‘Snake oil’ is defined as something that is sold as medicine but that is medically useless. In other words, it’s a medical scam. In 1906, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, which created the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA. At that time, the majority of the medicine sold in the United States was not only useless; much of it was toxic. Within 2 years of its creation, the FDA forced hundreds of worthless drugs off the market. Last month, I mentioned this in ‘The Good Old Days’, or what life was really like in America in 1906.

However, snake oil is now back, and big time! In 1994, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. This law specifically exempted supplements from FDA scrutiny. As a result, pills and capsules that are labeled ‘supplements’ by their manufacturers can make vague and preposterous claims about their products without FDA testing or approval.

MEMORY PILLS. Among the best-selling and most profitable supplements of dubious medical value are memory pills. The TV commercials for memory pills rely mainly on personal testimonials by users. Many high school and college students buy memory pills and take them just before exams, but most buyers of memory pills are old people. A recent survey found that 25% of Americans over the age of 50 take memory pills. That’s an astonishing number! There is just one problem with memory pills – there is no evidence that any of them work.

A lot of people who take memory pills assume that they must work or else the FDA wouldn’t allow them to be sold, but the FDA can’t take them off the market. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act prohibits the FDA from requiring that the makers of ‘supplements’ like memory pills back up their claims with evidence. As long as the manufacturers of memory pills call them ‘supplements’ and don’t claim that their product cures or treats a specific disease, like Alzheimer’s, there is nothing the FDA can do.

PREVAGEN. There are many brands of memory pills on the market, but Prevagen is the big name in the business. I know people who take Prevagen every day. I asked one of these people how he knows that Prevagen is improving his memory. He told me that he trusts Prevagen because it is made from something found in jellyfish. I have seen Prevagen ads on TV. Maybe you have too. They are on all the time. In their commercials, these ads frequently mention that Prevagen is made from something originally found in jellyfish. O.K. – well, so what?

ABOUT JELLYFISH. Jellyfish can be fascinating to watch. If you want to see them, click here to view the live-cam at the Monterey Aquarium jellyfish tank. Jellyfish Live Cam. However, as you watch these jellyfish, ask yourself: “Do jellyfish look smart?” and “Is there anything here that indicates that jellyfish have good memories – or any memory at all?” Below is a picture of the back label of a Prevagen box.

According to a recent article in Forbes: “There are still no peer-reviewed, independent, clinical studies available to support the health claims made by the makers of Prevagen regarding the product’s efficacy. The company’s website and other marketing materials state that Prevagen results are clinically proven, but the clinical research cited was performed by parent company Quincy Bioscience, which raises concerns about conflicts of interest.”

ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS. Americans spend billions of dollars every year on medically useless ‘supplements.’ Sometimes I wander through the supplement section of the Whole Foods store near my house and look at the labels on these products. Most of the labels imply that these pills do something, but they don’t clearly state what that something is. When they do make a specific claim as to what the pills do, it is usually something that should make all but the most gullible buyers suspicious, like ‘age reversing’ pills and creams. There’s a lot of those in the supplement section.

WAS ALEXANDER HAMILTON BLACK? WAS ALEXANDER HAMILTON JEWISH?

The musical ‘Hamilton’ has renewed interest in one of the most important Founding Fathers of the United States. It has also renewed the myth that Hamilton was black. This myth goes back to Hamilton’s time itself. Alexander Hamilton knew that people were speculating about this because people were saying so in the newspapers of the time. These people seemed to have some convincing evidence.

The majority of the people living on the island of Nevis, where Alexander was born and grew up, were black slaves.

Alexander Hamilton’s parents weren’t married, and Alexander wasn’t baptized. Baptism was a standard practice at the time on British-controlled Caribbean islands at the time. If Alexander Hamilton’s parents were white, why wasn’t he baptized?

Alexander Hamilton did not attend the public schools on Nevis. Nevis had public schools run by the Church of England, but Alexander could not attend them. Instead, Alexander went to a private school on Nevis even though his parents didn’t have a lot of money. 

There was also a story going around in Alexander Hamilton’s time that he was secretly Jewish. The people who believed this had some evidence too.

The school Alexander Hamilton attended on Nevis was run by a Jewish woman. Most of the students at this school were Sephardic Jews.

Alexander Hamilton could read Hebrew. He sometimes translated Bible passages to his children into Hebrew. Years after Alexander Hamilton’s death, his son wrote that his father taught him how to recite the Ten Commandments in Hebrew.

While he was George Washington’s aide-de-camp, Hamilton based his plan to finance the American Revolution on European Jewish banking principles.

Alexander Hamilton was only one of the Founding Fathers willing to represent Jews in court in New York. Hamilton was a famous lawyer and had several Jewish clients.

I decided to do a little research on this. My conclusion is that Alexander Hamilton was neither black nor Jewish. Here’s why.

Alexander Hamilton’s parents weren’t married, but he knew who his father was, and so do we. His father was not one of the slaves on Nevis. His father was named James Hamilton. He was the son of a Scottish laird, or lord. There is a record of his birth in Scotland.

We also know why Alexander Hamilton’s parents didn’t marry. They couldn’t.  Alexander Hamilton’s mother Rachel was already married, although she hadn’t seen her husband Johann in years. She was told that her husband had died, she had no proof of it. If she had married James Hamilton and later Johann popped up alive, she could have been charged with bigamy. In those days, bigamy was punishable by flogging and then life imprisonment. James Hamilton and Rachel had to be very discreet and secretive about their relationship.

The reason that Alexander Hamilton wasn’t baptized is very simple. In those days, the Church of England did not allow black or ‘illegitimate’ white children to be baptized in their churches, and they didn’t allow them to attend their schools. This also explains why Alexander went to a Jewish school. Alexander Hamilton’s parents recognized that he was a very smart child and wanted him to get a good education. The Jewish school Alexander attended is probably where he learned Hebrew. He spoke several languages.

Alexander Hamilton studied Jewish banking practices because it was his job to get George Washington money to pay and feed his soldiers, and conventional banking practices weren’t going to work. Congress had no money, no treasury, no ability to tax, and they had a lot of debts.

I don’t know why lawyers in New York would not take Jewish clients, but because Alexander Hamilton had gone to school with Jewish children, he may have felt differently about Jews than most other lawyers in New York at the time.

Alexander Hamilton always said that he was a Christian. He appears to have developed strong religious views in the youth and never strayed from them. His dying wish was that he receive final communion at Trinity Church (Anglican) in New York City.

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