits of body which divert its natural operation ? Id That 1 have not garbled or misrepresented the foregoing cases, but have given the substance, divested of immaterial details, any person can assure himself by resorting to the ori- ginal report: for, thanks to my enemies, it can be readilv procured. Those cases mentioned in the report, of a different issue, may be despatched in a few words. They who have furnished these recitals, are not free from a strong professional bias. They have an inclination to attribute all mischances in the history of every case, to the " Quack Medicine," if it has been administered. Is it then to be wondered, that with so large a body of active antagonists on the alert, much could be brought together, that, seemingly, is to my disadvantage. Had 1 not trespassed too far already on the attention of the public, I would examine these cases also, in detail; and show, that when divested of the dark colouring of prejudice, they are little to my discredit. The Committee seem to consider it a serious charge, that in a publication of mine, of November, 1826, it is stated, that the Panacea is used in the Hospital and Alms-house. They assert, that it was only used in the Hospital under the direc- tion of Dr. Price, surgeon of the institution, during the latter part of the year 1822, and the beginning of 1823. In the Alms-house, (say they,) it was introduced in 1822, and con- tinued to the 20th of January, 1825. Now, let it be recol- lected, that there was no act or declaration of discontinuance, at these institutions: the fact, was only to be collected from lapse of time. Let it also be recollected, that this is an article which physicians could only be expected to use, when ordinary means had failed. Let these considerations have due weight, and I cannot be censured by the considerate, for this publica- 17 tion. In one institution, it had been introduced by authority, and, I was aware of no expulsion; in the other, it was but the preceding year, that large purchases had been made.* To deprive the Panacea of the credit of the " certificates," was an object of some moment with the Committee; and they have assigned a distinct division of their Report, to their ef- forts on this point. The public are aware, that I possess the approbatory certificates of Doctors Chapman, Gibson, De- wees, Price, Mease, Parke, Knight, Clark, Perkin, Brooke, Peckwortb, Lamb, and Lobstein, of Philadelphia—Howell, of Trenton, N. J.—Mott, Brown, M'Lean, and Marshall, of New York—M< Williams, of Washington—Le Barron, of Havre de Grace—Grayson, Cooke, and Wellford, of Virginia—Gros- venor and Maxwell, of Georgia—Hall and Dicken, of North Carolina—Valle, of Havanna, and others. Of these, however, the Committee only notice Chapman's, Gibson's, Dewees's, and Parke's. It is said in the Report, that Dr. Chapman in his answer to the Circular, has declared, that he overrated the Panacea in his certificate, and that, for a " long period," he has ceased to prescribe it. Those who recollect that Dr. Chapman, in his certificate, recommends this medicine to his fellow citizens, and states his opinion to be the result of obser- vations, made during the course of two years, and who give full credit to this recantation, will, perhaps, censure the gen- tleman severely, for allowing a " long period" to elapse be- tween discovering the fallacy and promulgating it. His fellow-citizens were using the medicine on the credit of his declared opinion; even when that opinion had ceased to be his. But the truth really is, that this gentleman was not, and can * See Appendix. 18 not he deceived after two years" experience. He sawr the value of the medicine and acknowledged it; but be did not foresee, that it was about to interfere so extensively with the business and profits of the Faculty. Being now, however, conscious of it, he is induced by an esprit du corps, and the clamours of his professional brethren, to take a stand against the intruder, and remedy by retracting, what he had fostered by recom- mending. Dr. Gibson, in his answer to the Circular, is consistent with his certificate; he never certified that it was a remedy for scrofula, having had no experience of its effects in that disease. Dr. Dewees also, seems to adhere to his former opinion; but admits, that in his own practice, he has prescribed it several times without decided benefit. What these cases were, and how far they affect the credit of the medicine, does not appear. They seem, however, not to have been sufficient to cause him to swerve from his original opinion. Dr. Parke's answer to the Circular, is so little satisfactory to the Committee, that they have endeavoured to impeach the testimony upon which his certificate is founded. They say it is furnished on the strength of a single case. And is not a single well-defined case of scrofula, sufficient to enable an experienced physician to form an opinion on the efficacy of a remedy? Half the articles in the Dispensatories are ad- mitted upon less authority. This, however, gives the Com- mittee occasion to ejaculate upon the mischiefs that would ensue, if a certificate were given upon the cure of every case of somewhat protracted disease in a large hospital. But is the cure witnessed by Dr. Parke an ordinary cure? It was not effected by the regular prescriptions of art, but by means unknown to Pharmacy. The medicine was liable, however. 19 to be proscribed as a quackery; when Dr. Parke, laying- aside the prejudices of his caste, endeavoured to rescue it from this fate by giving a certificate. From a communication of Dr. Coates, in the Appendix, it appears, that he avers even this single cure to be supposititious; to his prying eyes, that seemed unreal, which to all others appeared substantial. As the Committee deem his testimony on this point unworthy of notice, I will not disturb its insignificance by refutation; but, I must add, that those who know both Drs. Parke and Coates, would rather err with the former, than be right with the latter. These are the only certificates which the Committee notice. Arc the other physicians above enumerated, so little known to fame, that they may be neglected with impunity? or, have their answers to the Circular confirmed their certificates by the result of additional experience? There is no charge which the Committee have laboured with so much assiduity, or which the enemies of the medicine, generally, have striven with so much zeal to establish, as that it contains corrosive sublimate; not because they have any objection to that article of the Materia Medica in the abstract, but because, (say they,) it is liable to abuse; and also, (as I believe,) because it is popularly known and feared as a poison.* The primary proof upon which they rest this charge, is, that salivation has occurred to some patients while under a course of the Panacea. The Committee have collected a few cases of this kind, the authority of which it is unnecessary to dispute. To these may be added, those mentioned by Dr. Gibson in his * Originally my enemies endeavoured to frighten the public with clamours about « Lenic" "deadly nightshade/ **., but finally they have concurred m the story of" corrosive sublimate." 20 reply to the Circular. My answer is. that other ingredients besides mercury, may produce this effect on the human system. Quinine has had this effect, and it is at this moment a vexed question, whether nitric acid or antimony will not produce it; and, every day is developing new properties in other ar- ticles of the vegetable and mineral world. Salivation is also the inherent disease of some constitutions, and commences spontaneously. It is also frequently the crisis, or sequel of a variety of disorders. A case is reported of this result being produced by a piece of wool, which had insinuated itself into the ear, and irritated that organ. In scrofulous and debilitated habits, (and to such my medicine is usually administered,) very slight causes will produce salivation. To iliese considerations let it be added, that there is a difference among the learned, whether a syrup can be made the vehicle of corrosive sublimate. The French chemists assert, that a syrup will decompose that form of mercury. Such a dispute being known to exist, the Committee should have been assured when they asserted, that it was " ascertained, that the Rob of L'Affecteur has contained this mercurial salt, in the pro- portion of a grain or a grain and a half to a pint, without its presence being made sensible by chemical tests," that the composition had not been deprived of its mercury by the pro- cesses of decomposition and precipitation. They should also have been assured, that there was this portion of mercury in the Rob, by the operator's actually putting it in; for, L'Affec- teur always denied that his composition contained that ingre- dient. As regards the taste and smell of mercury, which is said to have been perceived in some cases, little reliance can be placed upon such statements: those senses are particularly subject to the imagination; and when a physician is on the 21 . ■ ah rt to detect quackeries, he soon discovers all that he seeks, and the patient, when questioned, will quickly perceive some- thing like mercury in the varieties of disordered taste. There are some general positions which may be col- lected from the Report, and which deserve review. It is said, that in scrofula, my medicine is not as efficacious as regular medical treatment; that, in secondary syphilis, mercurial diseases, and others of this class, it possesses no superiority to those articles of Materia Medica, usually pre- scribed by physicians; that, in rheumatism and cutaneous eruptions, it is inferior to the regular methods of treatment; and, in dyspepsia, it is absolutely condemned. That the Committee should allow any merit whatever to the medicine, is a liberality I did not expect, from the tone of their preceding observations; but, as they admit its equality to their own prescriptions in some classes of cases, making it only less valuable in others, and denying its merit but in one, perhaps, it would be taxing the human disposition too severely, to require them also to concede, that in these cases, their own art is useless and the physician unnecessary; and perhaps, 1 ought to be contented, that they have conveyed the highest praise, when they admit that my remedy is