The Quack Doctor

Source: The Graphic, Sat 25 October 1884

The format of this one makes it a bit tricky to type out, but if you click on the advert, you should then be able to zoom in and read it. The Ammoniaphone was an instrument designed to help singers and public speakers improve the quality of their voice. It also claimed to cure consumption and other lung problems.

It consisted of a slender metal tube 25 inches in length, with decorated handles and a push-button valve on each end. As well as the picture below left, you can see a photo courtesy of the Science Museum, here. The instructions for use were as follows:

Unscrew the centre cap or nozzle two turns. Take hold of the Ammoniaphone, press the end valves, bend forward, place the lips tightly over the centre cap, and inhale very slowly but deeply.

Within the tube was a wick-like material soaked with hydrogen peroxide, ammonia and peppermint oil. The ingredients don’t sound very appealing, but the inventor, Dr R. Carter Moffat, described the vapour much more romantically as ‘Italianised Air.’

Italy was a destination for consumptives seeking a warm climate, but not only that – it also produced excellent tenors. While visiting the country, Carter Moffat (who was an eminent Scottish chemist, certainly no amateur enthusiast) had analysed the air and found the presence of free ammonia and peroxide of hydrogen – a combination he believed was unique to Italy and therefore likely to be responsible for the inhabitants’ operatic ability.

Shortly after its introduction, the rights to the Ammoniaphone were bought for £2000 in shares by the Medical Battery Company, run by Cornelius Bennett Harness. Dr Carter Moffat stayed closely involved, giving promotional lectures about his invention. The product was well-received by the press.

Not everyone, however, was convinced. In the Ladies’ Column of the Bristol Mercury (written ‘by one of themselves’), the correspondent described a musical evening where the Ammoniaphone was the object of much interest:

Several guests present took long whiffs from the ammoniaphone, but I discovered no obvious change in their tone or compass of voice. I suppose the experiment has to be frequently tried to produce any effect. I remarked that if the inhalation of free ammonia and peroxide of hydrogen is so good for the voice, it seemed scarcely necessary to enclose these ingredients in an expensive flute-like case to test their powers, and the fact of doing so and calling the vapour they give off “artificial Italian air” savours to me of quackery.

The manufacturers would have agreed that results only came from regular use. The instruction manual advised taking two inhalations a day and then doing vocal exercises – the voice would be ‘permanently improved in every way after one year’s use of the Ammoniaphone.’

The company’s promotional activities included commissioning an Ammoniaphone song – very apt, considering the target market. It told of the plight of a young man who wanted to propose to his sweetheart but lost his voice.

Ah! well for him and for the fair,
He’d heard that pure Italian air
Might be inhal’d, imparting tone,
Through Moffat’s famed “Ammoniaphone”

In the early 1890s a pocket version of the inhaler was introduced, but this was short-lived. The Medical Battery Company, whose main products were electro-magnetic belts, went bust in 1893 after getting into trouble with the courts for fraudulent claims. That, however, is a story for another post.

For part 1 of this article, click here. There’s also a transcript of an 1818 Rakasiri advert here.

In 1828, a ‘nervous young man’ who had wasted more than 10l. on the Cordial Balm of Rakasiri went to a magistrate and succeeded in getting his money back. During the proceedings, the Balm’s proprietors, Charles and John Jordan, threatened to make it public that he had venereal disease, but he stuck to his guns and they backed down, claiming that they were returning the money out of respect for the man’s character and not because they were guilty.

Shortly afterwards, a well-to-do young woman, Miss May, consulted them for asthma and ended up 15l. worse off, some of which amount she had to borrow from her sister. Finding her breathing worse and the fiery medicine affecting her stomach, (as mentioned in the previous post, it was highly concentrated alcohol) she heard about the young man’s success and also asked for her money back. The Times reported in early 1829 that

To this, the “doctors” answered, that if Miss May attempted to take any such step as that young man had taken, that they would disclose the real nature of the complaint she was labouring under to her friends, which would ruin her character.

Far from being horrified into silence, Miss May said her friends knew very well she had a cough arising from asthma, and they would now also know “the threat that you have dared to utter.” She got her lawyer, Thomas Cox, on the case and went to the same magistrate who had ordered the young man’s refund. He told her to apply to the Middlesex Sessions for a bill of indictment for fraud. This was refused and the Jordans’ lawyer, Mr Adolphus, published a notice in the Morning Chronicle titled “Base and Malicious Charge of Fraud Refuted,” which referred to Miss May and Mr Cox as ‘infamous calumniators’ and said:

Who ever heard of a person making a purchase, using the article so purchased and then, forsooth, demanding their money back, much less make a charge of fraud against the tradesman so refusing? The attempted fraud was on their own side, and a gross attempt it was.

