25130. Misbranding of   Sylvester Brand  Haarlem   Oil.     U.   S.  v.  32  Bottles  of
Sylvester Brand Haarlem Oil (and other cases). Default decrees of 
condemnation and destruction. (F. & D. nos. 35872, 36153, 36458. 
Sample nos. 42458-B, 42984-B, 49558-B.)
These cases involved a drug preparation the labeling of which contained 
unwarranted curative and therapeutic claims.
On August 6, 21, and October 5, 1935, the United States attorneys for the 
District of New Jersey and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, acting upon 
reports by the Secretary of Agriculture, filed in the respective district courts 
libels praying seizure and condemnation of 173 bottles of Sylvester Brand 
Haarlem Oil at Newark, N. J., and 102 bottles of the product at Philadelphia, 
Pa., alleging that the article had been shipped or delivered for shipment in 
interstate commerce on various dates, namely, on or about March 20, July 13, 
and July 18, 1935, by M. Coward, from Brooklyn, N. Y., and charging mis- 
branding in violation of the Food and Drugs Act as amended. The article 
was labeled in part: "Sylvester Brand Imported Genuine Haarlem Oil * * * 
Waaning-Tilly Bros., Haarlem—Holland."
A sample of the product analyzed by this Department was found to consist 
essentially of a sulphonted fatty oil (total sulphur, 19.6 percent), and turpentine 
oil (46 percent)).
The article was alleged to be misbranded in that the following statements 
regarding its curative or therapeutic effects, appearing in the circular shipped 
with the article, were false and fraudulent: "This Medicine has been used 
with such good effect that its results were formerly considered little short 
of miracles. It enters into the system, affecting various parts, and its virtues 
make themselves felt long after the medicine itself has been expelled by stool 
or urine. This Remedy has been recommended as being most excellent in 
stimulating the stomach and the digestive organs, and in so doing to help 
to purify the blood. * * * It is often used for scurvy, accompanied by 
proper regulation of the diet, and for worms. In these, and similar diseases, 
one should take twenty to twenty-five drops daily * * * Where there is an 
inclination of the eyelids causing, during the night, the accumulation of pus and 
humors on the lids, a little of this Remedy should be applied by wetting the 
tip of the finger (better a flock of cotton) with it and by holding this a few 
moments in the corner of the eye. In the same way it may be used on ulcers, 
sores, boils, abscesses, etc., * * * a desirable application to fresh sores 
and in certain affections in the gums by applying it to the affected part. All 
disorders of long standing, we cannot doubt, require a long and continued 
treatment before any benefit either from this or from any other remedy may 
be looked for, and when such disorders have been cured after such a long 
time the cure has been esteemed as almost a miracle."
On October 5, and November 8,1935, no claimant having appeared, judgments 
of condemnation were entered and it was ordered that the product be destroyed..
W. R. GREGG, Acting Secretary of Agriculture*