only inferior to their own. This, however, is done so ungraciously, that one is convinced that it is extorted by the fear of having their sincerity doubted, should they deny the curative powers of a medicine, of which, there are so many notorious instances. Indeed, thev attempt to identify the Panacea with some preparations which physicians themselves use; for this pur- pose, they cite the Report of a Committee of the New York Medical Society. That Committee have endeavoured to con- jecture the means by which I obtained the receipt for this • ^2 composition. Having sagaciously detected its nature, the.v thought to fill up the measure of their wisdom by pointing out its origin. The current reports of this city, would have supplied many better solutions of this supposed enigma in quackery: and, besides, many of them, had they been adopted, would have been found ready furnished with a host of credulous partisans. The great effort has been to confound my medicine with the Rob of L'Affecteur, the syrup of Cuisinier, and other modifica- tions of the syrup of Sarsaparilla: "It has,'' say the physicians, " all the virtues of that syrup, but none besides." Eight years ago, when I introduced my medicine to public notice, the Infirmaries were crowded with cases of secondary syphilis and scrofula. And yet, the syrup of Sarsaparilla was never resorted to; many a poor creature died with those diseases without having tasted this syrup, now so far-famed. And what has blown it into this sudden importance, and placed it first in the list of alteratives? It is the success of my Panacea. I did miracles with one compound syrup, and the Faculty, in their desire to follow me, have been made acquainted with the virtues of another. But, even if it be the same, how can they excuse themselves to the world for not using it before: and how conceal the shame of being instructed by a Quack /* But, those who will bear in mind that the English physi- cians have long considered this article, sarsaparilla, inert or inefficacious, will perhaps believe, that it owes its popularity * Can the physicians expect, after raising such a hubbub, that the public will not perceive this dilemma, in which they have placed themselves. The physicians of New York can advance the merits of this miraculous syrup with far better grace than the faculty of Philadelphia, for it appears that some/,m .vas made in that city about its virtues several years ago, although even there it languished until this sagacious discovery of its identity with my Panacea was made 23 in this country, to that spirit of opposition to my medicine, which has gratified itself by raising this rival. Thus, I have waded through this collection of state- ments, opinions, and facts. My purpose has been to give a true estimation of their value. It is feared that I have called in requisition, the attention of a public already jaded with the controversy. Much has been written against me, and more has been spoken. The whole population of this city is divided into circles of various dimensions, each of which has its physician, whose voice within its limits is oracular. When curiosity was excited to inquire concern- ing my Panacea, it was pronounced a quackery. When the good sense of individuals, burst this thraldom and applied to me, it was secretly, from the terrors of professional repre- hension. Though many charges are made in this Report, against my integrity, I should have trusted to the tenor of a well-spent life for their refutation: they should not have pro- voked a reply. But, when I considered, that the posses- sion of this medicine is a responsible trust, my duty seemed to devolve upon me the task of vindication. Wm. SWAIM. Philadelphia, March, 1S'-J8 I have deemed it proper to republish the certificates alluded to in the fore- going, for the benefit of such readers as may not bear them in their memories I have also appended some striking cases, which have been reported by phy- ^ician? jtpp.sittB.ra CERTIFICATES. FROM DOCTOR N. CHAPMAN, Professor of the Institutes and Practice of Physic and Clinical Practice in the University of Pennsylvania, President of the Academy of Medicine of Phila- delphia, fy-c. I have within the last two years had an opportunity of seeing several cases of very inveterate ulcers, which, having resisted previously the regular modes of treatment, were healed by the use of Mr. Swaim's Panacea ; and I do be- lieve, from what I have seen, that it will prove an important remedy in scro- fulous, venereal, and mercurial diseases. N. Chapman, M.D. Philadelphia, February 16, 1823. FROM DOCTOR W GIBSON, Professor of Surgery in the University of Pennsylvania, Surgeon and Clini- cal Lecturer to the Mms-House Infirmary, fyc. fyc. I have employed the Panacea of Mr. Swaim, in numerous instances, within the last three years, and have always found it extremely efficacious, especially in secondary syphilis and in mercurial disease. I have no hesitation in pro- nouncing it a medicine of inestimable value. W. Gibson, M. D February 17,1823. FROM DOCTOR VALENTINE MOTT, Professor of Surgery in the University of New York, Surgeon of the New York Hospital, fyc. fye. I have repeatedly used Swaim's Panacea, both in the Hospital and in pri- vate practice, and have found it to be a valuable medicine in chronic, syphi litic, and scrofulous complaints, and in obstinate cutaneous affections. Valentine Mott, M. D New York, 1st Mo. 5th, 1824. FROM DOCTOR WILLIAM P. DEWEES, .idft Professor of Midwifery in the University of Pennsylvania, fyc. fyc. i have much pleasure in saying I have witnessed the most decided and happy effects in several instances of inveterate disease from Mr. Swaim's Pa- nacea, where other remedies had failed—one was that of Mrs. Brown. Wm. P Ditwvks m n Philadelphia, February 20, 1823. ' "t'WEES> m' u 2;> FROM DOCTOR JAMES MEASE, Member of the American Philosophical Society, fyc. fyc. I cheerfully add my testimony in favour of Mr. Swaim's Panacea as a ie medy in Scrofula. I saw two inveterate cases perfectly cured by it, after the usual remedies had been long tried without effect—those of Mrs. Offner and Mrs. Campbell. James Measf, M.D. Philadelphia, February 18, 1823. FROM THE HON. THOMAS H. HALL, Member of Congress from the State of N. Carolina, fyc. Washington City, March 25th, 1644 Sir—With regard to your Panacea, I hesitate not to say, after a good deal of experience of its use in such diseases as you have announced it as a remedy for, that I think it a valuable acquisition to valetudinarians from those diseases, and that they may confidently expect from it benefits, which I believe cannot Ik- derived from any other medicinal aid now known. Yours, &c. Thomas H Hall, M.D Mr Wm. Swaim, Philadelphia. FROM DOCTOR THOMAS PARKE, President of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, formerly Physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital for forty-five years. At the request of W. Swaim, I hereby certify, that in the few cases I have seen his Panacea given, I have observed great benefit derived from its use, and particularly in the case of R. C. Tregomaine, who was for many years- afflicted with very inveterate ulcers, that were deemed incurable by all of the eminent surgeons, who had attended her. In this hopeless situation she was rm September, 1821,) admitted a patient in the Pennsylvania Hospital, and had the advice of all the surgeons of that benevolent institution, without re- ceiving any relief, when she began the use of the Panacea, which to the sur- prise of all who witnessed its effects, restored her to good health, in two months. In October, 189:1, she was discharged from the Hospital, perfectly Tin observing the wonderful effects of Swaim's Panacea in R. C. Trego- rnaine's case, and from several well attested reports of many of our mosem- ncnt surgeons, I am induced to believe it is a very useful remedy m chronic, syphilitic, mercurial, scrofulous, and many other c-nptaat^ ^ ^ ^ Locust Street, Philadelphia. Uth Mo. 1st, 1624 D a a FROM DOCTOR ALEXANDER KNIGHT, Port Physician of Philadelphia, S,-c. Having witnessed the decided efficacy of the medicine called "Swaim's Panacea," in several cases of inveterate disease, that had resisted the usual remedies, justice requires that I should give my testimony in its favour. Among other cases that have come under my notice, those of Mrs. Hocker, of Kensington, and J. Lambert's child, are the most worthy of notice. In the former case, there was extensive ulceration and caries of the bones of the face, that was rapidly extending its ravages to the nose and palate. In the latter, a gangrenous ulceration, commencing on the inside of the cheek, had extended to the outside, and destroyed a portion of the cheek, and threatened its entirs destruction. In both these cases, the diseases were growing worse, although very active treatment had been used, without benefit; but were speedily ar- rested in their progress, and in a short time perfectly cured, by the use of Mr. Swaim's Panacea. Alex. Knight, M.D. Philadelphia, Dec. 18, 1814. FROM DOCTOR SAMUEL R. MARSHALL, Surgeon of the United States' Naval Hospital, New York, fyc. fyc. I have used Mr. Swaim's Panacea in several cases of secondary syphilis, which were sent to the Navy Hospital at Brooklyn, and feel pleased to say, with complete success in every case. Samuel R. Marshall, M. D. New York, August 19, 1825. FROM DOCTOR WM. PRICE, Formerly Surgeon of the Pennsylvania Hospital, fyc. Liverpool (England). The Vegetable Syrup, called Swaim's Panacea, prepared by Mr. Swaim, of Philadelphia, has recently been introduced here by Dr. Price, from the United States of America, where it is now extensively used in the treatment of a va- riety of Chronic Diseases. Of the efficacy of this preparation, Dr. Price has had abundant and most satisfactory evidence, during a course of experiments made under his direc- tion, whilst Surgeon of the Pennsylvania Hospital; and since his arrival in England, he has had the good fortune of witnessing many additional instances of its successful administration. The diseases in which this Medicine has been particularly useful, are those arising from constitutional causes—as in the various forms of Scrofula, whether affecting the bones, joints, or soft parts; and in cases where a disposition to this disease is manifested by debility only, it operates as a preventive