The Quack Doctor

The Hull Packet, 1 November 1803

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What is any self-respecting quack to do in the face of criticism?  

The answer in 1804 was exactly the same as it is now – turn nasty and threaten to sue the arse off everyone.  

The name ‘Ching’s Worm Lozenges’ might suggest that this will be an icky-parasite post, but in a way I wish it were. Instead, this story is incredibly sad.  

There were two kinds of lozenge – yellow and brown – that had to be taken at different times of day. Both contained white panacea of mercury. The travelling sales agents, however, were under strict instructions to assure customers that ‘not a single particle’ of mercury was in them.  

On 4 December 1803, a little boy called Thomas Clayton, aged 3, was given the Lozenges, followed three days later by a repeat dose. He went into a high state of salivation – one of the symptoms of mercury poisoning. His parents sent for medical help, but to no avail.  

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…the mouth ulcerated, the Teeth dropped out, the Hands contracted, and a Complaint was made, of a pricking Pain in them and the Feet, the Body became flushed and spotted, and at last Black, Convulsions succeeded, attended with a slight delirium; and a Mortification destroyed the Face, which proceeding to the Brain, put a period (after indescribable Torments) to the life of the little sufferer, on Sunday, the 1st instant, Twenty-Eight Days after he had taken the Poisonous Lozenges.  

The coroner’s verdict was ‘Poisoned by Ching’s Worm Lozenges’ and the above description is from a handbill written by the child’s father, also called Thomas Clayton. Clayton was a printer and bookseller, so was able to produce loads of these leaflets and personally deliver them all around his local neighbourhood in Kingston-upon-Hull. In them, he noted that the main Hull papers (the Packet and the Advertiser) had ignored both the death and the coroner’s verdict – probably because they received so much advertising revenue from Ching’s.  

John Ching himself had died in about 1800. The business was ostensibly carried on by his widow, but really came under the control of a dodgy cove called Mr Butler.  

Signing himself R. Ching, Butler responded with a broadside of his own, attacking the grieving father and threatening to prosecute him for publishing the case. He called Clayton’s words ‘malicious invective,’ ‘AN INFAMOUS ASSERTION and ABOMINABLE FALSEHOOD,’ and said he had ‘FLAGRANTLY LIBELLED TRUTH.’ These handbills were printed by Robert Peck of the Hull Packet – who, like many newspaper printers, was a vendor of patent remedies and was firmly on Butler’s side.  

I don’t know whether Clayton’s grief and campaigning activities led him to neglect his business or whether he was already in financial trouble, but he was declared bankrupt about a month after his son’s death. Although the newspapers hadn’t reported the poisoning, they were quick to advertise the sale of all the Claytons’ property. In a particular act of despicableness, Robert Peck allegedly turned up at the sale and boasted to Mrs Clayton that her husband would not get away with the libel.  

Clayton wanted to take the precaution of getting a written copy of the coroner’s verdict, but when he went to pick it up, he discovered that the coroner ‘had not time’ to do it. The Deputy Town Clerk was equally unhelpful, but it turned out that Butler was all talk and never went ahead with the prosecution.  

By 1805 Clayton must have managed to get back in business as a printer, because he published An Essay on Quackery, and the dreadful consequences arising from taking advertised medicines; with remarks on their Fatal Effects, with an account of a recent death occasioned by a Quack medicine. The author is anonymous and is usually assumed to be Thomas Clayton himself, but I believe it to be his brother, M. J. Clayton. The 140-page essay appears cobbled together, is understandably emotional, and it reproduces lots of excerpts from other writers, but it also offers a measured, sensible list of recommendations for stamping out quackery by replacing the government’s quack-related income with duties on other activities.  

This government revenue was substantial and goes a long way towards explaining why dangerous medicines were allowed to continue. Each bottle or packet had to carry a stamp – some quacks portrayed this as being a mark of official approval but, like most things in life, it was solely a way for the government to get money. I only have figures for 1839, but at that point the government was making approximately £49,300 per year from stamp duty, advertising duty, licences, patents and paper duty (for the wrappers that many remedies were sold in). It’s an awful lot of money, but the price paid by families like the Claytons was much greater.  

In a letter to the Medical Observer, the Essay author is exaggeratedly humble about his literary talents, but hints at attempts to suppress the book, and confesses himself chagrined at the lack of interest from the medical faculty. He also says that his own two children narrowly escaped the same fate as little Thomas, and so the Essay‘s chilling curse on Butler clearly comes from the heart:  

Dire conscience all thy guilty dreams affright,
With the most solemn horrors of the night.
The screams of infants ever fill thy ears,
And injured heav’n be deaf to all thy prayers.  

