The Quack Doctor

Source: The General Advertiser, 19 Jan 1748

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I mentioned the Purging Sugar Plumbs for Worms early in the life of this blog, but didn’t include much beyond the ad itself, and I hardly had any readers then anyway, so I think it’s worth revisiting – especially as this advert is so delightfully worded and cheerfully revolting.

At some point in the early 1740s, a Mr Burchell took over the ownership of another remedy, the Anodyne Necklace, which had been on sale for decades as a cure for babies’ teething pain. He built up his business on this and the worm remedy, fending off imitators with some innovative advertising methods – not least the eye-catching newspaper ads showing exactly what might be gnawing at your intestines (the inclusion of the insect thing on the right is an inspired bit of added horror).

One of Burchell’s methods was to entice punters to his premises by giving away free almanacks and pamphlets. In 1750 he was quick to exploit the fear caused by the earth tremors that had shaken London, by publishing:

ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE
Much Worse than the Two Last. When, and What Time to be Expected? With a Surer SAFEGUARD, Against it, than Going Out of Town. And, Why the Last Two EARTHQUAKES happened to be in this one particular Jubilee Year, more than in Any other Year?

The Almanack referred to in the ad above is intriguing – what could it contain that other almanacks left out? Although the content changed each year, a 1750 ad goes into more detail:

In the Month of Lent, is a large LIST of Other Fasters from FLESH CONVERSATION as well as FLESH DIET, Such as MISERS, WORN-OUT Sinners, etc.
The Miser’s CHAST, ’cause he won’t PAY a Wh—re
The Worn-Out’s CHAST, ’cause He can Sin NO MORE
And,  All the Other Months, have also their OWN proper TIMELY Observations, Not to be Met With, in Any of the COMMON ALMANACKS, but Only in THIS One, Which Tells What THEY Don’t.

Fun for all the family, by the sounds of it.

Later in the 18th century, the theme of free stuff continued, with Basil Burchell (who I think was the son of the original proprietor, but I’m not sure) issuing coin-like advertising tokens with the sugar plumbs on one side and the Anodyne Necklace on the other (he used the spelling ‘sugar plumbs’ in his ads too). The tokens usually had a hole in them so they could be worn on a ribbon.

Worm medicines were a good bet for a quack, because although intestinal worms were very common, especially in young children, this didn’t make them any nicer to have than they would be nowadays. The symptoms of untreated worm infestations were bad enough, but this was accompanied by the downright horror of being inhabited by living creatures. J Cook, a correspondent to the London Magazine in 1768, gave a description of the main varieties:

There are three sorts of worms which generally infest the human body. The round ones, the broad ones, and ascarides. Sometimes, but seldom, anomalous ones are discharged, viz. horned, hairy, with four feet, with two heads, with three, and some with four forked tails, etc.

The very thought of what might be in there led some people to go to extraordinary lengths to get rid of them, and I will blog about a couple of examples in my next post.

By the KING’S Royal Letters Patent,

SCHWANBERG’s

LIQUID SHELL,

DAILY confirmed, by Experience, not only
to be a sure DISSOLVENT for the

STONE and GRAVEL,

but a most powerful, safe, and efficacious Medicine in the Spasmodic and Windy Cholic, Pains in the Breast, Hypochondriac Disease, and all Kinds of Flatulences, Diarræa, or Looseness; Cardialgia, or Heart-burn; Acid Eructations, or sour Belchings; Strangury, or when the Water is made by little and little; Gripes, Fevers, and Convulsions in young Children, and all those Uneasinesses which they are subject to from Acidities, the well-known
Cause of most of their Disorders.
By Vertue of the King’s Royal Letters Patent, I appoint Mess. William and Cluer Dicey and Comp at Dr. Bateman’s Warehouse, in Bow-Church-Yard, London, my only Venders of the LIQUID SHELL,
to whom all Persons are desired to apply for the same.
………………………………………………………………W. BAKER.
Sold also (Retale only) at my House in Helmet-Court, near Katherine-Street in the Strand, at 1s. 6d. the Vial; sealed, as in the Margin, with Baron SCHWANBERG’s Coat of Arms; over it there are these words; BY THE KING’S PATENT; and under-neath, in a Scroll, LIQUID SHELL; where, and at Dr. Bateman’s Warehouse aforesaid, may be had, SCHWANBERG’s UNIVERSAL POWDER, for the speedy curing Acute and Inflammatory Fevers, &c, Price 2s. the Parcel.