to the local disease by its beneficial effects on the constitution. It is equally effica- cious in mercurial disease, and in the secondary forms of syphilis; and has 27 lately been given with marked success in chronic diseases of the Liver, which had resisted the careful exhibition of mercury. It has, likewise, very recently been administered with decided advantage by one of the most distinguished Surgeons in London, in a case which had entirely destroyed the right eye of the patient, and a great portion of the side of tho face. Wm. Price, M.D FROM SAMUEL MASON, Formerly Stetvard of the Pennsylvania Hospital for thirteen years. Roxborough, Philadelphia County, 8th Mo. 1st, 1826. Respected Friend, I lately had an opportunity of looking over a book published by thee, con- taining an account of cures performed by thy Panacea, and a number of the most respectable certificates proving its valuable efficacy. Four cases of which came fresh to my recollection, viz. Robert Ryan, Ruth C. Tregomaine, Owen Laughlin, and Michael Anderson. They were all cases that excited commiseration, and were considered hopeless and incurable. Robert Ryan was about six years in the Hospital, was under the care, during that time, of all the eminent surgeons of that institution, who tried every means they could devise to cure him, but in vain. He finally took his discharge, put himself under thy care, and in a short time was restored to health and soundness. He was afterwards employed as gate keeper. Concerning R. C. Tregomaine, Owen Laughlin, and Michael Anderson, I having opportunity of seeing them daily; beholding their emaciated appearance; their debility becoming daily more apparent; their ulcers growing larger and more obstinate; that I had not the least expectation of their recovery. The two former were permitted to take thy Panacea in the Hospital, by the surgeon then in attendance, and the latter took his discharge in order to receive the benefit thereof, and were all restored to their usual health and strength. Should the above statement be in any degree gratifying to thee, I feel a pleasure in giving it. With respect and esteem, I remain thy tnend, Samuel Mason, Late Steward of the Pennsylvania Hospital FROM THE BRITISH CONSUL. r T,„ that Michael Anderson, a British seaman, was sent to the Penn- ling which time he w. in . ™'*"°«*^t^Z then removed ,o in good health. Gilbert Robertson, His Britannic Majesty's Connd, Philadelphia J 8 FROM DOCTOR E. C. GROSVENOU. Daricn, (Geo.) May 30, 1824 I have been applied to for a Certificate of what I know of the case of a negro man, John, belonging to the estate of Fiitcc Butler. Esq. I took his case to be hopeless, from its extent, and long standing. He had been in the Hospital several years, and considered incurable, when, he was put under the use of Swaim's Panacea, given according to the directions; the negro was certainly restored to health by its use, and is a useful servant. E. C. Grosvenor, M. D. FROM DOCTOR JOHN F. BROOK?:, Physician to the Northern Dispensary. I have seen the case of Isaac Sharpless Lambert, a boy about seven years old, residing in Charlotte street, Northern Liberties. The case I consider as one of the many instances of the extraordinary virtue of Swaim's Panacea. An immense part of the cheek had gangrenated, extending from the alee of the nose, including the upper lip, the ductus steno, and leaving bare the superior and inferior maxillary bones. All the remedies previously adopted had failed in affording relief. In justice to Swaim's Panacea, and actuated by motives of humanity, I wish to give publicity to this case. Dr. Alexander Knight, an eminent practitioner in the Northern Liberties, who has seen the case, pro- nounces it a great and surprising cure, and has permitted me to use his name da-j iij.- too* John F. Brooke, M.D. Philadelphia, 1824. FROM DOCTOR JOHN PERKIN. Philadelphia, February 13, J 623. The case of Mrs. T----was one of violent and long continued cephalalgia (accompanied wjth a large node on the right side of the frontal bone or fore- head), for which I treated her with various preparations of mercury, the Lis- bon diet drink, bark, opium, arsenic, &c—The mercurial plan afforded relief, and the node entirely disappeared, although it was impossible to produce the' smallest degree of ptyalism. In the early part of December, after a disconti- nuance of the mercury for a few weeks, the pain was suddenly much increased, and my patient was attacked with a strong fit of epilepsy; the mercurial treat- ment was resumed, and continued without any improvement, until about three weeks ago, when, by my advice, she commenced taking Swaim's Panacea which soon had a decided influence on the disease, and she is now perfectly John Perkin, M.D 2U DOCTOR J. F. DANIEL LOBSTEIN, Of the Faculty of Paris, late Physician of the M'ditanj Hospitals and Army of France, fyc. fyc. Certifies, That M. L----, in this city, who had been severely afflicted for two years with a complaint, accompanied with excruciating pains in the joints, so as to render him almost unable to walk, was completely cured by the use of three bottles of Mr. Swaim's Panacea.—Mrs. K----, fifteen miles from Phi- ladelphia, who had been three years suffering from scrofulous ulcers on the legs, against which she had used a great variety of the most approved medi- cines, was entirely relieved in two months, by the employment of Mr. Swaim's Panacea.—Mr. B----, of this city, who had suffered greatly for upwards of four years, with wandering rheumatic pains, particularly in the spring and autumn, was effectually cured from his complaint, and has now remained en- tirely well for more than a year. A number of cases of liver complaints have also come under my notice, which were cured, after the best medical advice had been given, and the most approved remedies had been used, without effect. FROM DOCTOR EPHRAIM DICK EN. Tarborough, (N. C.) December 27, 1823 Having used within the last six months of my practice, two or three dozen bottles of Swaim's Panacea, with great satisfaction to myself and patients, I have no hesitation in declaring, that I believe it to be one of the most useful medicinal preparations in diseases for which it is usually prescribed. Ephraim Dicken, M.D FROM DOCTOR GONZALEZ DEL VALLE, Public Professor of Medicine and Surgery, Lecturer of Surgery in the Royal and Pontifical University of St. Jerome of the Havanna, &,-c. fyc. I hereby certify that I have used the medicine known by the name of "Swaim's Panacea," and have obtained very good results from its applica- tion having cured two patients in whom the disorder would not yield to the best'curative remedies. One was suffering with a Chronic Herpes, and the other with venereal ulcers, complicated with a gonorrhoea of long standing. The former had to take five bottles, the latter six. The other cases in which I am now using it, are carcinomatous ulcers ; and though the patients are not vet cured, they experience however great relief; the ulcers suppurate more freely, without extending as quickly as they did before the medicine was taken. This is all I can at present state, and I am happy to be able to contribute on my part to confirm the good effects of this valuable discovery. J r Fernando Gonzalez del Valle, M V.. A... Havanna, October 15,1827. ET This Certificate, attested by the American Consul residing at Havana 30 FROM DOCTOR FRANCIS LE BARON, Late U. S. Apothecary General. " Havre de Grace, (Mil.) Aug. 8th, 1S^\ • I recommended Joseph Smith, of Havre de Grace, immediately to proceed on and place himself under the care of Mr. Wm. Swaim, of Philadelphia, the person so celebrated for the success of a medicine he makes use of in the cure of Syphilis, and its various incipient, confirmed, and secondary stages, and in most of the mercurial diseases incident to this climate (Smith's being a combi- nation of the two last, and more obstinate and inveterate than any 1 had yet met with or heard of). Four years strict discipline from the various sons of Escula- pius had, instead of curing or even relieving the complaint, brought him to ap- pear more like a dried preparation for an anatomical study, than one of the hu- man family alive. A disorganization and dissolution of osseous and soft parts of the organs of speech, and nose, had so far advanced as to occasion sounds, in place of voice, more like the croaking of ravens: he had numerous ulcers on different parts of his body. In this situation he was conveyed to Philadel- phia with difficulty, and placed under the care of Mr. Swaim, whom I wrote to, stating his case. < In six weeks he returned home to his family well. It has been now two years since, and he still continues well, and in excellent health and spirits; his voice is gradually reassuming somewhat of its wonted sound and modulation, and his person possesses more of the rotundity than ever. (Signed) " Francis Le Baron, M. D. \Mr. Wm. Swiam. " From his friend and well-wisher, l7". L. B.' This man remains in perfect health to this day. May, 1827. FROM DOCTOR ALEXANDER M'WILLIAMS, Surgeon of the Washington City Asylum, fyc. fyc. Washington City (D. C.) Aug. 25, \.S2z Dear Sir, My engagements having prevented me from giving, at an earlier period, a detail of the cases in which I have used your medicine with success in the Asy- lum of this city, I now hasten to give you a short account of them. Early last summer I first heard of Swaim's Panacea. I obtained permission of the trustees of this institution to try it. The first case in which I used it was Samuel Black, aged 27 years; he had contracted the venereal disease, and by bad treatment or neglect, he was reduced to a most wretched condition: he had been under the care of several medical gentlemen previous to coming to the Asylum. All the usual remedies were tried, with no salutary effect. Nodes now began to make their appearance on the tibia, sternum, scalp, and arms, with large deep ulcers in the throat, attend- 31 ed with severe pains in his joints and limbs; in this desperate situation he re- mained for two years, taking occasionally large quantities of laudanum, with such other medicines as myself and others might suggest. Having used your medicine for two months, he was dismissed well, and has remained so ever since. The second, James Kotsenburger,w1io came to this place from Baltimore, was afflicted