The Keeley Gold Cure by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 28, 1892

The Keeley Gold Cure

By Editor

The Keeley Gold Cure.—Much has been said pro and con. during the last few months on the Keeley gold cure for drunkenness. By some Keeley is exalted as a saviour and benefactor of the race, and many men exploit their own once enslaved condition to appetite, in order to make clearer and more potent the "great good" Keeley has done. On the other hand, some of our best physicians, chemists, and medical journals denounce the proprietary cure as a humbug, some of the drugs in its composition as decidedly deleterious, and the effects of the "cure," if its use is long continued, upon some constitutions, at least, as worse than drunkenness. However that may be, we leave the chemists, the physicians, and this same Dr. Keeley to fight it out, and may the right win.

There is, however, another side to the question. A genuine benefactor, even if he thought it wise to preserve the compounding of his medicine a secret, would not put its price so high that but comparatively few of the poor miserables which it might benefit could secure it. If he were able, it would be in harmony with the gospel of Christ to administer to the needy freely. If he were not able, he should put it at the lowest possible cost consistent with Christian justice and mercy. By the way, we have just received a letter from a lady in Chicago, which we give for what it is worth, not holding ourselves responsible for the formulæ of the compound, nor for the prescription for the patient. Will some of our medical readers tell us what it is worth? The letter appears to be honest. It is as follows:—

MR. EDITOR: So much has been written regarding the Gold Cure for drunkenness that we all know of the great good accomplished. My husband, who was a wreck for years, took treatment at an institute over three years ago, and has no desire to taste liquor since, but it cost us over $60. I have a brother-in-law, a chemist, a slave to drink, but too poor to take treatment; he analyzed the medicine my husband brought home, and cured himself. Four of our acquaintances got the prescription and cured themselves. The following is the prescription: Electro-fied gold, 15 grains; muriate of ammonia, 7½ grains; comp. fluid extract of cinchona, 4 grains; fluid extract of coca, 1½ ounces; glycerine, 1½ ounces; nitrate of strychnia, 1 grain; distilled water, 1½ ounces. Take a teaspoonful every two hours when awake for two or three weeks. After the second or third day, there will be no desire for drink. Medicine to effect a cure will not cost over $3.50. I think every paper should help the poor by publishing this prescription. MRS. WM. CARTER. Chicago, Ill.