The Quack Doctor

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…a tin boot, into which the leg of the patient is inserted, and from which the atmospheric air is gradually withdrawn, by means of a small air pump, the top of the boot being kept in air-tight apposition to the leg, by means of a broad belt of vulcanised india-rubber.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No pain, but only a slight uneasiness, is experienced in the limb enclosed in the boot, which is found, on being withdrawn, to be much increased in size, and the blood does not entirely return into the circulation, and the leg resumes its original size, at first for twenty-four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.

Source: The Graphic (London) 13 October 1894

I haven’t tried to transcribe this for obvious reasons, but I think it should be clear enough, and you can click to make it bigger. Some of the assertions on the sleeves of those elegant arms sound better than others; ‘touches the spot for hemorrhoids’ doesn’t conjure up a particularly attractive image, but an accurate one nonetheless. For stubborn cases, suppositories were available, and one advert cheerfully announced to the world that Lord Carrick was indebted to Homocea for the cure of his piles.

Homocea and its tagline ‘touches the spot’ became a household name in the last years of the 19th century and it was certainly still around during World War II, if not later. As well as the original ointment, there was a strong form called Exaino or Homocea Fort, and a Homocea Soap. In 1897 the Soap and its related product, the Hair Wash, were highly recommended in The Nursing Record and Hospital World, which said that the soap was ‘very soothing and softening in its action, and is very fragrant and pleasant, moreover, to use.’

The BMA’s More Secret Remedies reported in 1912 that the ointment comprised a large proportion of eucalyptus oil, small amounts of lemon oil and ammonia, beeswax, lard and coconut oil. The 2s. 9d. tin contained 2 ½oz, the cost of ingredients being about 2 ½d.

Homocea Ltd certainly went in for eye-catching advertisements. The one below is from The Graphic in 1895. The lifeless body of the poor faithful little dog, who only moments ago was trotting happily along the path day-dreaming of chasing rabbits, adds a certain level of drama that we could probably have done without.

P.S. I’m scheduling this post to appear on Monday 12 Oct. I’m not actually here as I’m speaking at Chester Literature Festival, so if the post doesn’t come out right, I’ll fix it when I get home on Tuesday.

As we have seen before, nostrum-vendors’ talents were more suited to  salesmanship than to poetry. This ad gets off to a tolerable start, but come verse 3 it goes downhill fast, and by the bit about the sheep it’s apparent that the copy-writer just wanted to get the wretched thing out the door and go home:

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What hear we now from West to East
Counfounding man, befriending beast,
But Centaur Liniment?—

What is it cures our many pains,
And limbers up severest strains
But Centaur Liniment?—

That knocks Rheumatism out of gear,
Bids gout good-by without a tear?
Why! Centaur Liniment:

Causes the cripple to walk, the lame to leap,
Hearts to thank, instead of eyes to weep,—
Only, Centaur Liniment.

What renders reptiles tooth and sting of bees
Harmless as the bite of fleas,
Excepting Centaur Liniment;

Assuages the pangs of a broken breast,
Flows to lacteal fluid, gives nights of rest,
But Centaur Liniment;

When chilblains sting or hot steam scalds,
What is it soothes, for what can we call,
But Centaur Liniment.

When the car crushed old Tilden’s arm,
‘Twas saved from amputation by this charm
The Centaur Liniment;

And when Barnum’s lion, Uncle Ben,
Broke his leg in that dismal den,
He roared for Centaur Liniment.

Now as the poor horse, lame and sore,
With crippled knee limps to our door,
And begs for Centaur Liniment;

And the docile sheep on a thousand hills,
Die by the million—the screw worm kills,
(All saved by Centaur Liniment; )

We hear it shouted from West to East,
By speaking man and neighing beast,
“Pass on the Centaur Liniment!”

This remarkable article is for sale by all
Druggists in every village, parish and ham-
let, in America. We warrant it to cure.

J.B. Rose & Co, 58 Broadway, N. Y.

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Source: The Marshal Statesman (Michigan) 4 Dec 1872

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Centaur Liniment arrived on the scene in 1871, and in October the following year its adverts took the form of a purported news story about the massive outbreak of equine influenza that was sweeping Canada and the US. In Buffalo, NY, the adverts claimed, ‘there are not well horses enough to carry merchandise through the streets… there are probably 12,000 sick horses in New York and Brooklyn to-day.’