in the same manner as Black, but being of more temperate ha- bits was cured with five bottles. Two other cases, decidedly mercurial, (whose names I cannot mention,) were treated with the same happy effect with your medicine. Thus, sir, have I given you the result of my experience with your medicine ; that I do highly recommend it is certain; after such a result who could hesitate ? Yours, with respect, Alexander M'Williams, M. D FROM DOCTOR JOSEPH MAXWELL. Darien, (Geo.) 24th August, 1824. Dear Sir, Having tried the effects of Swaim's Panacea in three cases that completely baffled all my school knowledge, which I had been taught by Gregory and Monroe of Edinburgh ; by Sir Astley Cooper and Mr. Cline, of St. Thomas's, and Guy's Hospital, London ; and by Dubois and Boyer, at Paris; I without hesitation pronounce it to be the most valuable medicine ever discovered. The case of George Bolton, blacksmith, of our city, was one of the strongest marked cases I ever saw : he had numerous ulcers on the legs, arms, head and body ; he had employed the best medical men and had the first medical advice from New York, without any benefit;—he was cured with four bottles, and not a symptom of the disease remains. Two more cases that occurred on Simon's Island, at the plantation of Mr Cowper, the one a female, who had laboured for more than thirty years with ulcerated legs, which confined her for several years to her house, nodes on the elbows and shin bones, ulcerated sore throat—four bottles of your Panacea cured her. The other, the case of the driver of the plantation, with the Afri- can disease called Craw-Craw, the most inveterate kind of Lues: he was bed- ridden for more than twelve months, being unable to walk or move out of his bed. Four bottles completed his cure, and I saw him one of the most active negroes on the plantation. These cases, my dear sir, are more than sufficient to establish the virtues of your celebrated Panacea. I shall use it very freely in my own practice, I can assure you, having every confidence in its superior efficacy. The demand for it here is already very great. Mixtures made in imi- tation of it are not noticed. Wishing you all the fame and wealth that you so justly deserve for so valuable a discovery in medicine, which has, through Di- vine Trovidence, been the means of lessening the miseries of your fellow-men, I am yours, &c. Jos. Maxwell, M. D 32 The following notices an* extracted from tiie National Gazette: they ap- peared in that paper immediately after the events to which they relate. From the National Gazette of December 29, 1621. The following account of an extraordinary medicine appears in such a guise as to entitle it to the respect of every regular bred practitioner. "Although the science of medicine has arrived at such perfection as to enable its professors to decide regarding the nature of disease, and the most proper means for its removal, yet there are some cases, probably depending on constitutional idiosyncrasy, which very frequently resist all the known remedies. Scrofula and Syphilis are among these; they frequently take on peculiar and horrible forms in their latter stages, producing pains, ulcers, and a train of evils, which continue to increase in despite of all the known re- medies " The following facts, however, show that a remedy for these diseases in their worst forms, is within the reach of our practitioners. At the lecture de- livered on the fourteenth instant at the University of Pennsylvania, by Pro- fessor Gibson, two patients (Catherine M;Roy and Elizabeth Soby,) were exhibited, who had been afflicted with ulceration in its most frightful form for several years; the throat, lips, and nose, as well as the bones and soft parts of the face were mostly destroyed in both patients, and in one an eye was entirely lost. The professor, in the course of his lecture, stated the cases of these patients; that they had been treated in the usual way without suc- cess ; and that they were finally restored to perfect health by the use of a medicine recently introduced in this city, known by the name of Swaim's Panacea. " I deem this communication a just tribute to the virtues of a medicine which I think bids fair to be the means of relieving a great deal of human suffering. That remedy which a learned and respectable professor has thought w.orthy of a particular notice before a numerous class of students, would seem to have claims to the attention of every practitioner of the healing art. " A Student.' Dr. Gibson, Professor of Surgery in the University of Pennsylvania, in his lecture on Monday last, spoke in high terms of Mr. Swaim's Panacea. He remarked that he had found it decidedly beneficial in chronic cases of Syphi- lis, &c. and that he had known patients who had laboured under this disease for a length of time, and tried almost every remedy commonly employed for its cure with very little if any effect, but who, after using the Panacea, re- covered quickly and entirely. He related several instances of rapid and ex- traordinary restoration to robust health, from a state of the most miserable weakness and infection, wherein repeated salivations had produced only the mischief incident to the use of mercury. He spoke likewise of Mr Swaim. 33 personally, acknowledging the generosity which he had shown m the distribu tion of his medicine to the poor, and in the support, even of vihole families, until a cure was effected. The professor mentioned that he had been censured by surgeons and phy- sicians for recommending the Panacea of Swaim; but that he thought it a duty which he owed to suffering humanity, not to withhold the expression of his opinion and experience of its efficacious character Medicus. Philadelphia, January, 1825 FROM DOCTOR JOHN HOWELL. The following letter from Doctor John Howell, of Trenton, N. J., a regu- larly bred physician of scientific practice, will show his opinion of Swaim's Pa-. nacea, and his desire that his name may be used to recommend it: the tes- timony which he gives in the following cases cannot fail to be interesting. Mr. Wm. Swaim, Tr"*°*> Jun& ™' l"'J7' Dear Sir-I have just received your letter of the 6th, requesting an answer respecting the cases of Pulmonary affections, &c. that I some time ago mentioned to you. I am sorry that I am not able to comp.y with your request, as 1 keep no regular docket or register that I can refer to for he treatment and symptoms. But as far as I can recollect I am fully persuaded hey were both in a very critical situation-.-they complained of great pa.n m the thorax, and difficulty of breathing; they both had a d.tre«.ng cough and ale exploration of mucus. But since they have commenced takmg yom Panacea they have experienced a wonderful change; the pain in the thorax TZ L and since the commencement of hi. disease he has never than five weeks , anci binoe i medl. before went over ten days without having then, Jt'tLe years. cine has done him more good than all that he has taken 1tor I -e g-n him the ^^C^' ^ "™ knoW if I -st ^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^t^oy r^ ^h by sending another bottle, as 1 sua this morning of a black My SOn a -^rfK^;attL ;-, and is now cured by taking %^?£^»^?"~' "^ ^ ^ ^ a labourer, living about five »^ *^J^ you wish it-or as much of it Si cea thai character which it >.• «vv. s, you may use it with pleasure, and 1 shall aver feel it my duty to recommend it w» the public, as a safe and valuable medicine. Yours, most respectfully, John Howell, M.D., &c FROM DOCTOR STEPHEN BROWN The following communication from one of our most respectable Surgeons, (Doctor Stephen Brown, of the New York Hospital,) will be found peculiarly interesting, inasmuch as it affords one of the most striking and decided in- stances of the successful application of the Panacea, in a case where a judi- cious use of the ordinary medicines had in vain contended against disease. Had this gentleman not been convinced of the superior advantages of this medicine over others, certainly it could not be expected that he would \nr:» given his testimony in its favour New York, August, ls24. ._ir,— Aneoably to your request, 1 send you the case of Mrs. H. Yours, with respect, Stephen Brown, M. D. Mr. Wm. Swaim. Mrs. II. aged 40, had delicate health during five years previous to March, 1r23; during which time, she had several attacks of a Rheumatic affection umut, the Pelvic region—so severe at times as to disable her from the use of the lower extremities. About the first of March, 1823, she suddenly became paralytic in the lower extremities; so that all sense and power of motion be- came entirely extinct. Agreeably to her own statement, for several weeks preceding this, a small inflammatory tumour had existed over the Sacrum. Some short time after, a large tumour appeared upon the lower part of t!.t back, over the Lumbar region. Both of these tumours resulted in the forma- tion of matter. The lower one became an ulcer of the carious kind, extend- ing into the sacrum, and exfoliation was the consequence; the upper one, which was much larger in extent, communicating with the lower by a sinus, which gave exit to a copious formation of matter. In consequence of pressure on the hips, by the constancy of the recumbent posture, together with the vitiated state of her habit, inflammation and ulceration took place on the hips over the trochanter major of each side. These ulcers assumed the mercurio- scrofulous character. The digestive organs lost their tone, symptomatic fever took place, which reduced the patient very much. The lower extremities be- came edematous, which, together with a colliquative diarrhcea, seemed to threaten the immediate death of this suffering female. On the twenty-fourth of July, 1 was requested to see this lady, and found her situation as follows. The ulcer upon the sacrum was about three inches in diameter, each way. From this ulcer, a sinus extended upward upon the back, So Uic fuiK.ii* of which was five inches in diameter. Tue ulcers upon the hips, the surface of which, though not more than two inches in diameter, were so deep as to admit the common probe full length under the integuments and among the muscles; and in the direction of the trochanter major of both sides, the probe came so close upon this process with a solidity of resistance as to leave little doubt but that the bone was involved in the disease. The feet and legs were much enlarged with oedema; she had some power of moving the limbs, but could sustain little or no weight upon thorn—for several weeks she had been affected with severe spasms in the muscles of the lower extremi- ties ; to relieve which, laudanum had been given internally, and increased to the quantity of an ounce daily—the countenance was pale, without colour during any part of the day, and the face somewhat cedematous. All circumstances considered, this case appeared to be a very unpromising one, and rather calculated to draw forth the strongest sympathies for a de- spairing sufferer, than to excite any hopes of the restoration of her health She had hitherto been attended by two of the most respectable physicians in this city, who, considering her case as hopeless, had abandoned her. 