The doctors challenged Miss May and her lawyer to repeat their accusations, at which Cox wrote to them – a letter that was printed in the Chronicle – inviting them to meet him and his client before the magistrate for that very purpose. The Jordans said they would only respond if summoned by the magistrate himself, and didn’t turn up. “Was it not monstrous,” Mr Cox said,

that such imposters as these men, who were literally a pest in society, and the direct enemies of the human race, should be rolling in their carriages and wallowing in wealth, while men of high education, who had laboriously, and at great expense, studied their profession and made themselves masters of medical knowledge, were living, in many instances, in obscurity, and scarcely able to supply the means of living respectably.

The more cynical among us might be tempted to say welcome to real life, Mr Cox, but as the doctors realised that Miss May was really going to start court proceedings for libel, they got nervous. (‘Notwithstanding the anti-nervous powers of their medicine,’ commented the Monthly Gazette of Health.) They settled out of court, refunding Miss May’s money, paying her legal expenses and giving her £100 compensation. They also agreed to publish a notice in the papers saying that their previous statements were without foundation.

It would be nice to finish with the Gazette‘s conclusion:

To Miss May, for her heroic conduct, and Mr. Cox, her solicitor, for the firmness with which he conducted the proceedings, the thanks of the public are due. They have completely knocked up the Balsam of Rakasira (sic) trade, than which a more infamous traffic has not been carried on in the most barbarous country.

But we all know real life ain’t like that, and this was not the end of the Jordans’ Rakasiri racket. They continued advertising as before until 1840, when they suddenly dropped the M.D. qualification and became Messrs Jordan and Co, Surgeons, with premises in Bristol as well as London. Later in the 1840s, a medicine called Balm of Rakasiri was being sold by Messrs Henry & Co, Liverpool, with a very similar advertising style to the Jordans, and in the 1850s Messrs Lewis were the proprietors. The name finally changed to Dr. Lucas and the remedy was still burning the oesophagi of the credulous at the end of the 1860s.

Source: The Morning Chronicle, Saturday 12 December 1818. For transcript, click here.

On this site I include anything medical or surgical provided it was advertised, so not all the remedies were considered quackery in their time. Some were endorsed and prescribed by reputable doctors, and many were no worse than the orthodox medicines then available. Others, while inefficacious, were produced by honest people who believed in the power of their product and did not set out to rip people off.

The brothers Jordan, however, were a right pair of dodgy coves.

In 1816, C.J. Jordan of Cannon-street-road started placing ads saying he could cure ‘a certain disease’ without using mercury. At this point he referred to himself as a surgeon, but by 1818 he had adopted the qualification M.D. and was calling the remedy The Cordial Balm of Rakasiri, or Nature’s Infallible Restorative. His business was the East London Medical Establishment, but this might as well have been the East London Nose-Picking Establishment for all its professional credibility. With the medicine selling at 11s a bottle (33s for family size), the business was lucrative, and in August 1821 it became the Surrey and West London Medical Establishments with premises in Great Surrey Street, Blackfriars and in Berwick Street, Soho.

In early 1823, the adverts started referring to ‘Drs. C. & J. Jordan.’ The Monthly Gazette of Health, with its usual entertaining indignation, introduced the new partner as

Dr John Jordan, who, from the rank of distributer [sic] of handbills has lately been raised to the dignity of M.D. by leaping, we suppose, over a broomstick.

Balm (otherwise Balsam) of Rakasiri was, in theory, a resin from a tree species native to the Americas. It was said to have stimulant and tonic properties, and had briefly been known in Britain in the early 18th century before its limited popularity had fizzled out. The Jordans’ adverts recommended it for a variety of conditions, including consumption and scrofula, but like its inspiration, Solomon’s Balm of Gilead, the main targets were venereal disease and ‘nervous’ disorders supposedly caused by masturbation. The natural source of the resin not being available in the UK, the Jordans formulated their own version – spirit of wine (rectified ethyl alcohol) flavoured with rosemary oil and sugar.

