Secret drugs, cures and foods - Report of the Royal Commission on
- Bib ID:
- 1595310
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Australia. Royal Commission on Secret Drugs, Cures, and Foods
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item. Nq 328.94 AUS copy
- Description:
-
- [Sydney] : W.A. Gullick, Govt. Printer of the State of N.S.W. for the Govt. of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1907
- viii, 455 pages : illustrations ; 34 cm.
- Series:
- Parliamentary paper (Australia. Parliament) ; 1907, no. 28
- Summary:
-
"The Report represents a vigorous and scientifically based denunciation of quackery and patent medicines. The recommendations include strict control of all proprietary articles, of all drugs, apparatus, and the establishment of a Commonwealth Bureau of Chemistry to control foods and medicines. It is also suggested that Commonwealth and State Health Legislation should be uniform."--D. H. Borchardt.
- Full contents:
-
- 1. Copy of Royal Commission (v)
- 2. Authorities consulted (vii-viii)
- The report - Introduction (1-8)
- Division I. Prevention of conception, and fœticide. (9-68)
- II. Infanticide and infantile mortality (71-86)
- III. Injury and death to the adolescent (89-134)
- IV. Injury and death to adults (137-244)
- V. Advertisements (247-318)
- VI. Legislation (321-425)
- Conclusions and recommendations (426-431)
- 4. Indices - Index of subjects (433-443)
- Index of names (444-450)
- Index of drugs, including deaths, and "doctors" (quack) [Index of drugs and nostrums] (451-455).
- Biography/History:
-
Octavius Beale was a piano manufacturer and philanthropist who served on a 1903 New South Wales commission on infant mortality, and who continued to campaign against patent medicines, particularly contraceptives and abortifacients. In 1905 Beale secured a commission from Alfred Deakin to undertake at his own expense what has been described as most the personal Royal Commission ever held. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, his report "had to be purged of some of its wilder claims before publication," but in fact it circulated in both its original and amended format. It was originally tabled on 8 August 1907, but after a debate on 11 September, it was withdrawn and reviewed by four medically qualified MPs, chaired by Charles Carty Salmon. On 20 November, they recommended a small number of changes (Parliamentary paper no. 139 of 1907; vol. 2, page 1337). The printer was instructed to reprint page 9/10, removing three paragraphs, and obliterate three lines on page 15. The sections on page 10 were an intemperate attack on the Review of Reviews and Annie Besant (quoted in paragraph 7) and the lines on page 15 concern the use of whalebone or wire to induce abortions. Pages 9 and 10 were further extensively rewritten and pages 9 to 19 were completely reset. Australasian Pharmaceutical Notes & News (January, 1931) notes that "copies were recalled as far as possible and ... destroyed." A revised version of the report was tabled on 13 December.
- Notes:
-
- On title page called "Volume 1", but no further volumes published; see D.H. Borchardt, Checklist of Royal Commissions ... , 1952, pt. 1, item 22.
- Chairman: O.C. Beale.
- Includes indexes.
- National Library of Australia's SR copy is an original version, and has a Commonwealth of Australia 1912 coat of arms bookplate, but no other indication of how it was acquired. The NLf copy and Parliamentary paper copies are revised versions.
- Nq 328.94 AUS copy Also available online https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2772890406
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Beale, Octavius C. (Octavius Charles), 1850-1930
- Also Titled:
- Report of the Royal Commission on Secret Drugs, Cures, and Foods
- Copyright:
-
Out of Copyright
You may copy or order a copy through Copies Direct or use the online copy for research or study; for other uses Contact us for further information about copying.
- Reason for copyright status:
- Since 1957 [Created/Published Date + 50 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 1907
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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