***The great Demand for this DISSOLVENT since the Publication of the Patent, has obliged the Proprietor to enlarge the Apparatus in his Elaboratory, by which Means he prepares it in greater Quantities than he could heretofore; and being willing that every afflicted Person may be benefited thereby, the Vials now contain above double the Quantity at the same Price.

Source: The Whitehall Evening Post, or, London Intelligencer, 19 December 1749

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More common than today because of poorer nutrition and untreated urinary tract infections, bladder stones could be a nightmare for the sufferer. When they were causing pain and stoppage of the urine, something had to be done – but faced with the prospect of an agonising operation, patients can hardly be blamed for trying out dissolvent medicines like this one.

William, Baron Schwanberg, according to his epitaph in a 1755 collection compiled by W Toldervy, was a nobleman of Mecklenberg in Germany, born c.1686. The epitaph presents him in glowing terms, but then it’s an epitaph, so I suppose it would:

No man had more honour, honesty,
Or integrity ;
And his Humanity and Benevolence
Gain’d him the Love and Esteem,
As his Learning excited the
Admiration of the World!
But a too arduous application
In studying the Sciences
Shortened his Valuable Life.

He invented not only the Liquid Shell but also a Fever Powder and a cure for scurvy called the Aurum Horizontale Pill. The Fever Powder is of particular interest because Schwanberg had some dealings with a certain Robert James.

Schwanberg died in 1744, and a few years later James was granted a patent for his own Fever Powders, which went on to become one of the most successful patent medicines of all time. James managed to keep the composition of his powders secret, by ambiguously wording the patent specification, but to Schwanberg’s administrator Walter Baker, the case was clear – James had stolen the recipe. A cartoon of the time shows James pickpocketing the Powders from their proprietor, and preparing to stab him in the back, but although Baker petitioned the King to revoke the patent, he was unsuccessful.

Detail from 'A Reply for the present to the Unknown Author of Villany Detected' (1754), reproduced in England under the House of Hanover by Thomas Wright (1848)

In 1747, an anonymous correspondent to the Gentleman’s Magazine sent in an account of his analysis of the Liquid Shell, an excerpt of which is as follows:

Having, therefore, procured some of the Liquid Shell, which is a clear transparent liquor, put into it a human stone formed in the urinary passages, upon which a very white sediment precipitated ; and there was the like white sediment when a few drops of spirit of hartshorn were dripped into some of the same liquor ; which fully proves that it was in both cases the lime of burnt shell, and not the parts of the dissolved stone, as is pretended; for there was no stone put in with the spirit of hartshorn. Besides, this precipitated matter is much too white to be any part of dissolved stones.

The correspondent went on to suggest that the white sediment in patients’ urine after taking the medicine was not the stone breaking apart, but also the residue of lime.

The correspondent was later identified in the Gentleman’s Magazine of 1764 as eminent scientist Dr Stephen Hales (D.D. rather than M.D.). Hales has another role in the history of bladder stone remedies – he was on a government committee that investigated, and ultimately approved of, Joanna Stephens’ famous treatment. This preparation netted its maker £5000 from the government, who could not find a cheaper way of persuading her to reveal the recipe. The secret ingredients turned out to be soap, eggshells, snails, and several herbs.

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For anyone interested, I’ve put a transcript of a description of cutting for the stone on a separate page. Not suitable for squeamish persons, especially men.

MR. ELIAS GROVES, of Clapham, attests, that he was afflicted upwards of a Year and half with a most violent windy Disorder, to so great a Degree, that the Wind would roll about, as it were, all over his Body, and occasion him frequently to be discharging it in a surprising Manner out of his Mouth for ten Hours together. This most grievous Complaint wasted him away as if in an Atrophy, and cause a great Sinking of his Spirits: He had the Advice, and followed the Prescriptions of two eminent Physicians, (as he can make it appear) as well as others, without the least Benefit, until he took Dr. Lowther’s Powders and Drops, the joint Use of which in a short Time entirely remov’d his Complaints.
These Powders and Drops (for the great Invention of which his Majesty honoured Dr. Lowther with his Royal Letters Patent, November 1757) are sold in Six Shilling and Three Shilling Parcels, at Brooke’s Warehouse, Fleet-Street, and Dawson’s Warehouse the foot of Westminster-Bridge; at which last place the Doctor may be consulted gratis every Tuesday from Three to Five, and Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, from Ten to One, at Brooke’s.
These Powders and Drops are incontestably proved to be the greatest Specific ever invented for the Cure of every Species of Fits, Nervous and Paralytick Disorders. Sold also by Mr. Marlow, at the Angel and Crown Tavern, Tunbridge-Wells, as the Waters of that Place are known to be very powerful Deobstruents, by their Chalybeat Virtues. These Powders may be taken in them to great Advantage.