Both The Monthly Gazette of Health and The Medical Adviser campaigned against the Jordans during the 1820s, and while these publications are far from dispassionate, they make for entertaining reading. According to the Adviser, the Jordans had started out as pencil-sellers before taking the Cannon-street-road premises and setting up their medicine business.

One would think to see these two fellows, standing at their door with their hands in their pockets, their hair powdered, their sleek countenance and suit of black, that they really were medical men; although to a discerning eye a peculiarly roguish cunning, and an expression of innate ignorance, are labels on their front…

Of the Doctors’ fancy carriage, the Adviser continued:

…we fancy their seat the back of an hypochondriac ; their foot-board a grave-stone: their wheels a compilation of human bones; their chariot-rim decked with diseased livers ; their reins the intestinal canal; their side lamps two bottles of Rakasiri; and their whip a long bill! with which the two black longtailed horses most awfully harmonize.

The Adviser – without much relevance, perhaps – also accused the Jordans of stealing a pig, then rather childishly printed their purported reply:

I wont to no what you meen by tacking my karacter as you doo you rite in your book that I mede awey with a milkmans pigg but I wood ave you to no sir that sich like slander shall not be suffered to pass. You also say that I was a pencel pedlar this I despise and say it is a ly. I never hokd pencels I only took orders for em, and even if I did it is no affere of yours I got my bred onnestly.

To the people who had fallen for the scam, however, the Balm of Rakasiri wasn’t  so funny. In part 2 of this post, we’ll see how a young woman stood up to the quacks.

A MORE VALUABLE DISCOVERY was never
made in Medicine than NELSON’S MIXTURE for DIS-
EASES of the LUNGS.—Coughs the most inveterate, sleepless
nights, wheezing, and shortness of breath, profuse spitting, pains
in the chest, and spitting of blood, in short asthma and consumption
is completely cured by it;  it lessens excessive perspirations and
amends the expectoration, changing the secretion from purulent
matter to healthy phlegm, and while it heals and strengthens the
lungs it invigorates the tone of the stomach and recovers the body
from a state of debility and emaciation. For recent coughs, colds,
catarrhs &c. it is seldom wanted more than two or three days.
Having for the last 22 years observed the sad inefficacy of every
mode of treatment adopted by the most eminent physicians, J.
NELSON was induced to venture on a practice new and peculiar to
himself, and from which he has experienced such unparalleled success,
that he can with confidence declare, if the patient does not find
speedy and effectual relief from this medicine, all that the Royal Col-
lege of Physicians can do will be of no avail; having now declined
practice, this medicine is offered to the public under the form of a
mixture. Sold by J. Brooks, 421, Oxford-street, and J. Leathwait,
South entrance, Royal Exchange.

Source: The Times, 8 August 1817

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It is a truth universally acknowledged than anyone writing anything to do with Jane Austen must oh-so-wittily begin their article with ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged…’ Thus yesterday The Times reported that Austen might have died of tuberculosis rather than the Addison’s Disease previously suspected.

The above advert was placed in that same newspaper in the months before and after Austen’s death, and its comments about the medical profession are barbed enough to have perhaps occasioned her a sly smile. Less amusing, however, were the actual symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis, or phthisis as it was known:

In the last stage of phthisis, the emaciation is so great that the patient has the appearance of a walking skeleton ; his countenance is altered, his cheek-bones are prominent, his eyes look hollow and languid, his hair falls off, his nails are of a livid colour and much incurvated, and his feet and ancles are affected with oedematous swellings. To the end of the disease the senses remain entire, and the mind is confident and full of hope.
The Modern Practice of Physic, Robert Thomas, 1828

The early 19th-century consumptive patient didn’t have the option of the later sanatoria, where fresh air was the order of the day. Instead, doctors advised the ‘close room’ regime, with as little exposure to the elements as possible – or, for those who could afford it, travel to a warmer climate. When, in 1840, country doctor George Bodington suggested a fresh air cure, his ideas met with derision from the faculty (partly, no doubt, because he had a real go at eminent physician Sir James Clark for not coming up with any ideas of his own.)

In spite of the romantic image of consumption, the majority of sufferers were poor and unable to swan off to the Mediterranean. In Bishopsgate, London,  an Infirmary for Asthma, Consumption, and other Diseases of the Lungs offered treatment to those who could not afford doctors. The wards were kept at a ‘moderate summer temperature’ all year round, but most people were treated as outpatients, and presumably had to return to their own chilly lodgings after consultation.