WHITEHEAD’S
ESSENCE OF MUSTARD.
—–
CHILBLAINS are prevented from breaking, and their tormenting itching instantly removed, by WHITEHEAD’s ESSENCE of MUSTARD, universally esteemed for its extraordinary efficacy in Rheumatisms, Palsies, Gouty Affections, and Complaints of the Stomach; but where this certain remedy has been unknown or neglected, and the Chilblains have actually suppurated, or broke, Whitehead’s Family Cerate will ease the pain, and very speedily heal them. They are prepared and sold by R. JOHNSTON, Apothecary, 15, Greek-street, Soho, London: the Essence and Pills at 2s. 9d. each;—the Cerate, at 1s. 1½d. They are also sold by the Printer of this Paper, at the HULL PACKET OFFICE, in Scale Lane, Hull, and by every medicine vender in the United Kingdom. The genuine has a black ink stamp, with the name of R. Johnston inserted on it.
The severest Sprains and Bruises are cured by a few applications of the Fluid Essence.

Source: The Hull Packet, 15 April 1806

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I tend to avoid blogging about the most widely advertised remedies because chances are they’ve already been researched by someone else, and there’s no point in a non-academic, sleep-deprived novelist trying to add anything to the sum of knowledge. So I’ve been skimming over the Whitehead’s Essence ads for ages. They crop up so often in early 19th-century newspapers that I became inured to them – probably much like early 19th-century newspaper readers. I now discover that the product inspired a satire too funny to ignore.

Whitehead’s Essence was patented in 1798, but had been been around for a few years by then. As I’ve mentioned before, one of the conditions of obtaining a patent was that the inventor had to file a specification detailing how to make the product. No one, however, would necessarily test out the recipe, so it was possible to get away with vague or nonsensical instructions. The author of the 1805 publication Essays on Quackery encountered this when he planned to use patents to find out the composition of various remedies. An acquaintance advised him not to bother:  ‘Your recipes on specifications in the patent office will assuredly err, for, although I believe each is given in with the solemnity of an oath, it is doubtful whether any one be true.’

Robert Johnston, owner of the Essence of Mustard, submitted a long and complicated process that would be impossible to replicate without losing the will to live. The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal called it ‘a motley group of ingredients,’ and The Medical Observer asked ‘Does not the grant of a patent for such a most absurd and ridiculous recipe, casts (sic) an indelible disgrace on our country?’ Rather than granting Johnston a patent, they said, the government should have ‘granted a warrant for taking him into custody, and inflicted on him some condign punishment.’

The real recipe was much simpler – oil of turpentine with spirit of rosemary and camphor, plus a small quantity of flour of mustard. Turpentine had long been used as a remedy for chilblains, so there wasn’t much new about this product, but it was famous enough to be known in the US within a few years of being established. And that’s where an amusing parody appeared in March 1798.

The article in Philadelphia’s Weekly Magazine is purportedly a letter from a farrier who has just discovered a wonderful remedy – Blackhead’s Essence of Pitchfork. The writer first condemns the medical profession for charging a fortune for ‘words and wind’:

Apply to a physician—what does he do for you? He feels your pulse; tells you, what you knew before, that you are sick ; takes the fee ; and then packs you off to the apothecary. How long will people be gulled by these men!

He then goes on to introduce the Essence of Pitchfork:

It has been universally acknowledged, that pitchforks are very useful and essential, but rather irritating and inconvenient when taken in their natural state.

The Essence would cure everything, including wooden legs and drowning, and was available in two forms, ‘viz. Sharp, powerful steel points, for internal use, and hickory staff for external’  - a reference to Whitehead’s being available as both a topical preparation and as pills. The article concludes with these testimonials, mocking the whole breed of advertisers who used exaggerated stories to try and sell their remedies:

I DO hereby solemnly declare and affirm, that, as I was walking up Arch-street in January last, I slipped, and tumbled to pieces: By a judicious and timely application of Blackhead’s Essence of Pitchfork, the parts were gathered together, without the loss of a single member.
Jedediah Scarramouch
March 14, 1798

HAVING died some time ago, to the great grief of my dear wife, she applied Blackhead’s Essence of Pitchfork, in staff, to my poor corse. Symptoms of returning life soon appeared, and in a few weeks I was all alive.
Count Obadiah.
March, 1798.

