Medicine: Cut Out the Liver

One of the most familiar of all trade names was booked for a major operation last week. The Federal Trade Commission told the manufacturers of Carter's Little Liver Pills to cut the word "liver" out of the product name. The tiny, white-coated globules, FTC found, are an irritative laxative (with one of their ingredients described as "drastic"), and have no medicinal effect on the liver.

The FTC had spent several years, and undertaken a great deal of medical research in reaching its decision. Even now, his liver is a somewhat mysterious organ, e.g., nobody...