Other prominent treatments included blood-letting, cupping and blistering. Digitalis was popular but controversial, and tartar emetic in regular use. In 1829, James Murray wrote on the value of inhalations of iodine, but it took a couple of decades for this to catch on.

There were various theories as to the cause of consumption – the patient’s lifestyle, constitution and even looks being considered strong factors, but in 1822, Richard Reece’s Monthly Gazette of Health referred rather dismissively – and intriguingly – to an anonymous practitioner’s discovery:

A person, residing at Bath, asserts in his public advertisements, that, on microscopical examination of the matter brought up from the lungs of consumptive subjects, he has discovered animalculae of the shape of a maggot, to the irritation of which he attributes cough and the progress of the organic affection! By destroying these mischievous animals, by means of inhaling a particular gas, he says he has succeeded in restoring patients to health, whose cases were declared to be hopeless.

Although Reece (who, incidentally, was the doctor caught up in the case of Joanna Southcott’s supposedly miraculous pregnancy in 1814) exaggerates, making the microscopist sound like someone touting a remedy for financial gain, I believe he is referring to one Mr Rogers. Earlier in 1822, Rogers made a discovery that the London Medical and Physical Journal thought ‘may ultimately prove of some importance.’ The Journal reported Rogers as saying:

I have observed that the matter, or pus, expectorated in a certain stage of pulmonary consumption, is actually filled with multitudes of minute worms; the forms of which, in their evolutions from the surrounding mucus, are so distinctly seen, as to obviate all doubt of their identity with living animalculi.

The description bears more than a passing resemblance to what is now called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, officially discovered by Robert Koch 60 years later:

‘Is it unreasonable,’ Rogers suggested before he faded into obscurity, ‘to regard these worms, the existence of which is indisputable, as forming the concomitant cause of consumption?’

THE COMING EPIDEMIC!
THE COMING EPIDEMIC!!
———————————-
SALT REGAL A PREVENTIVE AND SAFEGUARD!!

EXTRACT FROM LONDON PRESS—
TELEGRAMS FROM BERLIN AND VIENNA state “that the Epidemic of
Influenza, which has been playing such havoc in Russia, has now spread to Germany and Austria, and will shortly make its appearance in England”
FORTIFY YOURSELVES
Against the attacks of this and all diseases by using the pleasant and refreshing
SALT REGAL
Heads of Families NEED HAVE NO FEAR of Infectious Diseases for themselves
or their children if they will use SALT REGAL. Influenza, Fevers, Malaria, Cholera, and the like are harmless to those who use SALT REGAL. See Analysis and authentic Testimonials with every Bottle.
The Press and Public declare SALT REGAL to be a pleasant and refreshing SAFE-GUARD AGAINST DISEASE. There is no preparation like it in the world.
SOLD EVERYWHERE, 1s. 6d. and 2s. 9d.
PROTECTED BY HER MAJESTY’S ROYAL LETTERS PATENT

Source: The Graphic, Sat 4 Jan, 1890

Salt Regal, the “King of Effervescents,” was in a similar vein to Eno’s Fruit Salt, and formed a pretty pink fizzy drink when mixed with water. It enjoyed a brief period of fame between about 1887 and the turn of the 20th century, and was advertised widely with claims ranging from the wild – e.g. that it would prevent influenza and cholera – to the vague:

…a high-class Antiseptic Salt, possessing hygienic properties hitherto unknown to science. A grateful, cooling cup, developing Ozone (the principle of life). Will cleanse the mouth, clear the throat, sweeten the breath, and maintain a natural condition of the system. Corrects all the impurities arising from errors of diet – eating or drinking. Salt Regal has the special property of purifying the water in which it is mixed.

Adverts often contained ‘analyses’ by some of the eminent chemists of the day, including A. Norman Tate, John Muter (click for pic of his epic moustache) and Henry Thomas Jones, but they were similarly wishy-washy and never actually said what was in the product:

I have examined the example of SALT REGAL handed to me some time ago. I find it to be a very carefully prepared saline. Its special feature is that is contains a small proportion of a very useful antiseptic, the value of which in such a preparation must be very great. Its use in warm climates will be found to be most valuable, both on account of its gentle aperient qualities, and of its antiseptic property. HENRY THOMAS JONES, F.I.C., Asst Professor of Chemistry, University of Aberdeen.

I don’t know whether the analysts’ names were used without their permission, or whether their testimonials comprised the best bits from genuine reports, but it seems unlikely that these top chemists would write up an analysis without even mentioning any ingredients.

