9723. Misbranding of   Salax   Compound.     U.   S.     *     *     *     v.   Salax   Water
Co., a Corporation.     Plea of guilty.     Fine, $100 and costs.     (F. & D.
No. 12899.    I. S. Nos. 8613-r, 8699-r.)
On November 15, 1920, the United States attorney for the Western District 
of Missouri, acting upon a report by the Secretary of Agriculture, filed in the 
District Court of the United States for said district an information against 
the Salax Water Co., a corporation, Excelsior Springs, Mo., alleging shipment 
by said company, in violation of the Pood and Drugs Act, as amended, on or 
about September 8 and 13, 1919, from the State of Missouri into the States of 
Nebraska and Minnesota, respectively, of quantities of Salax Compound which 
was misbranded.
Analysis of a sample of the article by the Bureau of Chemistry of.this de- 
partment showed that it consisted chiefly of a mixture of sodium sulphate, 
sodium bicarbonate, and sodium hydrogen phosphate, together with smaller 
amounts of sodium chlorid and sodium carbonate.
Misbranding of the article was alleged in the information for the reason 
that the statements, to wit, " Salax Compound" and " A Laboratory Salt, 
Whose Action Is Similar To That Of The Saline And Alkaline Waters of 
Excelsior Springs, Mo.," borne on the labels attached to the bottles containing 
the article, regarding it and the ingredients and substances contained therein, 
were false and misleading in that they represented that the said article was 
derived from Salax water, to wit, a mineral water at Excelsior Springs, Mo., 
and that it was a laboratory salt whose action was similar to that of the 
saline and alkaline waters of Excelsior Springs, Mo., whereas, in truth and 
in fact, it was not derived from Salax water, in that it was a mixtures of 
sodium sulphate, sodium bicarbonate, and sodium hydrogen phosphate, which 
does not resemble in composition the Salax mineral water, and is radically dis- 
similar to the saline and alkaline waters of Excelsior Springs, Mo. Misbrand- 
ing was alleged in substance for the further reason that certain statements, 
designs, and devices regarding the therapeutic and curative effect of the article, 
appearing on the labels attached to the said bottles arid contained in the ac- 
companying circular, falsely and fraudulently represented it to be effective 
as a treatment, remedy, and cure for indigestion, catarrh of the stomach, 
bowels, gall ducts, and bladder, rheumatism, headache, foul breath, sleepiness, 
loss of energy, bad color, palpitation, nausea, inflammation of the gall bladder 
or ducts, appendicitis, and diseases of the kidneys and blood, when, in truth 
and in fact, it was not.
On December 28, 1920, a plea of guilty to the information was entered on 
behalf of the defendant company, and the court imposed a fine of $100 and 
costs.
C. W. PUGSLEY, Acting Secretary of Agriculture.