'Having a knowledge of the effects of Swaim's Panacea in some inveterate cases, I thought proper to advise its use in this case, and directed a table- spoonful three times a-day; during the same time, ordered all stimulating meats and drinks to be discontinued, and directed a light nutritious diet. The «• black drop" was ordered instead of laudanum, to procure sleep and relieve spasms; and the ulcers were dressed with the unguent, precip. rub. of half the strength of the Edinburgh Dispensatory. The Panacea agreed well with her stomach, but no percept.ble alteration took place in her symptoms until she had taken one bottle, when a shght ■hade of a florid colour appeared in her face, more particular y about the noso This phenomenon, in a countenance which for six months had presented no thin/but a death-like paleness, gave encouragement to persevere. Her ap- rite soon began to increase, the digestive powers became more vigorous, nby the thnf the third bottle was used, the countenance had became mate- l,v changed the appetite much improved, the ulcers had put on a much ::TTX^ ^the oedema of the extremities, which had been reduced tion, healing last, ana u j leg mQre of the more power in the use of her limbs She.the-too*_ fine_countenance Panacea. Her ulcers were now entirely ^J^*^ than she had quite florid-herself ^^lTt^^ » *- ^n »a been for five years. This was in i>ov and gtr h medicine, but ha, constantly, « £* ^ to ascend and descend in her limbs-is now able to walk ab, u tole^ab y w ^ ^ ^ ^ the stair-way without assistance; and she has p nearlv as well as formerly 36 This I consider a remarkable instance of the restorative powers of Swaim's Panacea, which saved this lady from the dissolution which threatened her. REMARKS. The ulcers in this case were manifestly connected with derangement of the digestive functions, and a general depraved condition of the system. I have uniformly observed that the Panacea tends, in such cases, to restore the healthy exercise of the digestive functions, and to give tone to the whole system. It is by this means that diseases of the liver and dyspeptic and ner- vous complaints, and diseases resembling consumption, &c. are so often cured by this valuable medicine, if taken in time. FROM DOCTOR JOHN F. LAMB. The following case was drawn up by Dr. Lamb, a very respectable prac- titioner of Frankford. It was motives of humanity which induced him to give it publicity. Mrs. Fisher, aged 44 years, reports herself as having enjoyed good health, until about eight years since; at which time, she gave birth to a healthy son:—in the succeeding year was attacked with severe pain in the extremi- ties, which has continued, with very little intermission, until the middle of last year. After the first ten months of her suffering, tumours of an indolent charac- ter were to be seen slowly advancing on the arms and legs-proceeding to suppurat.on, and opening, after an interval of two to five months, from their first appearance-forming ulcers of a most unhealthy aspect-discharging at first, a punform matter, soon degenerating into a kind of fetid sanies some- times increasing irregularly to the size of three or four inches in diameter often assuming a gangrenous appearance; and finally, after several months' gradually diminishing in size, and healing, while others were forming and making a similar progress on other parts of the extremities; the cicatrices always exhibiting considerable loss of substance, and consequently producing some deformity of those parts which had suffered most severely. Ultimately these tumours were seen over the clavicle, frontal and parietal bones, some pieces of which came away, always progressing in the same tedious manner In the mean time, the general health of the patient was necessarily declining Anorexia and constipation were prominent symptoms. Medical attendance had been rendered, but with very little effect. Four years since, the case came under my notice. 1 continued to prescribe occasionally until the beginning of last year, and generally with some t pe^i:: %:::?■ pa;ient'bu;the effect °f my ~- ™ - permanent. The administration of tonic remedies wa* found useful. As local 37 applications, the fermenting and carrot poultices generally effected a favour- able change ki the appearance of the ulcers; which would then slowly heal under the simple or saturnine cerates. These remedies were always attend- ed with some apparent benefit while regularly continued—but when intermit- ted for a few weeks, the disease appeared to renew its attack with increased severity. From December until June last, all regular prescriptions had been abandoned. The state of the patient was every day becoming more serious, until she was confined to a recumbent position, and unable to raise either hand to her head. The discharge from six or eight large ulcers, the continued and severe pain, anorexia, &c*"had gradually prostrated the patient, and seem- ed on the eve of ending her sufferings in death. I had wished to see the effects of Swaim's Panacea in this case, believing it possible that relief might be obtained from the use of that medicine. Ap- plication was accordingly made, and before half a bottle had been used, there was an evident amendment; such as had never been experienced from any other remedy. The Panacea was used in this case without any auxiliary. No local appli- cations were made, except of the most simple character. After using it for two weeks, the pain gradually abated; appetite was restored; the ulcers as- sumed a more healthy aspect, and continued to heal, while the general health of the patient was constantly improving. Mrs. F. has not used the Panacea with that punctuality which was advised by Mr. Swaim; she has, however, just finished the third bottle. The ulcers have all completely healed, and she has been quite free from pain for the last six months, and her general health is much better than it has been for seven years. The communication of this case has been delayed, that it might be made more entirely satisfactory. I have now no hesitation in testifying to the effi- cacy of this valuable medicine. John F. Lamb, M D Frankford (near Philadelphia) 14th January, 1825. This woman remains in perfect health to this day March 20, la23. CASE OF MRS. TREGOMAINE. The following case is noticed by Drs. Parke and Price, in their certificates who were attached to the Pennsylvania Hospital at the time. Mrs R C. Tregomaine, aged about 30 years, had been for upwards of three years afflicted with ulcerations .«' different parts of her body, but more particularly on the face, neck, right hand and arm. She had been nearly two J& years under the treatment of almost all the most respectable physicians of this city, without receiving any benefit; on the contrary, she was daily growing worse. During this time, she suffered beyond all human calculation. To gn into a detail of her sufferings would draw tears from the most insensible, lt< addition to her other afflictions, she lost her husband, who was worn down by fatigue in his attendance upon her both night and day. In this helpless situa- tion she was admitted into the PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL, on the 2!)th of Sept. J 621, where she remained until the sixtecenth of October, 1>22, under the care of the different surgeons of the house ; but. the disease, instead of yield- ing, bid defiance to all and every means of cure, and continued to extend itself to such an alarming degree as to threaten .a very speedy termination : in fact, she was pronounced by the surgeons to be incurable. At this period, when the disease was worse than ever it had been, when her bodily health and strength were nearly exhausted, and no one in the house expected her to re- cover, she was placed under my care as a last resort. To describe her situation would be impossible: she suffered the most ex- cruciating pain : laudanum;was given in large quantities, but to no purpose ; an ulcer extended from the lower part of the neck to the upper part of the car, thence across the cheek nearly to the mouth; the fingers and thumb of the right hand, as also the wrist and arm, were ulcerated extensively, which de- stroyed the tendons and laid the bones bare; the upper and lower extremities were greatly swelled and inflamed; hectic fever came on," with a total loss of appetite and sleep; she was in fact helpless, and wishing for her last, moments, that she might be relieved from pain and misery. To the great surprise of every one, the Panacea had its usual effects on this hopeless female in eight days, when the first effect she perceived was an in- crease of appetite, together with a diminution of pain; she could now sleep with ease, which she had for a long time been a stranger to; it seemed as if new life had been imparted to her by an electric spark. In this way she con- tinued rapidly to improve; all the sores healed, the pain entirely left her, and in two months she was discharged from the HOSPITAL cured. CERTIFICATE. " I think it no more than an act of justice to Mr. Swaim to certify, that tin narativc uf the above case, so far as it regards her treatment in the Pennsylva- nia Hospital, is entirely correct. '• Wm. Price, M. D. " Oneofthe .<■'«/•-, ons of the Pennsylvania 'iosnitni "UthMo. 812 not even imagine. Tliat she could continue to exist, in such a state, is only more wonderful than the rapid and eftcclual manner in which the malady was expelled by the medicine.