‘The Centaur Liniment seems to be the specific acting both upon the glands and joints, and superior to the turpentine, opodeldoc and capsicum. When the throat, belly and legs of the animal are early rubbed with this Liniment, and cloths saturated with it bound on the legs, the disease is checked and the animal soon recovers.’

Although patent remedy adverts are prone to exaggeration, the Centaur ads were not inflating the extent of the epizootic. Beginning in Toronto in early October 1872, the disease quickly spread to the US and down the eastern seaboard, getting all the way to Cuba within 90 days. The New York Times reported that on Oct 25 alone, the number of cases in the city increased by 60%. Very few horses remained unaffected.

The outbreak was disastrous for the economy, completely disabling transport networks. Tram, omnibus and stagecoach services came to a standstill, and fire wagons had to be pulled by the firemen. Even the railways could not function without wagons to receive the goods from the trains. Because of the virulence and near-universality of the disease, the epizootic at least burnt itself out quickly.

Treatment with Centaur Liniment was indeed usually followed by recovery –  about 98% of affected horses got better anyway, with or without it.

According to Charles Oleson in Secret Nostrums and Systems of Medicine (10th Ed 1903) the animal liniment was made from oil of spearmint, oil of mustard, oil of amber, black oil, soap, caustic soda and water, though his recipes were intended to be ‘near enough’ rather than an exact copy of the formula.

The human version of the liniment was thicker in texture and a lighter colour, comprising oil of pennyroyal, oil of thyme, oil of turpentine, soap, caustic soda and water. The products were made by J B Rose and Co, later known as The Centaur Company, who also manufactured the famous Fletcher’s Castoria. The company’s US advertising campaigns were huge but, while the products did make it to the UK, the Liniment wasn’t promoted as much here – and we lucky Brits were spared the poetry.

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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.

Here’s another product from the enigmatic Dr De Roos, who once again uses the ploy of warning the punters against charlatans. The Renal Pills were still available in the early 20th century, when the results of analysis were reported in More Secret Remedies. The pills were made of sodium carbonate, soap, a resin that might have been derived from ammoniacum, and some unidentifiable vegetable tissue. All this was covered in a thick layer of powdered liquorice.

The pills arrived on the market in the late 1840s and, in 1851, some adverts included a testimonial claiming that they were ‘worth a guinea a box’ – a phrase that later became the famous slogan for Beecham’s Pills.

PAINS IN THE BACK, GRAVEL, LUMBAGO, GOUT,
RHEUMATISM, DISEASE OF THE KIDNEYS, BLAD-
DER, &c. THE COMPOUND RENAL PILLS correct acidity
of the stomach, and indigestion, promote the functions of the
liver and kidneys, thereby preventing stone in the bladder and
kidneys, with many other serious disorders to which these impor-
tant organs are subject. Listlessness, weakness, peevishness,
and complaints long supposed to be nervous, often arise solely
from contamination of the blood with certain impurities which
should have been carried off by the kidneys: several unsightly
eruptions of the skin and face also arise from the same cause,
and may be as readily removed by these Pills, which in 19 cases
out of 20 cure with a rapidity almost marvellous. 1s 1½d, 2s 9d,
4s 6d, 11s, and 33s per box through all Chemists.
THOUSANDS OF TESTIMONIALS MAY BE SEEN BY ANY ONE.
Sold by:—Hughes, Chemist, Bangor; Roberts, Chemist, Con-
way; Griffith, Chemist, High-street, Carnarvon; Edwards,
Chemist, Denbigh; Hughes, Chemist, Holyhead; and Moore,
Chemist, Newtown; and at least one agent in almost every town;
but should difficulty occur, enclose the amount by Post-office order
or otherwise, to 25, Bedford Place, Bloomsbury Square, London
and they will be sent securely packed per return.
NOTICE AND CAUTION.—Injurious imitations of the
above by Quacks and others, who forge testimonials
to puff off their useless trash, sufferers should
guard against the recommendation of the spurious or other
articles, by dishonest vendors, who thereby obtain a larger profit.
The genuine have the words “WALTER DE ROOS LONDON,”
printed in white letters on the Government Stamp, by order of
Her Majesty’s Hon. Commissioners, to imitate which is felony
and transportation.