As for “The Coming Epidemic!!,” by the time of this advert, it was already here. The Russian Flu reached the UK at the very end of 1889. Concern had been building up for several weeks, as reports came in of high mortality in Moscow and a rapid spread of the disease across Europe. Some reporters were less worried – The Daily News‘s Paris correspondent, for example, pointed out that “La Grippe” was prevalent every winter, and while the elderly or very young might suffer complications, for most people the disease ran its course within a few days.

Other reports scraped the barrel for evidence of dire consequences – in Vienna, said The Birmingham Daily Post:

The Christmas festivities have been interfered with to a very great extent by the epidemic, and the usual Christmas tree was missing from the homes of one-third of the families in this city, owing to sickness.

While the British just about got through Christmas intact, by the New Year the flu had arrived, apparently bearing “a special grudge against post-office officials,” as postmen in suburban offices rapidly succumbed.  Some people blamed the post for spreading the disease across the country.

Orthodox treatment usually involved quinine, but the main way of getting over the flu was to stay in bed for a few days and keep warm. Looking back a year later, the Bristol Mercury was rather dismissive of the mildness of the epidemic. As it happened, they spoke too soon – the flu returned with a vengeance in the spring of 1891, and again later that year, with worse outbreaks occurring over the next few winters. The Mercury‘s comment is nevertheless amusing for its relevance today:

The influenza was the fashion of the hour, and everyone who could manage two or three consecutive sneezes satisfied themselves that they were suffering from the prevalent complaint.

Important Notice to the Afflicted
ALL Persons suffering from PARALYSIS, SPINAL
AFFECTIONS, RHEUMATISM, NEURAL-
GIA, ASTHMA, Pain in the Head, or all cases of INFLAM-
MATION or CONGESTION, should at once try Mr G. W.
Gedney’s VACUUM APPARATUS, by Dr. Junod, which has
been practised with great success for upwards of 40 years.
Testimonials of the highest character on application to
Mr. G. W. GEDNEY,
64, Victoria Street, London Road, Ipswich.

Source: The Ipswich Journal, Sat 24 June 1871

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The apparatus referred to was developed in the 1830s by Victor Theodore Junod, and as Mr Gedney here clearly acknowledges Junod, it seems likely that he just had one in his possession rather than that he was claiming any credit for inventing it.

The device, known as the haemospasic apparatus or exhausting apparatus, was an alternative to blood-letting, producing the supposed beneficial effects without the dangers of blood loss. The picture below (taken from the London Lancet in 1853, but it was a woodcut that was also used elsewhere) shows how it worked, and this description from The Journal of Health (Grindrod, London, 1852) explains further:

…a tin boot, into which the leg of the patient is inserted, and from which the atmospheric air is gradually withdrawn, by means of a small air pump, the top of the boot being kept in air-tight apposition to the leg, by means of a broad belt of vulcanised india-rubber.

The idea was like dry cupping on a larger scale – the blood would be sucked into the limb (the device could be also be used on the arm), therefore withdrawing it from general circulation, weakening the pulse and possibly even causing the patient to faint. This, Junod believed, would reduce fever and palliate any inflammatory conditions.

The effects, while not gruesome, don’t sound very pleasant:

No pain, but only a slight uneasiness, is experienced in the limb enclosed in the boot, which is found, on being withdrawn, to be much increased in size, and the blood does not entirely return into the circulation, and the leg resumes its original size, at first for twenty-four hours. (Journal of Health).

The invention was popular in French hospitals and when it was displayed at the Great Exhibition, its potential to replace blood-letting resulted in it being tried out in British hospitals too, with mixed results. Army surgeon A. MacLean M.D. (quoted in The Medical Times, July-Dec 1853) was somewhat underwhelmed:

I have to report that this apparatus has been tried in a variety of cases in this hospital, with the view of testing its power as a therapeutic agent; and have to state that the beneficial results have been very partial, and in many instances no effect of a favourable character was obtained.

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Source: The Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times, Sat 26 January 1895. To view this rather fine-looking gentleman in full technicolour glory, click this ad from the National Archives.