Source: The Whitehall Evening Post or London Intelligencer, 8-11 July 1758

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This advert is quite restrained by William Lowther’s standards – he only mentions the King’s Letters Patent once. Elsewhere he drew even more attention to this supposedly great honour, and called the drops the ‘Royal Specific Anodyne Drops.’ Although references to the patent can come across as a bit pompous, Lowther wasn’t alone in using this method of convincing punters that the medicine was respectable. It was common for vendors to do so, and there was no reason why they shouldn’t, although they were perhaps disingenous in implying that the monarch was a personal fan of the product. The king didn’t need to have tried the remedy – patents were granted for all sorts of things, and although the inventor had to provide a written specification of how the medicine was produced, there was no requirement to prove that it worked or even that it was safe.

The ‘Dawson’s Warehouse’ referred to was a carpet warehouse, and in 1757 Dr Lowther’s Tuesday schedule involved hot-footing it over there from Brooke’s in Fleet Street, in time to start his consultations at 2pm. In 1758 he began giving himself an extra hour – perhaps he needed time to grab something to eat on the way.

Although the Powders (patented before the Drops, in June 1755) were also advertised as an anti-epileptic medicine, there was a considerable list of disorders they claimed to help, as related in the London Gazette in June 1757 (spellings and punctuation as in original):

Tremblings, Faintings, Swoonings, Sick Qualms, Reachings, Loathings, lost Appetites, bad Digestion, weak Nerves, Flutterings, Palpitations, Anxieties, confused Thoughts, Lethargies, dull melancholic Dispositions, Vapours, low Spirits, Restlessness, Weariness, Frightful Dreams, Pains in the Head and Stomach, Vertigo’s, Swimings, Giddiness, Dizziness, Dimness, Flushings, the Cramp, Contractions, sudden Catchings, Obstructions, disorders incident to the Fair Sex, and, in fine, the whole train of Fits, Nervous and Paralitic Complaints.

In 1771 Lowther published a pamphlet called A Dissertation on the Dropsy; distinguishing the different species of dropsy, the various causes of the disorder, and the most effectual method of cure. The Monthly Review‘s verdict (shown here in its entirety) was rather dismissive:

This dissertation is full of hard words and cramp phrases, and is written with a view to celebrate the great and unknown virtues of Dr. Lowther’s diuretic drops.

Lowther’s medicine was still well-known enough in the 1780s to warrant it a place in a satirical poem about newspapers, published in The Town and Country Magazine:

Here puffing empirics, in a pompous style
Excite “the passing tribute of a smile”

In Lowther’s far-famed powders you will find
(Forget not those which are prepar’d by Hinde)
Virtues most potent, powerful to cure
The worst diseases men can here endure
Whoe’er on them will, confident, rely
May Death’s dragoons for numerous years defy.

Googling for info on this remedy will get you quite a few results giving some variant on:

“Dr.” Sibley, an English patent medicine seller of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, even went so far as to claim that his Reanimating Solar Tincture would, as the name implies, “restore life in the event of sudden death”.

I just added to that number by quoting good ol’ Wikipedia there, but I was quite surprised at the number of times this information is repeated across the web, because:

a.) He was called Sibly, not Sibley. It sounds nit-picky to point this out, but I think it’s important because it doesn’t take an awful lot of effort to verify it, and yet that effort is clearly too much for some. I like Wikipedia – it’s a useful resource as a starting point, but come on people – a few seconds of further investigation aren’t going to bring on, well… sudden death or anything.

b.) He did have an actual medical degree, hence no need for scare-quotes round the word “Dr.” Ebenezer Sibly appears in Officers and Graduates of University & King’s College, Aberdeen MVD-MDCCCLX as having received his MD in 1792. He probably paid for it, but so did many reputable doctors of the time. He was also a well-read and prolific writer on medicine and astrology, on which see A G Debus’ paper, Scientific Truth and occult tradition: the Medical World of Ebenezer Sibly.

