The remedy Mattei named 'Canceroso 5' treats cancer, among bruises, chilblains, hair loss, skin diseases, and varicose veins.
The 1892 English guidebook describes Canceroso 5 as the most powerful Canceroso preparation and prescribes it internally for cancers of the lips, breast, eye, skin, and womb among a much longer list of unrelated conditions; this is the first directly dated source in this bundle for the specific preparation and claim. A surviving Mattei medicine chest (Bologna, 1871-1885) independently includes a vial labeled “Canceroso 5,” catalogued by its holding institution as used for bruises, cancers, chilblains, hair loss, skin diseases, and varicose veins, among other conditions. No proving, chemical analysis, or controlled comparison accompanied the claim; Mattei’s bottles did not disclose their plant ingredients, and no outside verification of the contents is documented. The same institutional catalogue record notes that Mattei’s system was, notwithstanding its popularity, dismissed by the medical profession as quackery, and that mainstream medicine had generally moved past Mattei’s ideas by the 1930s. The system found one documented institutional foothold for a cancer-specific claim: St Saviour’s Cancer Hospital in London used Mattei’s remedies as part of its treatment from 1873, without this bundle’s sources establishing that the hospital’s use constituted, or was represented as, a controlled clinical test of Canceroso 5’s efficacy against cancer specifically.
Appears in
Sources
- Stepping Stones to Electro-Homœopathy (Count Mattei's System of Medicine), 2nd edition — Gliddon, A. J. L. Stepping Stones to Electro-Homœopathy (Count Mattei's System of Medicine). 2nd ed., considerably enlarged. London: Central Mattei Depot, 18 Pall Mall East, S.W., 1892.
- Mattei's electro-homeopathic treatments, Bologna, Italy, 1871-1885 (medicine chest, catalogue description) — Wellcome Images (catalogue description), object photograph and description reproduced via Wikimedia Commons, object title Mattei's electro-homeopathic treatments, Bologna, Italy, 1871-1885. Wellcome Images L0057834; catalogue text mirrored at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mattei%27s_electro-homeopathic_treatments,_Bologna,_Italy,_187_Wellcome_L0057834.jpg. The underlying medicine chest is now catalogued at the Science Museum Group Collection (object A600342), collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co130731, whose object description reproduces the same text.
- Matteism -- The Latest Craze — Berridge, E. W. "Matteism -- The Latest Craze." The Homoeopathic Physician 8, no. 11 (November 1888): 560-566. PMID 37135449; PMCID PMC9711455.