catarrh-cures

Updated: February 6, 2025

One by one Mr. Adams tells about these medical fakes: habit-forming laxatives, head-ache powders full of acetanilid, soothing-syrups and catarrh-cures full of opium and cocaine, cock-tails subtly disguised as "bitters", "sarsaparillas", and "tonics". He shows how the fake testimonials are made up and exploited; how the confidential letters, telling the secret troubles of men and women, are collected by tens and hundreds of thousands and advertised and sold so that the victim, as he begins to lose faith in one fake, finds another at hand, fully informed as to his weakness.

Upton Sinclair - The Profits of Religion