The Quack Doctor

 Although Mr Lewis admits in this ad that the causes of sheep rot were imperfectly understood, he is on the right lines when he refers to “insects in the liver.”

The liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica L. was often noticed in sheep that had died of the rot, but there was a lot of controversy as to whether they were a cause of the disease, or a spontaneously generated symptom.

Back in 1749, Ellis, in his Shepherd’s Sure Guide, wrote of “plaise-worms” (so called from their resemblance to plaice), which, circulating with the blood, make their nest or lodgement in the fountain; that is to say, in the liver of the beast, where, if they cannot be killed, they will eat till they kill the sheep.

Well into the 19th century, however, new theories continued to be proposed, with many agriculturalists believing that some sort of humidity in the air was responsible for the rot. Because the early stages of the disease often caused animals to put on weight and temporarily appear to be in good condition, farmers who recognised the signs would send the sheep to market before they deteriorated, thus putting the diseased meat into the human food chain.

After a devastating outbreak in 1860, the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society published an outstanding essay by James Beart Simmonds, Professor of Cattle Pathology at the Royal Veterinary College, which described the life cycle of the liver fluke and concluded that this was the cause of the rot.

Image: Sheep from the fourth edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon (1885-90)

              To be had of TREWMAN and SON, EXETER.
                                 To FARMERS, &c.
          MR. LEWIS’S incomparable SHEEP-DRENCH.
           An  effectual  and  safe  remedy,  is,  with  confidence,
now  offered  to  the  public, as  a  preventive  of   those  fatal
diseases  incident  to sheep, called the ROT and SCAB. The
true cause of  these  disorders is very imperfectly understood,
many have attributed it  to  moisture,  others  have ascribed it
to a certain principle of putrefaction, both  in  the  air  and  the
grass,  especially  in  May  or  June,  if  the  year  proves  wet,
causing insects in the  liver;  it  is  sometimes  occasioned by
obstructed  and  inspissated  bile.     Before   these   valuable
drenches  were  prepared,  which  never  fail  of a cure, a con-
siderable number of these useful animals  were  lost,  but  the
sheep so affected may now be preserved with so easy an ex-
pense as sixpence per drench.  It  has  been  found  so  bene-
ficial  to  the  farmers  in  Kent  and  Berkshire,  that  it  will  be
adviseable that no gentleman  who  keeps  a  breeding  stock,
should   be   without   it,   as   it   will  if  kept  dry,  be  as  good
at seven years’ end, as when first prepared.
It   is   sold,  wholesale   and   retail,   by   Mr.   Lewis,   No.  9,
Bartholomew-yard,  and  retail  by  Mess. Trewman and Son,
in Exeter,  in  packets  of  one  dozen  each,  at 6s. with direc-
tions  for  using,  where  bills  or  cash sent  to the amount of
the   order,   will  be  duly  attended  to,  and  the  orders  for
warded to any part of England.
   The  under-mentioned  gentlemen  will  attest  the  wonder-
ful  benefit  of  the  above  drench;  J.  Write,  and   A.  West,
esqrs.  Walton;   Mr.  Row,  Lee;   Mr.  D.  Wilson,  and  Mr.
L. Jackson,  Newbury;  Mr.  N.  Cole,  Marlow;  with  many
other respectable gentlemen, too numerous to insert.

Source: Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, Thursday 29 June 1809

Image: Le Baume d’Acier by Louis Leopold Boilly. Courtesy of the US National Library of Medicine.

BEAUTY, HEALTH, and a PEARLY SET
of TEETH, may be preserved to old age, by
the use of BUTLER’s VEGETABLE RESTORA-
TIVE TOOTH-POWDER, a specific for the Tooth
Ach, and its cause, the Scurvy in the Gums.
Of the Properties of this Tooth-Powder.
Its detersive property is just sufficient to clear
away those destructive particles of acid which ge-
nerally adhere to the Gums, and in the interstices of
the Teeth ; healing soreness in the former, and pro-
moting a new Enamel of pearly whiteness, where it
has been injured or corroded.
These distinguishing Characteristics of its sanative
effects and superiority have procured it the unbounded
approbation of the Queen, the Princesses, the Em-
press of Russia, the Duchesses of York, Bedford,
Gordon, Devonshire, Rutland, Lees, and most of the
English and Foreign Nobility, many of whom recom-
mend it with admiration, as a necessary appendage
to the Toilet: it imparts a firmness and beautiful
redness to the Gums–to the Breath the most de-
lectable sweetness, and if used constantly as direct-
ed, will render the Teeth firm and white, and pre-
vent the Tooth-ach from returning to those who
have been liable to its most baneful effects.
Sold by Mr. Butler, No. 4, Cheapside, corner of
St. Paul’s, London, in boxes at 2s. 9d. each, duty
included; also, by Mrs. Jones, at the Office of this
Journal, Spiers, Butler, Munday, and Slatter, Tre-
achers, and Merrick, Oxford; Mercer, Abingdon;
Norton, Henley; Marshall, Wycombe; Loggin,
Aylesbury; Beesley, Banbury; and most Medicine
Venders and Perfumers in every Town.

Source: Jackson’s Oxford Journal, Saturday 18th Feb 1815 

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.

Happy New Year and welcome to The Quack Doctor! For more information about this new blog, please have a look at the About page. I’ll be posting transcripts of historical advertisements for all sorts of weird and wonderful patent medicines, with the aim of building up quite a collection. I’m hoping to post daily for the first fortnight to get it started off, then after that it’ll be two or three times a week. At least, that’s the plan, barring any computer disasters.

For now, though, let’s start with an advert from this day in 1818, for a medicine so powerful it even makes you impervious to the weather…

        SOLD by TREWMAN and Co. Exeter.

THE celebrated ANTI-IMPETIGINES, or

SOLOMON’s DROPS (without mercury, or any

deletarious preparation,) for the cure of the Scurvy, Scro-

fula, Leprosy, and all disorders originating in an impure

state of the blood, strengthen the constitution, purify the

blood, and promote the circulation of the fluids.

They are gentle, and almost imperceptible, in their ope-

ration—the best substitute that has ever been discovered for

that dangerous mineral Mercury, sweetening the blood,

stimulating it to expel all noxious and impure juices, and

giving strength and tone to the nerves, enlivening and in-

vigorating both body and mind.

In the King’s Evil, Stroma or Scrofula, it restores health

and vigour. The directions given with each bottle are

plain, and its application is attended with little or no

trouble. Hail, rain or snow, can be no obstacle to any

person taking this medicine. It is well established as a

fact, that an impure or scrofulous taint will remain in the

habit for years, nay, for generations, undiscovered, and will

invade the noblest organs of the human frame, before the

patient can be aware of his danger. The Anti-Impetigines

strikes at the root, not at the branches, and with this pe-

culiar advantage effects a cure when other medicines fail.

Price 11s. a bottle, or family bottles, containing four at a

11s. for 33s. on which 11s. is saved.

With each bottle is given a copious bill of directions,

and select illustrations of the efficacy of the Anti-Impeti-

gines, or which is more commonly denominated Solomon’s

Drops, the Government label or stamp of which has the

words “SAML. SOLOMON, LIVERPOOL,” engraven

thereon, to protect those who buy from the intrusion of

counterfeit imitations.

Source:  Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post: Or, Plymouth and Cornish Advertiser, Thursday, 1st January, 1818

Note: “Deletarious” and “four at a 11s.” as in original.