So, did Dr. Sibly claim to be able to restore life? At face value, yes – the claim quoted on Wikipedia was indeed the headline used on some of his early ads in the 1790s:

RESTORATION of LIFE in CASES of SUDDEN DEATH.—For this benevolent purpose, Dr. SIBLY’s RE-ANIMATING SOLAR TINCTURE, supersedes every art and invention. In all circumstances of suicide, or sudden death, whether by blows, fits, falls, suffocation, strangulation, drowning, apoplexy, thunder and lightning, assassination, duelling, &c., immediate recourse should be had to this medicine, which will not fail to restore life, provided the organs and juices are in a fit disposition for it, which they undoubtedly are much oftener than is imagined. Let me, therefore, entreat an anxious perseverance in this sublimest of all charities—the attempt to recover perishing lives. Upon all such emergencies, Dr. Sibly will be ready to attend the meanest individual; and in the interim he begs to call the attention of all persons to this Medicine, who labour under any disorders arising from an unwholesome state of the air; whose blood has been contaminated by hot climates or scrophulous taints; whose enfeebled constitutions require immediate aid. They will find it an infallible, and almost immediate cure.
Sold, by the Doctor’s appointment, at Mr. Williams’s, perfumer to his Majesty, No. 41, Pall-mall; at Mevin’s perfumery warehouse, No. 72, New Bond-street; at the Doctor’s house, in Titchfield-street, Cavendish-square; and at the British directory-office, Ave Maria-lane, St. Paul’s price 13s the large, and 7s 6d. the small bottles, duty included.
N.B. A Treatise on the virtues and efficacy of the Medicine may be had gratis where it is sold.

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Source: The Times, Monday 4 March 1793

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Taken in isolation, the claims are amusingly far-fetched. When you consider, however, the difficulty of determining death, and the contemporary anecdotes about people waking up on the point of burial, they are not as ridiculous as they sound. The advert does clarify that the medicine will work “provided the organs and juices are in a fit disposition for it,” (i.e. still alive!) and subsequently refers to ‘perishing’ rather than ‘perished’ lives. I don’t believe for a moment that the medicine was much good, but the idea behind it is no more outlandish than that of the charitable societies that were being established to rescue people apparently dead from drowning.

Horror stories abounded about people being mistakenly buried alive, and while this issue had not yet reached the level of obsession that it did during the 19th century, it was a genuine and understandable fear for many.

An anonymous correspondent to the Gentleman’s Magazine on July 20 1790 wrote:

It cannot be too much recommended to the world not to be in a hurry to bury their friends and relations. We find that by the assiduities of the Humane Society many persons, apparently dead, have been restored to life…

In short, Mr Urban, it is greatly to be feared that many unfortunate people have actually been buried alive. No man, of the least humanity, can think of such a thing without the utmost horror. I have heard lately of such an unhappy and miserable circumstance.”

Unfortunately (or, rather, fortunately) he doesn’t go on to relate the tale, but calls for legislation to ensure that bodies would not be buried until they showed visible signs of decomposition. A remedy that promised to allay such fears was onto a winner.

After Sibly’s death in 1799 or 1800, his successor, J R Saffell, did not assign the tincture any outright life-restoring properties, saying only that it had “restored multitudes, who were on the verge of the grave, to health.”  The medicine was still on sale in the 1870s.

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Image of Ebenezer Sibly courtesy of Wellcome Images.

I originally posted this on my (now defunct) other blog before I started The Quack Doctor, so I thought I’d move it over here as not many people will have seen it before:

Are your spirits hurried and your brain in need of comforting? Are you suffering from the effects of hard drinking? Do your parts need warming and invigorating? Look no further. Here’s an 18th-century panacea to combat every possible woe.

The advert below is from an Adams’s Weekly Courant, which  happened to be the main newspaper in Chester during the time my book is set.  The paper was run by Mrs Elizabeth Adams, who took over her husband’s printing business after his death.

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RESTORATIVE VIPER DROPS

THESE Drops have for these twenty Years past, in the Proprietor’s private Practice, proved themselves upon some hundred patients, to be an excellent Medicine, beyond any other Chymical Preparation offered to the Publick within the Compass of his Knowledge.

They restore greatly in weak Habits; strengthen weak Backs, warm and invigorate Parts that are languid and weaken’d by Gleets, or other Injuries; they help Digestion; comfort a cold Stomach, and expel Wind both from thence and the Bowels; they remedy the effects of hard Drinking; cleanse the Ureters from slimy and sabulous matter, thereby taking away Gravel pains in the back; compose hurry’d spirits, and take off Flutterings and Lowness, comforting the Brain and causing Chearfulness; they are a noble Balsamick also for all outward Bruises and Wounds, consolidating the Part injured, almost instantly; cure Burns or Scaldings, if immediately applied, in a surprising Manner, and without leaving disagreeable Marks or Eschars.

Any Persons by applying to the Proprietor, at his Shop, will be directed to People of undoubted Credit, who will satisfy them of the great good Effects of these Drops, in the above Cases, for which they are recommended, and in some very dangerous and complicated Disorders, not here inferred, for the sake of brevity.