I DO hereby certify, that I used to be as thin and poor as a snake, and was subject to being drowned. I purchased some of Blackhead’s Essence of Pitchfork, and, in due season, grew as fat as a pig, and have never been drowned since.
Joban Nincum.
March, 1798.

DELICACY of Complexion.—The incomparable BLOOM of NINON DE L’ENCLOS, superior to any thing yet discovered for rendering the skin soft, smooth, and beautiful in the extreme. Its wonderful effects in removing freckles, morphews, worms, &c. justly entitle it to that preference so long bestowed on it by the most elegant beauties in this kingdom. It is particularly recommended for the hands and arms, bestowing on them a delicacy and whiteness, superior to any thing vended for similar purposes.—Sold only by Mr. Golding, 42, Cornhill; Mr. Overton, 47, Bond-street; Mr. Wright, Wade’s Passage, Bath; and Miss Grigson, Liverpool; in bottles 4s. each.

Source: The Times, 20 June 1805

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The story behind the Bloom suggested it had been introduced to Britain in 1782 by Mademoiselle Louisa Pigout of Paris, who appointed London agents to reach the British market. She credited the product for the beauty of famed 17th-century writer and courtesan Anne (nicknamed Ninon) de L’Enclos, who had handed down the recipe. Another of Pigout’s claims was that the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, would use no other cosmetic.

A 1784 advert gave detailed instructions for use:

Let the skin be thoroughly cleansed with Almond Washball, or oatmeal. Being wiped perfectly dry, shake the bottle exceeding well, and immediately pour a little of the fluid into a cup, and with a fine cloth rub it on the skin, more or less, as you please, till it is quite absorbed. Lastly, gently wipe the face with a soft flannel. Two or three bottles, and frequently less, will evince the pre-eminence of its virtues, beyond the possibility of a doubt.

If Ninon (right) really employed this preparation, she did well to survive to the age of 84. It comprised almond emulsion, essence of lavender and white lead.

White lead (lead carbonate) had been used in cosmetics since antiquity. In Ninon’s time and well into the 18th century it commonly took the form of ceruse – a mixture of the compound with vinegar. In 1756, Adam Fitz-Adam’s periodical The World noted that women who used ceruse

doe quickly become withered and grey-headed, because this doth so mightily dry up the natural moysture of their flesh: and if any give not credit to my report let them but observe such as have used it, and I doubt not but they will easyly be satisfied.

This was positively complimentary compared with Fitz-Adam’s description of women who used corrosive sublimate, but I’ll keep that for another time. In 1786 a correspondent to the Daily Universal Register (the forerunner of The Times) was equally disapproving of cosmetics in this satirical ‘receipt for making a fashionable lady’:

…viz. two pounds of cork, five yards of whalebone, one pound of hair, six pounds of wool or cotton, two drams of white lead, and half a dram of rouge—these, with a proper quantity of bones for the skeleton, and flesh and blood for the muscles, with the skin of a mouse for eye brows, a pound of powder, and half a pound of pomatum, will compleat the business.

The Monthly Gazette of Health – a publication I am very fond of but accept as rather subjective – estimated the cost of ingredients for a bottle of  ‘Bloom’ as 1d, and surmised that it was made in London, not Paris.

‘Bloom of Ninon,’ was the name of a Victorian face powder too, but this was a completely different product, consisting of precipitated chalk, talc, bismuth subcarbonate, zinc oxide and starch, perfumed with orris and rose essences. The use of lead cosmetics, however, continued throughout the 19th century, particularly in the theatre. In the 1850s, a writer in the Medical Times and Gazette described the case of a clown suffering from colic as a result of using lead carbonate mixed in lard. On his recovery he planned to continue using it because nothing else would create the desired whitening effect, but was eventually persuaded to convert to zinc oxide.

Medical jurisprudence writer Alfred S. Taylor described the symptoms of chronic lead poisoning as follows:

There is first pain, with a sense of sinking commonly in or about the region of the umbilicus. Next to pain there is obstinate constipation, retraction of the abdominal parietes, loss of appetite, thirst, foetid odour of the breath, and general emaciation. The skin acquires a yellowish or earthy colour, and the patient experiences a saccharine, styptic, or astringent taste in the mouth. A symptom of a peculiar nature has been pointed out by the late Dr. Burton and others (Med. Gaz. xxv. 687), namely, blueness of the edges of the gums, where these join the bodies of the teeth : the teeth are of a brownish colour.