—Her name is Nauru Linton, and she is a daughter of Robert Linton, of Charlestown township, Chester county; her age about twenty-eight: at twelve she was attacked by the disease, and aftor being for 18 years in the hands of regular practitioners was declared to be incurable. She is now, with her parents, at No. 316, Market street, where, as we under- stand, she may be seen by those who would examine, for themselves, so extra- ordinary a eas». She is an object of both charity and curiosity. CASK OF MRS. OFFNER. The following case was witnessed by Dr. Moaso of this city, and is alluded to in his certificate, and is particularly worthy of attention, because it fell under the immediate inspection of certain physicians who are stated to have said that they never knew an instance of the efficacy of the Panacea. In this and the foregoing case, the patients were in the lowest state of debility when they commenced taking the medicine—they are therefore striking proofs of its eu- tire. harmlessness. Mrs. Offner, wife of Doctor Offner, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at the age of eight years first perceived swellings of the glands in various parts of her body; both sides of the throat were affected; one also appeared at the same time over the left clavicle, and increased to the size of a hen's egg; in this state they remained without suppurating, but painful, for three years. E\ the advice of her physician, sea bathing was tried for six weeks, but without be- nefit : on the contrary, the tumours seemed to increase in size. On her return home, the use of salt-water bathing was continued the whole of the following winter, but without effect. A tumour now arose on the middle of the left side of the lower jaw, extending up to the cheek bone, and greatly disfiguring her face: this remained for five months, at which time, by the help of leeches some external applications, together with internal medicines, it was somewhat diminished in size. By the advice of another of the faculty in Philadelphia a salivation was tried, which had the effeet of relieving her; the swellings en- tirely disappeared, and did not return for eighteen months. They then reap- peared in the left side of the neck, accompanied with a stoppage of the puncta lachrymaha, and a severe pain in the forehead, which confined her to bed for nearly two months. In the month of August, 1814, she again consulted her former phys>cian, who advised the use of tar water as a drink, and the inser- tion of tar ointment up the nose. This course was continued until the last of September when, returning to Philadelphia, an operation was performed on both nostrils. In three weeks the stoppage was as great, and the pain in the head as severe as formerly: tents were now inserted, and worn for about five months. In the course of the winter, a purulent discharge took place from her nose, which daily increased. About the la* of June she again tried Z bathing, but with as little benefit as formerly. While at the sea-shore X 43 found by introducing the little finger of both hands up heT nostrils, that the septum on its upper part was completely destroyed. She returned home in Au- gust, and towards the end of November, came again to Philadelphia, and con- sulted two highly respectable members of the faculty, under whose care she re- mained until the following April, without any benefit. She then went home: the lower part of the septum began to inflame and ulcerate, and about the mid- dle of June, whilst in the act of washing her face, her nose fell in, leaving a pain ful ulcer until November, at which time it healed. The upper lip now began to inflame and scab; in about six weeks she pulled off the scab, and found that a ragged ulcer had formed underneath. During this time, and for eighteen months afterwards, she took nitric acid, to the extent of 2} drachms daily the ulcer healed in about eight weeks. A swelling in the internal corner of the left eye then arose, that gave great pain. The operation for fistula was then performed, and a tent worn for several months. During this lime the soft palate began to inflame and ulcerate, and, after some months, was en- tirely destroyed. The corner of the eye then gathered, and the operation was again performed, and a tent worn. Her health continued to decrease until February, 1822, when a hoarseness and swelling of the throat took place. The voice was nearly gone. Blisters and gargles wer» used, but without effect. The root of the tongue ulcerated, and the glands on each side gathered and broke, discharging freely offensive pus. Chills and fever followed—total loss of taste and smell—no appetite—frequently nearly choked, owing to the want of uvula. Hearing of the great cure performed by Mr. Swaim upon Mrs. Brown of Erie, as she passed through Lancaster on her return home, she determined imme- diately to come to Philadelphia, and place herself under his care. She now was in a most deplorable situation—weak, emaciated, and hopeless; her taste and smell entirely lost; her skin cold and mottled: the ulcers in her throat had extended so far down, that the least irritation caused choking to such a degree as nearly to suffocate her, and it was with the utmost difficulty she could swallow the least sustenance. A continual cough harassed her night and day, accompanied with an abundant discharge of very offensive matter, and nearly a total loss of her voice; in short, her situation was such that her physicians and friends were of opinion that she could not reach Philadelphia alive She began the use of the Panacea by taking a tea-spoonful night and morning, increasing the dose as she gained strength; and in a short time the wonderful powers of this long looked for remedy began to astonish every be- holder In less than two weeks the ulcers in her throat began to heal rapidly -she could swallow with the most perfect ease-her appetite was restored- Tr bodS 1»«™and streI*th improved fast'and " "^ ^Z^tmlf the reader, I subjoin a letter from the lady h^lf. which I hope will satisfy the most incredulous II " Lancaster, Januu i y 10, 1626 '• Dear Sir, "I transmit to you, through the medium of a letter, an account of the prin- cipal part of my sufferings, previous to my going to Philadelphia to place my- self under your care in July last. " I was afflicted with violent pains in my throat, head, and breast, was weak, emaciated, reduced to a skeleton, and almost helpless ; my throat was in such a situation, that I was unable to drink water, and if I attempted to drink, it passed through my nose, the bones of which were completely de- stroyed, and had fallen in even with my face. My palate was entirely gone, and a number of my teeth were extracted in consequence of the ulcers in the roof of my mouth: a number of bones having also came away from thence, my situation became very alarming; but as I had had already the best modical advice the United States could afford, without relief, and some thousands of dollars had been spent, I thought it useless to apply any thing further to arrest the progress of the disease. I was also afflicted with a violent cough, so violent that at every attack I expected to strangle, the ulcers having reached so far down the throat. I discharged great quantities of matter from this part, and had a continual sickness at the stomach, owing to the matter lodging there ; my appetite was nearly gone, and I could scarcely swallow any thing. For six months my voice had so far left me, that it was with difficulty I could make myself understood; the organs of speech were nearly exhausted: in fact, I was as bad as I could be to be alive, and had made every preparation to leave this world, when, hearing of the great cures you were performing, there seemed to be a ray of hope left. With some reluctance and difficulty I was brought down from Lancaster to Philadelphia, and placed under your care, having nearly strangled twice on the road. " After I had taken your medicine a few days, I experienced great relief; 1 began to swallow with ease; my appetite returned; I became stronger and stronger every day; my drooping spirits began to revive ;-my relief appeared like a dream; my skin changed its colour and became soft; every nerve and vein which had lain dormant for years seemed to acquire new life, and I felt as if operated upon by electricity. I gradually acquired flesh and strength and returned home in two months in good health, to the amazement of all my friends and former physicians, who would not credit the cure until they called to witness it. I now remain well, and consider myself perfectly restored to health. " The foregoing is a description of part of my sufferings, and of the relief I received by the use of your invaluable Panacea. There can be no doubt, that had I not experienced the wonderful healing powers of the medicine, I could not have lived three months longer. " With sentiments of gratitude, " I remain yours, &c. Mr. WH. Swaim " " Ca™EK,nk B' °"nek 45 >R>ERVATI0NS ON THE PRECEDING CASE. Extraordinary and incredible as the case of Mrs Offner may appear, it is more than equalled by several not here recorded, to which I can give the most respectable reference at any time. This is. indeed, a most extraordinary case of disease. Commencing at an early period in the life of the patient, and proceeding with such gradual and determined steps to spread its ravages in the system, it seemed to set every means for its arrest at defiance. In this case the patient enjoyed every advan- tage that the art of medicine could suggest—until every known means of cure had been fairly tried and found to be unavailing, not only to remove the dis- ease, but even to retard its progress during twelve years. Under these cir- cumstances the effect of the Panacea was truly remarkable. Unless the fact had really occurred, we could never have been brought to believe that any agent whatsoever could, in so short a time, restore a long lost tone to the sto- mach, remove the pain consequent to extensive destruction of organization, heal the ulcers which had been so long existing as to have become habitual to the system, and finally to destroy the stubborn cause of all this mischief. If any case can illustrate an inveterate constitutional disposition to disease, surely this one does; and there are no cases, as I have previously remarked, better calculated to test the last powers of medicine, than such as these. While Mrs. Offner was under my care in this city, she