Allcock’s Plasters had their origins in an invention patented in the US in 1845 by Horace Day and William Shecut. (Day was a wealthy manufacturer of rubber goods but in 1846 was sued by one Mr Goodyear for an infringement of a patent and lost $500,000.) The porous plaster patent described the ingredients and method thus:

We first cut five pounds of India-rubber into fine shreds and boil it an hour in common soft water to soften it. We then drain off the water and put the rubber into a tin or copper vessel which will hold at least sixty gallons, and pour into it a sufficient quantity of spirits of turpentine to cover the gum completely, adding from time to time more spirits of turpentine as the gum soaks it up. This process may be hastened by placing the vessel over a water-bath. When the rubber is sufficiently dissolved to admit of its being pressed through a fine wire seive [sic] is may be set aside for use. We next simmer four ounces of Capsicum annuum or cayenne pepper in a quart of spirits of turpentine about one hour and strain it with a portion of this tincture. We grind a pound of litharge on a slab or in a paint mill, mix it with the remainder of the tincture of cayenne, and add to it six ounces of balsam of Peru. Then we melt a pound of pine-gum and add spirits of turpentine until it is thin enough to strain when nearly cool, and, lastly, mix the whole of the preceding preparations together until the mixture is of uniform color, without specks or lumps. It is then ready for spreading on any suitable material. Cotton cambric or muslin will answer the purpose very well.

Holes were punched in the product – the colour image in the National Archives link gives some idea of what it looked like. Thomas Allcock, a British-born druggist living in New York,  appears to have acquired the rights almost immediately, and a few years later the company went into association with Benjamin Brandreth (great-great-grandfather of Gyles), whose Brandreth’s Pills were already famous.

The plasters were not only supposed to to help lumbago – other adverts suggested using them for such varied disorders as quinsy (you had to put a strip of plaster under your chin, stretching from ear to ear), diabetes, St Vitus’s Dance, epilepsy, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, coughs and colds, asthma, pleurisy, whooping cough, consumption, ruptures, sciatica, paralysis, rheumatism, tic douloureux and kidney problems.

The ads boasted that it only took 2 seconds to apply the plaster. Getting it off, however, was another matter. Dick’s Encyclopaedia noted in 1872 that:

These plasters adhere very firmly, frequently requiring the application of heat (by means of a hot towel or warm flat-iron), for their removal.

One 1876 ad advised customers to ‘Beware of piratical imitations.’ Presumably these were called Arrrrlcock’s.

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This is perhaps the most bizarrely named product yet featured on this site. It is not surprising that it should be obscure to the modern observer, but in fact it made no sense to the denizens of the early 19th century either.

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……………HEALTH
……….A MOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.

……….The Modena Fossil

……….A SPEEDY AND EFFECTUAL CURE
For the Hooping-Cough, Palsy, Rheumatism, Asthmatic
…..Fits,   Scrophulous   Swellings,  and   Diseases  of the
…..Glands  ;   White   Swellings of   the   Joints  ;   Pains
…..and  Diseases of   the  Breasts  of  Women  ;  Spasms,
…..Cramps,   Pains and  Weakness of  the  Head,   Sto-
…..mach,   or   any   other  part  of  the Body  ;  Sprains,
…..Bruises, and Chilblains, &c.

……….BY OUTWARD APPLICATION ONLY.

…Price  2s.  9d.—5s.  5d.—and  11s.  6d.  the  bottle
…………………..(Duty included)
…………….To Mr. OXLEY, Surgeon, Hull.
……………………………………..Howden, August 4th, 1800

…..DEAR SIR
I   Did   not   expect   writing   you   again  so  soon,
by  any means;  but  calling  at  Bromfleet yesterday
I found Mr. JOHN KITCHING,  of  that  place,  per-
fectly  recovered  from  a  very  severe  attack  of  the
RHEUMATISM; by using your MODENA FOSSIL,
which I recommended to  him.  For  several  days  the
pain was so violent in his Back, Hip,  and  Knee,  that
he could not rest day nor night, and could but just  get
over the room, leaning upon a  staff  with  both  hands.
MRS. KITCHING is at times  much  afflicted  with  a
Pain in her Head, but  has  it  always  removed by the
application of  the  MODENA  FOSSIL.  When  you
advertise you are at liberty to  mention  these  as  your
witnesses, if you choose.  I  shall,  at  all  opportunities,
recommend the MODENA FOSSIL, which I  believe
will be of general benefit to mankind.
……………………………..I remain Sir, yours, &c.
……………………….JOHN WILTSHAW.
The Modena Fossil is  prepared  and  sold  Wholesale
……..and Retail by the Inventor and Proprietor,