Although the idea of historical ladies sacrificing their lives to vanity makes a good story, confirmed cases of death by cosmetics were few and far between. Reported instances of lead poisoning usually involved accidental ingestion via contaminated foodstuffs or water, or prolonged exposure to lead in the trades of house-painting and colour grinding – the symptoms of chronic poisoning were commonly known as painter’s colic.

Even so, it was not a great idea to put lead on your face. As the Monthly Gazette said of the Bloom of Ninon in 1819:

The repeated application of lead to the skin of the face, instead of animating the countenance, would assuredly, by paralysing the nerves, render it inanimate.

Therefore, it was nothing like any beauty treatments that are available today.

FOR Beautifying and Preserving the TEETH.—LARDNER’s superior prepared CHARCOAL, so much recommended by the Faculty for its safe and antiseptic properties, for cleaning, preserving, and making the teeth beautifully white, in boxes at 2s. and 2s. 9d. each; and Mouth Solution, for curing the scurvy, bracing the gums, preventing the tooth ach, and unpleasant breath, in bottles at 2s. 9d. and 5s. 6d. each. From the great reputation the above preparations have acquired, many imitations are daily offered for sale: the true only are signed “Edmund Lardner” on the label. It is sold wholesale and retail, corner of Albany, Piccadilly; and retail by Newbery, St. Paul’s Church-yard; Rigge, Cheapside; Vade, Cornhill; Davison and Son, Fleet-street; Bacon, Oxford-street; Bailey and Blew, Cockspur-street; and most venders of genuine medicines.

Source: The Times, 22 February 1809

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Nowadays we know that to discover the secret of teeth-whitening, you have to be a single mum, but at the turn of the 19th century it was an ordinary chemist, Edmund Lardner, who introduced this new dentifrice to the public.

Charcoal had long been known as a tooth-whitener, but more so in the East than in this country, and Lardner’s attempts to encourage British people to use it met with approval from physicians.

In 1805 his company published a 3-page pamphlet extolling charcoal’s virtues.

It possesses the desirable qualities of rendering the teeth beautifully white; destroying the fætor arising from carious teeth, which contaminates the breath; removing the scurvy from the gums, and stopping the progress of the decay of the teeth, while, at the same time, it is incapable of either chemically or mechanically injuring the enamel.

A year later, one of Lardner’s shopmen, Alexander Blake, left the company and began selling his own version of the tooth powder, still using Lardner’s name. Lardner claimed to have improved the original product and also upped his competitive game by introducing a new Concentrated Solution of Charcoal.

His enthusiastic promotion of charcoal for the teeth was perfectly acceptable. The only odd thing was that his products didn’t actually contain much of it. The Prepared Charcoal was mainly powdered chalk, with a small amount of genuine charcoal or ivory black (a pigment made from charred animal bones) to darken it. The Concentrated Solution was a spirituous infusion of roses and myrrh, and was later renamed the Mouth Solution. The Medical Observer, while broadly sympathetic to Lardner as a reputable druggist, commented

In what respect roses and myrrh resemble charcoal, we know not,

while The London Medical and Surgical Spectator saw nothing wrong with the solution itself but objected to the false name.

The products remained popular and were used by Lord Byron, who asked his friend Douglas Kinnaird to send him a supply while he was in Venice in 1818. Activated charcoal is still known today as a tooth whitener and odour neutraliser, and Korean and Japanese companies have recently introduced it in a fascinatingly unappealing toothpaste form.

Source: The Morning Chronicle, 27 August 1803

THE PURE DROPS of LIFE; or, Vegetable Extract, prepared only by T. M. Lucas, V.D.M. Road, near Bath. Sold, by special appointment, at Messrs. H. and W. Humphries, No. 87, Fleet-street; No. 2, Haymarket; Mr. G. Long, No. 13, Great Newport street, Long Acre; Mr. Tabart, 157, New Bond -street; Mr. Palley, Newington Causeway; Mr. Leathwait, Royal Exchange; and by the principal Venders of genuine Medicines in the United Kingdoms; in Bottles at 2s. 9d. 6s. 11s. and 22s. each.—N.B. There is a saving of 1s. on the 11s. and 5s. on the 22s. Bottles
REV. CHARLES GREENLY, TO MR. LUCAS.
James’s-street, Bath, May 4th 1800
Sir—For several months I have been much afflicted with a very great hoarseness; I tried several things for relief, but to no purpose; at last I was prevailed upon to take your Pure Drops of Life; I soon found relief, and I bless God, after taking a few bottles, my hoarseness was entirely removed. I believe your drops to be a very precious cordial. I have recommended them to several, and shall continue to recommend them, and am your affectionate                                                                                                                       CHARLES GREENLY.