Source: The North Wales Chronicle, Sat 11 November 1865

This remedy was not widely advertised and I don’t have much information about it, but I like the way the typography is laid out in the original, so have tried to reproduce it as far as possible, within the limitations of WordPress formatting. There will be more from The Western Mail soon, as it’s an excellent source of medicine adverts. Knowing that the paper is still very popular I just looked up its website and found the really “interesting” headline: Pregnant Torchwood Star Eve Myles has Creme Egg cravings. Good to know it remains at the cutting edge of journalism.

Image: Grandpapa’s Torments by J. T. Wilson, 1845. Courtesy of the US National Library of Medicine.

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WOULD YOU BE SURPRISED TO HEAR

That Chills, Colds, Neuralgia,
Toothache, Faceache, Headache
Rheums,    Tic   Doloreux,   Sciatica,
Pains  in  the  Limbs,  Loins,  Joints  etc.,
Gout, Ague and numerous other Symptoms,
Are all  Affections  of  a  RHEUMATIC  NATURE,
A n d    m a y   b e   q u i c k l y   C u r e d   b y   taking
C R O S S’ S   G O U T   A N D   R H E U M A T I C   P I L L S.
The  MAGICAL  EFFECT  of  which, in  giving  Tone to
The Stomach, Liver, Bowels, and Kidneys, Freeing
The System of all HUMOURS, SWELLINGS,
UNHEALTHY ACCUMULATIONS, &c.,
And inducing a Normal Circulation
In the BLOOD and NERVOUS
CURRENTS, is Astonishing.
——

It  is   in   consequence  of  the  almost  INCREDIBLE  Reputation
they have Gained in FOREIGN COUNTRIES, as may be   testified
by numerous  Testimonials  in  the  possession  of  the  Proprietor,
that   he   is   encouraged   to  make  them  generally  known to  the
British Public.
Price 1s. 1½d., 2s. 9d., and 4s. 6d. per Box.

——

To be had of
WILLIAM CROSS, CHEMIST, CARDIFF
or of any Patent Medicine Vendor.

Source: Western Mail (Cardiff) Monday 18 Dec 1871

Weston was an entertainer who toured Australia and New Zealand from the 1860s to the 1880s, putting on free two-hour shows featuring jokes, songs and comic tales that incorporated lots of plugs for his products. A NZ correspondent to London’s The Era in August 1872 wrote of Weston as follows:

FRANK WESTON, the Wizard Oil Prince, is here. He is a comical card, possessing a great amount of dry Yankee wit, humour and assurance. His entertainments are free, and it is needless to add that he draws “crowded houses” nightly. The usual style of his public announcements are that “he will dig down and speak a piece.”

Audience members would receive a booklet called Frank Weston’s Australian Companion: A Selection of Valuable Recipes for Cooking, &c., with Much Information about Horses, Cattle, Social, Witty, and Other Important Subjects

As well as the Wizard Oil, Weston manufactured Weston’s Magic Pills and Mexican Mustang Liniment.

The image shown was printed as part of the following advert:

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THE GREAT AMERICAN MEDICINES
     WESTON’S WIZARD OIL
          PRICE HALF A CROWN
  Established in Australia in 1864.
  A   MEDICINE   to  be  taken  in-
ternally,   and  used  externally,  for
all   NERVOUS  DISEASES   and
INFLAMMATORY   ACHES   and
PAINS, composed of the choicest
Aromatic  Herbs,  Healing   Gums,
Balsams, and Vegetable Oils.
    Cures      Rheumatism,     Sci-
atica,        Gout,           Neuralgia,
Cholera,    Spasms,    Headache,
Coughs and Colds, etc,
   WESTON’S   WIZARD   OIL  has
the   power    to   distribute    itself
over   every   part    of    the   body
internally   as   well   as   externally,
curing the  most  inveterate  cases
of     tumors,    ulcers,      scrofula,
diseased   liver,    piles,   swellings,
wounds, etc. etc.
I N T E R N A L   U S E—Weston’s
Wizard   Oil,   as   a   medicine  for
inward  use,  may  be  relied  upon
as a prompt relief for a depressed
vital   action,   and  a  regulator  of
the   disturbed   circulation  of  the
blood,   produced  by  any  cause
whatever.