……………..EDWARD OXLEY,

Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of London;
…And   Surgeon   to   the  Poor  and  Strangers’  Friend
…Society,  in  Hull,  at  his  House,   No. 17, Bowl-alley
…Lane, Hull.
…Sold   also   by   Mr.  Pidding  (late  Surgeon  in  the
army)   No.   76,   (opposite   the  Pantheon)  Oxford-
street;   and   Retail   by   Mr.  Tutt,   Royal  Exchange,
Mr.  Ward,   No.  324,  Holborn,  Mr.  Swinney,  No.
21, Pall Mall,  Mr.  Walsh,  Chemist,   No.  6,  Catha-
rine   street,   Strand,   London;    Savage,    Howden;
Christopher and Jennet, Stockton;  Turner  and  Ains-
worth, Scarboro’; Stephenson, Bridlington-Quay; and
all respectable Venders of Medicines in the Kingdom.
…………A saving of FIVE SHILLINGS by purchasing
the LARGE Bottle at 11s. 6d. which contains equal to
SIX of the SMALL, at 2s. 9d.

Source: The Hull Packet, Tues 26 August 1800

The basis of the product was oil of amber, and as The Medical Observer (1806) explained ( or rather, in its usual outraged fashion, exclaimed!!!):

Amber is now supposed to be a fossil, and having probably been obtained near Modena in Italy, our advertiser thought that the title of Modena Fossil was not altogether inapplicable to his nostrum, and from its novelty very likely to attract the attention both of the medical profession and the ignorant!!!

The Medical Observer also made a point that is still pertinent today:

If the Modena Fossil be capable of curing cancer, he need not incur the expense or disgrace of advertising it. A person that can cure that disease, would not only amass a considerable fortune by his practice, but would also receive a very handsome remuneration from parliament.

Consumptives
There is Hope
for You!
Derk P. Yonkerman, Specialist,
discoverer of a remarkable Cure for
Consumption.

To every consumptive person there is  hope  of  life
and health,   for,   incredible  as  it  may  seem,  a
specific which cures Consumption has at last been
found.    Seeking   year  after  year,  working  early
and late, complete success  has  at  last  crowned
the  efforts  of  that  renowned  Specialist,  Derk  P.
Yonkerman,  and  to-day  hundreds  of  former  con-
sumptives, once hopeless and helpless, testify with
joy  and   heartfelt  gratitude  to  the  healing  power
of  his  remarkable  discovery.   This  latest  product
of science is, we  believe,  destined  to revolutionize
the treatment of consumption, for it has  cured after
all other remedies tried and failed  and  changes  of
climate proved  unavailing;  so  potent  is its healing
power  that  even  cases pronounced hopeless have
been by it restored to perfect health.
If you are  in  consumption  you  may  prove   for
yourself the virtue of this wonderful specific.
………….. ABSOLUTELY FREE
Simply send your  name  and  address to the Derk
P.  Yonkerman  Co., Ltd.,  Dept.  444, 6, Bouverie
Street,   London,   E.C.,  and  they will forward by
return   of   post  a  free  trial  treatment,  together
with   explicit   directions  for  the  treatment  and
cure  of  Consumption.  Don’t  delay.  If  you  have
Consumption  your   life  is   in   danger  and  you
should   not   hesitate   to   avail  yourself  of  this
marvellous cure.

Source: The Penny Illustrated Paper, Sat 4 February 1905

A rare foray into the 20th century today, with Derk P. Yonkerman’s Tuberculozyne. Yonkerman hailed from Michigan – or to be more precise, a town named Kalamazoo. (Which I had only ever heard of as the name of the cat in Della and the Dealer, but I looked it up and the modern-day city looks absolutely delightful.)

In 1882 Yonkerman graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College and began practising at the Cleveland Veterinary Infirmary in Ohio. In 1901, after tests on cattle, he announced a treatment for TB, claiming to have discovered a way of introducing copper into the blood in order to kill the bacilli (Davenport Daily Republican, Iowa, 6 June 1901). By early 1902 the product was being advertised in the US, and it reached Britain about a year later.

In the UK, a month’s treatment cost £2 10s and comprised two bottles of liquid labelled No 1 Tuberculozyne and No 2 Tuberculozyne. After every meal, the patient had to put thirty drops of each into a glass of milk, stir well and drink immediately.

The BMA analysed the two mixtures and found No 1 to contain potassium bromide, glycerine, oil of cassis, tincture of capsicum, cochineal to give it its bright red colouring, caustic soda and water. No 2, a brown liquid, was glycerine, essential oil of almond, burnt sugar, water and 0.01% copper. The estimated cost of ingredients for the two together was 2½d.