was visited by some of the most distinguished physicians, who had previously attended her, parti cularly by Dr. Physick. It may be a satisfaction to the reader to know that she remains in good health to this day, and that her taste and smell have returned, both of which she had been deprived of for several years. April, 1828. SOME SUPPLEMENTAL REMARKS. When the foregoing remarks were written, I had determined to produce no evidence to contradict the facts stated by the Committee; they seemed so in conclusive in themselves, that I thought it unnecessary. But the Report has been diligently circulated; and has attracted the attention of many persons, who were best acquainted with the cases, which are misrepresented by it. Some of these have come forward voluntarily with oral, others with written contradic- tions More evidence is daily discovering itself, and I shall eventually be fur- nished with a mass of testimony, which will deprive the conclusions of the Committee of even the small basis of fact on which they have been rested An entire series of refutation will, probably, be contained in a subsequent edi- tion. Such as I already possess 1 will here insert; having been obtained too late to be included in the foregoing remarks. And first, of the history which the Committee have adopted, of the use ot my medicine in the Philadelph.a Aim, House Infirmary. Several Physic.an- ili nave declared it to be an unfair and incorrect narraiive These gentlemen are unwilling to give written certificates, lest it should involve them in enmity with their professional brethron; and, as I would not that their love for the cause of truth should occasion them any uneasiness, their names are also withheld. Had I the compulsory process of a court of justice, which would, in compelling them to speak, prevent the imputation of disaffection to the cause of the profession, it might be proved upon oath, not only that these statements are incorrect, but moreover, that the signal success of the medicine in that institution has been one of the great sources of its extension and ro- nown. William Duane, Esq. at that time President of the Board of Mana- gers, labours under no such fear or impediment, and has cheerfully given tho certificate which is inserted below; it is an accurate description of the preju- dices encountered and subdued. As his statements seem not to be compatible with the testimony adduced by the Committee, the Public must determine upon the respective credibilities. Mr. Duane was called upon by his official station, and the instigations of his active benevolence, to watch the progress of this interesting experiment, and has candidly given the result of his obser- vations. The statement of Dr. Emerson could also be, in a great measure, refuted, had I the means of compelling persons best acquainted with the facts, to give their testimony. The most intimate friends and attendants of the patient, whose death is said to have been hastened by my medicine, have stated that" the irritability of the patient's stomach was not occasioned by my medicine, as Dr. Emerson has averred, but by long and rigorous dieting: and that after taking the Panacea her appetite increased, and the unfavourable symptoms in her stomach subsided. One of her breasts had been removed, by an operation, two years before she resorted to the Panacea; but the disease reappeared, and she appealed to my medicine from the baffled skill of her Physicians. In page 15 of the report, Dr. Coates is cited, as mentioning the case of a child with a disease of the ankle joint, which an eminent surgeon had predicted would, in the course of a year, terminate in health, by the unaided efforts of nature: that the Panacea was administered and gained the credit of the cure. The certificate of Amos Butcher, a highly respectable citizen, inserted page 48, w quite at variance with the Doctor's statement. From this, it appears, that, whatever may have been the prediction of the eminent surgeon, Dr. Coates was of opinion, that the disease would result in the loss of the child's foot- now, although he has not mentioned this in his statement, yet, most persons will admit the unimportance of his opinion as a sufficient excuse But the ^mediate benefit which ensued the use of the medicine, is too remarkable a coincidence to be resolved into chance; if it did not cause, it at least hastened, the fulfilment of the eminent surgeon's prediction. To one of the Drs Coates (for I believe there are two of them)-I owe the acknowledgment that I was mistaken in saying, in the foregoing remarks, that the Committee have not noticed his opinion of Tregomaines case; there is an obscure reference to it in the margin of the page. The certificate of Owen Loughron, page 49 also ,liows how little reliance can be placed upon Dr.Coates'sstatements-the ne- 47 ■ rosed jaw, which was speedily to work out its own cure, appears to have been an extensive ulceration of the throat, which had destroyed the soft parts of the palate; this man, Loughran, is now living in Philadelphia, and can be seen by such as wish to compare the traces of disease with the Doctor's statement The following certificate gives the history of the introduction of the Pana- cea into the Philadelphia Alms House Infirmary. Those who read it, will be convinced that the proprietor has never feared the investigation of the physi- cians, or endeavoured to administer the medicine in secret. It also evinces the prejudices of the faculty—those who were so anxious oricnally to exclude the medicine from this institution, would neglect no opportunity of expelling it, after it had been introduced. FROM WILLIAM DUANE, ESQ. One of the Aldermen of the City of Philadelphia. Mr. Swaim, proprietor of a medical composition called Swaim's Panacea, applied to me, requesting me to state what I know about the introduction of his medicine into the Alms House—and 1 consider it a duty to comply with his request. Being President of the Board of Managers of the Alms House in the year 1820, Mr. Swaim expressed to me a wish to undertake the cure of some per- sons then in the house, whose cases were given up as incurable by the medical gentlemen; that he was confident of curing by his medicine those cases, and would undertake some of the most desperate—and would require no other compensation than the satisfaction to be derived from the service rendered. I promised to consult the other managers, and did so; but I found that some of the medical gentlemen in the house had laboured to prejudice them, as some of them attempted to prepossess me against what they denominated quackery. Some of the Managers felt inclined to the trial, considering that as they were cases abandoned by the medical men which were to be operated upon, no harm at least would be done, and if cure was practicable, the opportu mty ought to be afforded; but they expressed a reluctance to take any respon- sibility upon them; by which I understood that they did not like to put them- selves in opposition to the physicians. Others opposed it altogether. I there- fore offered and took upon myself whatever responsibility there was in the case; -r.ri lioufieu Mr. Swaim that I would accompany him, and did so; the first case'selected was that of a woman, whose appearance was horrible, and whose condition was so deplorable, that the patients in the same room wished to have her removed-and the evidence of my own senses justified their complaint She was a woman of about 30 or 32 years of age, her right eye Was already destroyed, the left eye was protruded more than half an inch outof the socket: the flesh of the left cheek was one complete ulcer-the flesh of the nose had disappeared and left the nostrils two naked holes-thc upper lip on the left 48 side was destroyed, and tho teeth and gums bare, and the whole fac-. as it ap- peared to me, in a rapid state of dissolution; her appetite had left her—she represented a living skeleton frightful to behold. Mr. Swaim said he could cure her; he could not restore the lost eye, nor restore the nose, but he could restore the left eye and the mouth. He undertook the case, and I frequently attended him in his visits to the poor woman, and she ivas cured—and I have frequently seen her since, going about her ordinary business with the alacrity usual to a person of that age; the deformity of course remained; but all that remained besides appeared healthful. I have confined myself to this case, upon which it was impossibla to be mistaken, and forborne to introduce any other circumstances than what belong immediately to it. Philadelphia, March l\th, 1828. William Duane CERTIFICATE OF DOCTOR EDWIN A. ATLEE, Member of the Philadelphia Medical Society. The case detailed in the above certificate came under my observation, and I believe Alderman Duane's statement to be strictly correct. Mr. Swaim showed me two other cases nearly similar, which were cured by his Panacea, after every other remedy had failed. Averse as I am to quackery, I hope ever to be preserved from unjust and selfish prejudice; and, therefore, do not hesitate to give my name, in confirma- mation of the efficacy and safety of Mr. Swaim's medicine. Ebwin A. Atlee, M. D. Philadelphia, March 80th, 1828. CERTIFICATE OF AMOS W. BUTCHER. I certify that, in the fall of 1823, one of my daughters, a child of two years and six months old, was very lame with a disease of the muscles of the ancle joint; and was put under the care of an eminent Physician of this city, who attended bcr a long time, when he recommended me to apply to some other Physician, as it was likely to prove a very tedious case, she still continuing to get worse. I therefore applied to another,* who also attended her for five months ■ the child continued to get worse, and I got to understand the last physician had said she would lose her foot, she not being able to use it any, nor would he allow her to try to use it; when, at the suggestion of several persons who saw the child in her crippled situation, I was induced to apply to Mr. Swaim He said, after seeing the child a second time, that he was certain he could cure her, having cured several similar cases, when I quit the direction of the * This was Dr. Coates. 