………………………………………………………………………….

Hoarseness was just one complaint that would supposedly surrender to the Pure Drops of Life. Mr Lucas also advertised them as being efficacious against colds, coughs, liver complaints, cholera morbus (this term could apply to a variety of gastrointestinal afflictions), palpitations, nervous affections, incubus (nightmares), and ‘indispositions of females’. He recommended them to singers and public speakers, saying ‘this Discovery is the greatest ever known, for clearing the voice, strengthening the lungs, and animating the whole frame.’

The ingredients included ‘a great variety of Flowers, Fruits, Seeds, &c.,’ so an endorsement from über-botanist Sir Joseph Banks was just the thing to give the Drops credibility. In a promotional pamphlet, Lucas claimed that he had visited Sir Joseph, who had taken a glass of the remedy and pronounced it an excellent carminative (anti-fart medicine). From this, Lucas concluded that:

If the pure drops of life are approved by the first botanist in the world, what family would be without them?

The key word is, of course, ‘if’. In 1807, a new anti-quackery publication called The Medical Observer wrote to Sir Joseph (after some prompting from a reader) for his version of events. He replied:

I am much too well convinced of the unavoidable necessity of regular medical advice, in the administration of every medicine whatever, to have on any occasion allowed my name to be used as a recommendation of any nostrums or quack medicines.

He had never seen Mr Lucas’s advertisements and the use of his name was unauthorised. The wording doesn’t rule out the possibility that Mr Lucas did encounter Sir Joseph at some point, with the two parties perhaps interpreting the meeting differently, but  Sir Joseph’s view was:

I certainly consider it a crime against the public, to recommend to them, by false pretences, or by deceit of any kind, medicines or any other matters or things.

The Medical Observer also drew attention to the letters V.D.M. after Lucas’s name – a suffix that might have appeared to the unwary to be a medical qualification, but meant Verbi Dei Minister – Minister of the Divine Word. This was a fairly flexible designation that people could adopt to show their dedication to preaching the Gospel, without necessarily having a theology degree or being ordained in the Church of England. It was useful for nonconformist preachers who had a strong commitment to God but nothing much ‘official’ to back it up (er… a bit like how I claim to be a historian just because I research history a lot, I suppose!)

Some of Lucas’s ads refer the reader to an article in the Evangelical Magazine that supported his claims. In fact, this was just another advert that he wrote himself. I don’t know whether Lucas was a genuine preacher but I suspect he was, and probably didn’t see any contradiction between his calling and his rather dubious methods of promoting his invention.

The Medical Observer mentions the wider problem of quacks using fake or irrelevant qualifications to impress the punters. It tells of one such character who, as well as claiming to be an M.D., put E.D.   A.T.W.   D.A.  after his name. Although I wouldn’t put it past the editors to have embellished this story, it’s worth repeating what the letters stood for:
E.D. – Electrical Doctor
A.T.W. – Author of a Treatise on Worms
D.A. – Donor of Advice

There – I think everyone on the planet qualifies as a D.A. Congratulations!

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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.

In Autumn 1800, the proprietors of this remedy, J. Barclay & Son, who had taken over the patent in the 1780s, found it necessary to change the name to Barclay’s Asthmatic Candy. According to them, the death of Mr Jackson had “afforded an opportunity for unprincipled persons to assume his name, to put off their pernicious compositions.” The product remained on sale for at least another 60 years.

I don’t know the exact ingredients of this one, but similar medicines for chest complaints contained ipecahuana, sugar and licorice – and, later, morphine.