Patients could send off for a free sample, which was a ½oz bottle of each liquid. If they did not go on to purchase further supplies they would receive regular letters offering increasing discounts.

In 1912, the American Medical Association publication, Nostrums and Quackery, quoted the BMA analysis and noted that, whereas in the past British quacks had once been a nuisance to America, ‘the current has set in the other direction and now instead of the American public being fleeced by the English medical fakers the American quack is finding the English public “good pickings”‘. This was due in part to the US Food and Drugs Act of 1906, which meant quacks like Yonkerman had to be very careful what they claimed. The British laws were less strict, allowing for much more exaggerated claims in the advertising and packaging.

Sources:

Secret Remedies: What they cost and what they contain, British Medical Association, 1909

Nostrums and Quackery: Articles on the the Nostrum Evil and Quackery reprinted, with Additions and Modifications, from the Journal of the Americal Medical association, 2nd ed. 1912

While Bile Beans were initially pitched as a cure for biliousness, the influenza epidemic of 1899 was too good an opportunity to miss. Horrible though the ‘flu was, a lot of people would recover after a week or so anyway, and it was an easy matter for quacks to point to cases where the recovery coincided with the taking of their medicine.

A leaflet enclosed with the Beans stated that they were also a cure for cirrhosis of the liver, blackheads, and all female complaints, and later they were mainly targeted at women, using glamorous pictures that now appear incongruous with the unattractive product name. Although the leaflet said that the Beans did not include mercury, bismuth, or aloes, they did contain aloin - an aloe extract with laxative properties that is no longer considered safe because of its potential side effects. The other ingredients were cardamom, peppermint oil and wheat flour, with a black gelatine coating. (More Secret Remedies, BMA, 1912) 

THE INFLUENZA PLAGUE
_____________

A NEW SPECIFIC

Mr. A. S. Selwyn, of No. 4 Emily-street, Warrickville, N.S.W., says that Charles Forde’s Bile Beans pulled him round from a terrible attack of influenza when all else failed. Interviewed by a representative regarding his recovery he said:— “Not long since I was attacked most severely with influenza: such a hold did it get upon me that I was obliged to leave my work, and I was confined to the house for over a week. Anyone at my place of business will verify this statement, as I have often complained to them, and they know full well that I have suffered keenly. I went through all the stages of this miserable complaint, being assailed continually with a cold and headache, pains in various parts of my body, and a general disinclination for exertion of any kind. While confined to the house I tried various remedies, but all to no effect. This was the state of things when I happened to have Charles Forde’s Bile Beans brought under my notice, and I thought I would try them. Well, Sir, I must say I was surprised at the amount of good they did me; not only did they completely cure me of influenza, but also of several other complaints, notably biliousness and indigestion, from which I suffered. Immediately after I began taking them I commenced to experience relief, and in a surprisingly short time I was completely cured. Since that time I have not had the slightest return of any of my complaints, and I ascribe my speedy and thorough cure to Bile Beans for Biliousness, and I heartily recommend them as a grand cure for influenza.”
The reader should bear in mind that what Bile Beans will do for one they will do for others. They have proved themselves an undoubted specific for biliousness, indigestion, constipation, rheumatism, sciatica, lumbago, gout, influenza, debility, dyspepsia, headache, insomnia, liver complaints, and piles. At this season of the year the liver’s action is very bad, causing chills, numbness of the hands, and in such cases Bile Beans will be found very effective. Bile Beans are obtainable from chemists generally, or the Bile Beans manufacturing Company will forward direct from their London Depot, 119 and 120, London Wall, one box for 1s 1½d or 2s 9d (large box holds three small). Please mention this paper if you are writing.

Source:  The Northern Echo, (Darlington) Thursday 16 Nov 1899

The story behind the Beans went that an Australian scientist, Charles Forde, had discovered an ancient aboriginal remedy. The actual inventor was a Canadian called Charles E Fulford (I don’t know if he was connected to the Fulfords of Dr Williams’ Pink Pills fame), and the story about the aborigines was completely made up. Although this was revealed during a 1905 court case where Fulford sued the proprietor of an imitation product, the Bile Beans became very popular in the 20th century and were still on sale in the 1980s.

Thank you to teaandcakes on Flickr for the 1940s advertising picture