49 Physician entirely, and got of Mr. Swaim a bottle of his Panacea; and on using it as directed, found the child improve very much, and before using the third bottle, she was entirely cured of her lameness, and the running sores healed up, and has so continued to be to the present day. Witness my hand, this fifteenth day of March, 1828 Amos W. Butcher, Philadelphia. No. VJ, North Water-street CASE OF OWEN LOUGHRAN. Owen Loughran, aged 30, for two years was afflicted with the most excru- ciating pain in his head and limbs, with loss of appetite, and gradual wasting away of the flesh; his joints were inflamed, swelled, &c; he had been under the care of several respectable physicians, and one in particular in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for upwards of eight months, and had used a number of bottles of different mixtures made in imitation of Swaim's Panacea; but growing worse daily, and to an alarming degree, his brother had him conveyed to Phi- ladelphia, and placed in the PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL, in May, 1822, where he remained until August without relief, and in a deplorable situation His uvula and soft palate were destroyed, and rheumatism affecting him gene- rally he was reduced to a mere skeleton,-without appetite, and scarcely able to swallow enough to support his sinking frame. In this critical situation, it was recommended by the surgeon of the hospital, that he should be placed under the care of Mr. Swaim. His Panacea was prescribed, and its surpnsing effects were soon visible. The ulcers began to heal in less than a fortnight; his pains began to decrease, his appetite returned, his flesh increased rapidly and in less than one month he was discharged cured; it is now more than five years, and he remains well, and is more fleshy than he ever was before. I hereby certify that the above description «?"*£»£££ respect; and that (instead of my jaw bone being affected, a E.Coates d scribe, in his report to the medical society, my teeth were all lose, and I host w" o 'them, with the whole of my palate,/-* the mercury given me and rsLballat I was almost unable to swallow, wh«^~££ cured and have remained so ever since, n <"V ZnY the comer of Sch»jM *** «* "*-"£,„ Lo„B_ Philadelphia, March 2Sth, 1828 I cerUO U,a, O. -to «-««** <°J to°thM'' — " '"^ ""' and correct, in every respect. , Mi>. LoccHr.,v VarehVi.lW dti CERTIFICATE OF GEORGE SHEETS This is to certify, that I was afflicted with a diseased foot, for which I wa* attended for two years by the Physicians of the Philadelphia Dispensary, without receiving any benefit. I was induced to go in the PENNSYLVA- NIA HOSPITAL, where I remained six months, under the care of the Sur- geons of that institution; when, seeing Otoen Laughran cured by Mr. Sicaim, in the same room, it urged me to leave the Hospital, and place myself under his care; being then much worse than I was when I went in, having many more holes in my foot, and being unable to stand alone or walk without^ crutches. I left the Hospital and commenced taking Swaim's Panacea; and after having used two bottles, the sores healed up, and became perfectly well; my health and the use of my foot were entirely restored. It is now more than four years, and I am still in good health; there are now no traces of the disease, except the deformity of the foot, which was much disfigured by the ravages of the disease. George Sheets, Lombard noar Broad street. Philadelphia, March 28, 1323 CERTIFICATE OF DAVID BOYD. To all whom it may concern:—This is to certify that I had a very disagree- able ulcer on the joint of my left arm. It became so bad that I became alarmed, and was induced to go to the PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL, where I re- mained three weeks, under the best attendance, being a pay patient, without receiving any benefit whatever. Finding I had little prospect of getting cured,—and the good effects Swaim's Panacea had on some patients in the Hospital, and others who had left it for the purpose of using it, became so manifest,—that it strongly urged me to leave the Hospital, and place myself under the care of Mr. Swaim. It gives me pleasure to state, that after taking two bottles of his medicine, I was perfectly well, and have been able to use my arm ever since, which is more than four years. David Boyd, ©rocer, No. 406 Market street Philadelphia, March 21st, 1828. CASE OF MICHAEL ANDERSON. Michael Anderson, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, a stout robust man,. aged 45 years, formerly boatswain's mate of the ship Britannia, at the battle of-Trafalgar—of a good constitution, contracted a disease in Ireland, and on his passage to Philadelphia, in the ship Hannah, captain Graham, mercury was employed for its removal, but a continued exposure to the inclemencies of the weather, rendered his case desperate, and on his arrival here, he made ap-. 51 plication to Gilbert Robertson, Esq., British consul, and being a British sea man, he was accordingly placed in the PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL on the 8th day of September, 1821, as apay patient, where he continued growing worse; innumerable blotches, followed by wide spreading ulcers, having made their appearance on various parts of his body, he presented a horrible spectacle not easy to be described—for the dispersion of these, mercury was again resort- ed to, urged to salivation, with the decoction of the woods, &c.—and shortly after this he became afflicted with the most excruciating pains in all his limbs * and head—ulcers appeared in his throat and the roof of his mouth and nose, and the loss of several pieces of bones of the nose soon followed: thus situated, he lay in a most distressed condition, and every thing prescribed for him seemed to be of no use ; in fact, his disease appeared to be unconquerable: he was considered as incurable, brought down to a mere skeleton, aiid scarcely able to walk. Mr. Robertson had him taken from the Hospital on the twenty-fifth Novem- ber, 1822, and placed under my care, when he was immediately put under the use of the Panacea. This medicine now had to combat with the very hydra of disease which had baffled the combined efforts of some of our best surgeons —and in the course of ten or twelve days it began to display its usual conquering powers, by lessening the pain which this seaman had suffered for several months; he could now sleep with ease, which he had been a stranger to so long; his appetite began to increase, and his bodily strength began to resume its wonted vigour, when a considerable discharge of bloody and offensive matter took .place from the head and nose, which in a short time became a healthy pus; this in a short time ceased entirely; the ulcers healed, and in about ten weeks he was perfectly restored to health, and was as fat and hearty as he ever was in his life ; was put on board the brig Ann, captain Har- rison, on the twenty-fifth March, 1823, bound to London, able to enter the ser- vice of his country again- certificate. " I certify, that Michael Anderson, a British seaman, was sent to the PENN- SYLVANIA HOSPITAL by my orders, and after remaining there for fourteen months, during which time he was in a miserable state, and the report I re- ceived from the steward of the Institution declared him incurable, he was then removed to private lodgings, and Mr. Swaim voluntarily offered 1m.services and by the application of his Panacea the man recovered, and I sent him home f, England in good health. ^ ^^ RoBERTSOs, ■■ His Britannic Majistu's Consul, Philadelphia 52 In conclusion I cannot refrain from adverting to that point upon which the controversy between the Physicians and myself will mainly turn.—I mean the question whether my Panacea be a new discovery in the healing art, or merely a disguised form of some known article of the Materia Mcdica. In the foregoing cases, Physicians of the first reputation were consulted and em- ployed; it was their duty to use every means which promised success; yet we find their efforts were vain. The same patients applied to me, and were cured. One of two conclusions neces- sarily results from these facts:—either that the ingredients of my medicine were unknown to these medical gentlemen, or that they have shamefully neglected their duty in omitting to em- ploy them. If they prefer the latter conclusion to the former, they owe me many thanks for suppressing their names in the foregoing reports. Of these cases, that of Mrs. Offner is most remarkable in this view. She was afflicted with Scrofula for many years—seve- ral severe operations were performed upon her—being wealthy, no expense was spared in procuring the services of the most eminent Physicians, who did not succeed even in alleviating the disease. Under my care she was rapidly and radically cured— and yet the Physicians say, that the medicine has been known to them, and prescribed by them, for years. Alas ! poor lady, how much it is to be lamented that none of your physicians thought of prescribing for your disease this well known medi- cine; how much suffering it would have spared you. Public opinion has, I find, saved the learned faculty from the necessity of reconciling these contradictions, by ascribing all their statements to jealousy. After endeavouring to ridicule— after endeavouring to imitate my Panacea—they then strove to frighten the public; and at last are only disbelieved mm mmMAwm A. PUBLICATION PHILADELPHIA MEDICAL SOCIETY SWAIM'S PANACEA. —»»»«#8JW— Magna est Veritas et prsevalebit ^M»efl)e««— PHILADELPHIA: 1828. ■ 911 IVNOUVN 3NI3IQ1W dO ABViail IVNOUVN 3NI3I03W dO A II V II a I 1 IVNOUVN ■ an ivnouvn jnokmw do Aavaaii ivnouvn snioiqiw do Aavaan ivnouvn Y OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE N A T I O N A L I I B R A R Y OF M E D I C I N E «M IVNOUVN 3NI3IQJW dO A 1V US M IVNOUVN 3NI3IQ3W do Aivaan IVNOUVN •" \ -^ \» -V.J — r OF MEDICINE NATIONAl LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE i J N JNI3I03W dO AlViail IVNOUVN 3 N I 3 I rj 3 I .^?, INE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE N A T I O N A I I I B R A R Y O F M E D I C I N E NATIONAL VN 3NI3I03W dO AlViail IVNOUVN 3 N I 3 I a 3 W dO AIVIII1 IVNOUVN 3NI3I03W ! /V1 V&/ 1VN 3NI3IQ3W dO AIVIII1 IVNOUVN 3NI3I03W dO AlViail IVNOUVN JNI9I01W h 5 c / * NE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE N A T I O N A I I I B R A R Y O F M E D I C I N E NATIONAl LVN iNO.OiW dO A.V.a.l IVNOUVN 3N.3.03W dO AIV...1 TVNOUVN 3 N I 3 I d i * \^mv§ W'M^Yy: 1 NLM009889265