Source: The Northern Territory Times and Gazette, Saturday 2 May 1885

Hood’s Sarsaparilla was big business in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – you can get an idea how big from this picture of the Massachusetts laboratory. Adverts for it were everywhere, and there were also spin-off products such as calendars and cookbooks.

GOOD BLOOD
GOOD BLOOD

Is essential to health.
Every nook and corner
Of the system is
Reached by the blood, and on
Its quality and condition
The condition of
Every organ depends.
The surest way to
Have good blood
Is to take

HOOD’S SARSAPARILLA
HOOD’S SARSAPARILLA

Which by its power as a
Blood purifier
Cures Scrofula, Dyspepsia,
Rheumatism, Catarrh,
That Tired Feeling,
Loss of Appetite, etc.

GOOD BLOOD
GOOD BLOOD

From taking Hood’s Sarsaparilla
Makes strong nerves, good
Digestion, Robust health,
Good appetite,
Refreshing sleep

HOOD’S SARSAPARILLA
HOOD’S SARSAPARILLA

Is the One True Blood Purifier. Sold by all
Chemists. Small. 2s. 9d. ; large, 4s. 6d. Sent
post paid on receipt of price by C. I. Hood and
Co., Limited, 34, Snow-hill, London, E.C.

HOOD’S PILLS             are gentle; do not pain
HOOD’S PILLS             or gripe.

Source: The Bristol Times and Mercury, Saturday 27th February 1897

Advertising pamphlets stated the mixture was “carefully prepared from Sarsaparilla, Dandelion, Mandrake, Dock, Pipsissewa, Juniper Berries, and other valuable vegetable remedies, in such a peculiar manner as to retain the full curative value of each ingredient used,” but analysis by the BMA, reported in Secret Remedies: What they cost and what they contain, showed that the mixture contained only  “2.0 parts of vegetable extract per 100 fluid parts.” Instead, its popularity might have been down to it being nearly 20% alcohol.

Here is a US advert from 1886:

 Thank you to the US National Library of Medicine for both images on this page.

Robert Walker obtained the King’s Royal Letters Patent for his remedy in 1755, and on his death, surgeon Joseph Wessels took it over. The drops were still around, under the name Wessel’s Jesuit Drops as late as the 1870s. In 1843, the Medical Times published a note stating that the Drops were ”a spirituous tincture of balsam of copaiba, guiacum, and oil of sassafras. They are the same as the elixir anti-venereum of Quincey.”

        CAUTION to the PUBLIC.
             By the King’s Patent.
DR. WALKER’S PATENT GENUINE
JESUITS DROPS, for which his Ma-
jesty was pleased to honour him with his roy-
al letters patents for England, Scotland, and
Ireland, and the plantations in America.—
The great success and demand that is daily
made for these never failing, genuine JESU-
ITS DROPS at 2s. 6d. each bottle; and
SPECIFIC PURGING REMEDY, at 2s.
6d. per pot, which are the most certain, cheap,
pleasant, safe, effectual, and immediate cure
ever discovered for gleets and seminal weak-
nesses both sexes are subject to, though ever so
obstinate, of ever so long continuance, and by
whatever means occasioned, and also for the
venereal disease, from its slightest to its most
malignant symptoms. Likewise, for the gra-
vel, stone in the bladder, and all scorbutic ca-
ses of ever so long a standing; several patients
being deemed incurable, have found relief, af-
ter trying all other medicines; likewise, all
nervous disorders, the gout, rheumatism, and
all disorders in the stomach.
The public may be assured that when the
surprizing and quick efficacy of these medicines
is considered, they are the cheapest remedy e-
ver yet offered to sale.— To prevent counter-
feits, each bottle and pot have J. Wessels and
Co. marked on them, in their own handwrit-
ing, and without which they are not genuine.
To be had at FRANCIS MARSHALL’s
hard-ware shop, being the third shop above
Don’s close, opposite to the Luckenbooths;

Source: The Edinburgh Advertiser, Tuesday 11th February 1772.

Notes: “surprizing” is as in original. The advert continues at great length about the other products available from Francis Marshall’s shop, including coffee mills, best hair powder, mathematical instruments and backgammon tables.