                        JACKSON’s ASTHMATIC CANDY
        The superior efficacy of JACKSON’s ASTHMATIC
        CANDY, in complaints of the stomach and lungs, ari-
sing from indigestion and flatulency, has been ascertained by the
experience of several years. Its peculiar success in Coughs and
Colds, and in alleviating the most alarming complaints inci-
dent to persons of gouty, relaxed, or asthmatic habit, (which
complaints are more particularly prevalent in the foggy and
damp season of the winter months) is now universally ac-
knowledged; and, considering it as a medicine in general use,
it would have been unnecessary for the proprietor to have
repeated his advertisement so often, had not some persons
lately obtruded upon the public, in a spurious medicine under
the same name.
It becomes, therefore, necessary to offer this caution, by re-
spectfully informing the Public, that the genuine Medicine is
signed on the stamp by J. BARCLAY, the sole proprietor, and
may be had as usual, at No. 95, Fleet Market, London, five
doors from Fleet Street, in boxes at 2s. 6d. and 1s. 1½d. each,
stamp duty included.
It may also be had, by appointment of the Proprietor, of
                      R. SCOTT, APOTHECARY,
                WATSON & CO. AND J BAXTER,
                       South Bridge, Edinburgh;
Mackintosh & Co. Inverness                   W. Anderson, Stirling
R. Morrison & Son, Perth                        A. Barry, Paisley
J. Allan, Dundee                                       E. Humble, Newcastle
J. Mennons, Glasgow                              F. Jolly, Carlisle
And by one or more reputable shopkeepers in most towns
                                 of the kingdom.
                       Also may be had as above
JACKSON’s PATENT OINTMENT for the ITCH, an in-
fallible cure in thirty-six hours—Jackson’s Patent Tincture
for the Rheumatism, Gravel, Stone, Bruises, Sprains &c.—
Jackson’s British Tooth Powder—Jackson’s celebrated Corn
Salve—Waite’s Genuine Worm Nuts, by Howard and E-
vans, &c.

Source: The Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh) Thursday 16 Jan 1800

 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: Portrait of Madame Récamier, by François Pascal Simon Gérard

FEMALE ATTRACTION

TO    obviate    the    unpleasant    sensation    experienced    by
those    Ladies    who    may    have    SUPERFLUOUS     HAIRS
growing  on  the  Face  or Arms, and to render their persons more
lovely   and   attractive,   was   the  chief  motive  that  induced  the
Proprietor   of    ALFRED’s    ROYAL    COMPOSITION    to   sub-
mit  that  important  Discovery  to  the  test  and  Patronage  of the
Female World. How far he  has  succeeded  in  the  attainment  of
his wishes  is  best  shewn  by  the  numerous  applications  which
continue to be made  from  the  most  distinguished  in  the  higher
circles for  rank,  beauty,  and  fashion.  This  Composition  (which
was  first  prepared  for  the  late  Queen  of  France)  not  only  re-
moves  and  eradicates  all  Superfluous  Hairs from the Face and
Arms, but renders the Skin more delicate  and  fair,  giving  to  the
complexion and features a new  portion  of  loveliness  and  attrac-
tion.   The   Proprietor   finding   a   considerable   increase  in  the
sale,   has   relinquished   the   Retail  Branch,  and  appointed the
Composition to be sold in packets, at 5s. 6d. and 2s. 9d. each, by
Messrs. Gattie and Lea, No.  52,  New  Bond-street;  Davison  and
Son,  No.  59,  Fleet-street;  Kieth,  No.  30,  Haymarket; Bowman,
No.   102,   Bond-street;   Vickery,   Tavistock-street;    Cryer,  No.
68,   Cornhill;   and   Elliott,   Perfumer,   Rathbone-place.   Whole-
sale by Berry and Main, Greek-street, Soho.

Source: The Morning Chronicle (London), Tuesday 9th March 1802

 The one and only benefit of this product was that it made guys wash …

                 BY   ROYAL  AUTHORITY

GENERAL SAFETY, or YORK MEDI-
CINAL  SOAP,   an    infallible    Prevention   against
Venereal  Infection;  a  Preparation,  though  simple,  yet  so
efficacious,  as  to  render  it  of  the  utmost  importance  to
every  one  who  values  Health;  and  from  its  peculiar  pro-
perties  as a bracer, must prove highly beneficial as well  as
certain.
    Sold  Wholesale  and  Retail  by  Heath  and  Co.  at  their
Medicinal  Office,  No. 4, Bell-yard,  Fleet-street, in boxes  at
2s  6d.  and  5s.  duty  included;   and  by  their  appointment
at Mr. THOMAS BELAM’s, Portsmouth.
    This  specific,  from  its  superior  cleansing   powers   and
ready use, may justly be considered the  happiest  discovery
Medical  Research  has  provided  against so baneful  a  de-
stroyer.  Just  published,  and may be had as above, a  brief
Treatise  on  the  destructive  tendency  of the Venereal Dis-
ease;  containing  some  approved  Receipts for  the  cure  of
that   disorder,   price   Sixpence.   Gentlemen   inclosing   a
Seven  Shilling  Piece,  may  have  the  amount  sent  to  any
part of the kingdom.

Source: The Portsmouth Telegraph, or Mottley’s Naval and Military Journal, Monday 2nd March 1801