Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup
Originating in New York in the 1840s, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup was a dangerous concoction. Parents often did not realise that it contained morphine, and sadly, as the American Medical Times put it in 1860, were “relieved of all further care of their infants” through its use.
chemist and get a bottle of MRS. WINSLOW’S SOOTHING SYRUP.
It will relieve the poor sufferer immediately. It is perfectly
harmless and pleasant to taste, it produces natural quiet sleep,
by relieving the child from pain, and the little cherub awakes “as
bright as a button.” It soothes the child, it softens the
gums, allays all pain, relieves wind, regulates the bowels,
and is the best known remedy for dysentery and diarrhoea,
whether arising from teething or other causes. Mrs. Winslow’s
Soothing Syrup is sold by Medicine dealers everywhere at 1s. 1½d.
per bottle. Manufactured in New York and at 498, Oxford-
street, London.
Tags: 1870s advertising, history of medicine, opium, quacks, Victorian
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Children
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Yes, some of the cures from the 1800s were truly unique. I wonder what they did when the baby became addicted to morphine?
Hi Geri, thanks for your comment. Babies quite often did become addicted – then they’d get more fractious between doses, so the parents would give them more syrup to quieten them, and so on. I wouldn’t be surprised if the mothers took the occasional sip too!
[...] The key is, conventional wisdom is not the same as reality-based science. Remember, there were a lot of doctors in the not-so-distant past who felt there were no negative health consequences whatsoever involved with smoking, prefrontal lobotomies, or morphine-based children’s teething syrup. [...]
My husband found an old Mrs. Winslow bottle today (nearly perfect condition). He installs water services and digs up old bottles frequently. It seems that people just buried everything back then. I am shocked at how easy it was to locate information on this one. If anyone has more detailed information (date it was banned etc), please contact me at pinkerton1971@optonline.net. Thank you. Your site was very helpful.
What an interesting find, Stacie! This is one of the best-known patent remedies so there is a lot of stuff on the web about it. The product contained morphine up until the beginning of the 20th century (not sure when exactly, but pre-1912). After that the word “Soothing” was removed from the name and it continued to be sold without morphine. It still contained alcohol, potassium bromide, aniseed oil, and was 56.5% sugar!
[...] article on the danger of Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing [...]
Hi every1,
i think that the bottle must be neat looking from being that old. I bought an old book yesterday called uncle toms cabin it has no pictures but inside the back cover it has the advertisement and picture for the winslows advertisement its really old this book. and the advertisement. i was just trying to find out information. thank you 4 your time.
[...] Syrups Image from here. Image from here. Image from [...]
…Considering the medical age this morphine syrup was probably the only real relief from continual suffering some seriously ill children ever got!!!
Yes, I’m sure that was the case. Among the many reasons for people to choose a particular remedy, wanting to relieve a child’s suffering is a very understandable one.