They are pleasant to take, not giving the least Nausea or Offence to the tenderest stomach.

They are sold in bottles of Three Shillings, with the Cypher and Inscription, as here in the Margin, and in Eighteen-penny Bottles, at the Chymist’s Shop, the Golden Head and Key, at the corner of Bell Savage Gateway, Ludgate-Hill; at Mr Jefferys’s Bookseller, in Pope’s-Head Alley, Cornhill; and also at the Printer’s of this paper.

And for the real Excellence of this Medicine, and its absolute Difference from some Things called VIPER DROPS, any Persons may satisfy themselves, by coming to his Shop, with a Lump of Sugar at any Time, and have a proper Dose of them gratis, for their Satisfaction and Benefit.

At the above Places may be had, The PATENT ANTIVENEREAL ELECTUARY, Price Six Shillings in the Pot, with Directions.

Source: Adams’s Weekly Courant (Chester) 13 August 1754

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“Dr” Richard Rock was a high-profile quack whose usual stomping-ground was Covent Garden – as shown in Hogarth’s The Four Times of the Day (Morning) where his products are being advertised on a billboard (difficult to see in the picture here, but it’s just above the page’s head to the left of the scene). Although the advertising copy refers exclusively to London, Rock probably used the printers of the Weekly Courant and other provincial newspapers as distributors.

If the Viper Drops had lived up to all their claims, there would have been no need for Chester Infirmary to be set up a year later, and I would have had to find something else to write a book about.

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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.

 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

Sir John Hill (the “Sir” came from a Swedish title) started out as an apothecary and also tried his hand at acting before becoming a prolific writer. He edited the British Magazine from 1746-50 and produced a huge variety of works including plays, advice on marriage and child-rearing (under the pen-name The Hon. Juliana-Susannah Seymour), scientific treatises and botanical books. The best-known of these was the 26-volume The Vegetable System – or, to give its full title, The Vegetable System, or, a Series of Experiments, and Observations tending to explain the Internal Structure, and the Life of Plants; their growth, and Propagation; the Number, Proportion, and Disposition of their Constituent Parts; with the True Course of their Juices; the Formation of the Embryo, the Construction of the Seed, and the Encrease from that State to Perfection.

Hill, who had a genuine medical degree, started producing patent remedies when the expense of publishing his writing began to take its toll, and the ploy worked, earning him a considerable fortune. According to Thomas Graham in Modern Domestic Medicine (1827), the ingredients of the Pectoral Balsam were balsam of tolu (a plant resin), opium, honey and spirit of wine. Quackish or not, it sounds a darn sight better than Lemsip to me.

.

The Public are most seriously cautioned against
various Counterfeit Preparations of the Genuine PEC-
TORAL BALSAM of HONEY, invented by the late Sir JOHN
HILL, M.D., and now faithfully preprared from his MS. Re-
cipes, by his Relict and Executrix, the Hon. Lady HILL, at
her house in Curzon-street, Berkley-square, London.—More
than 36 years experience has confirmed the unequalled efficacy
and safety of this elegant Medicine in the immediate relief, and
gradual cure, of Coughs, Colds, Sore Throats, Hoarseness,
Difficulty of Breathing, Catarrhs, Asthma, and Consump-
tions; for it is the greatest preserver of the Lungs, and contains
all the healing, softening and soothing qualities of that salubri-
ous extract of flowers called Honey, and the essential parts of
the richest Balsams; it is restorative as Asses Milk, and never
disagrees with the stomach. A large tea-spoonful in a wine
glass of water, is a dose, converting the water into a most
pleasant balsamic liquor, to be taken morning and evening.
A common cold yields to the benign influence of this Medi-
cine in a few hours; and when resorted to before the lungs
are ulcerated, all danger of consumption is certainly prevented.
Such are the faint outlines of the merits of Sir John Hill’s Bal-
sam of Honey, a preparation of most exalted efficacy, the re-
sult of long researches into nature, by the Linnaeus of Britain;
a man who dedicated his life to Botany, and justly sought the
true means of health in the vegetable kingdom; but as the
severest human laws are unequal to the prevention of extreme
fraud by coining and forgery, so it is not to be admired that the
merits of this Medicine have induced base and avaricious men
to vend counterfeit preparations of it, preparations not merely
devoid of all efficacy, but also highly deleterious, whereby
many persons have lost their lives, and others been reduced to
the brink of the grave in a few days time.—Lady Hill desires
that all persons will take notice, that her Balsam of Honey is
only to be had at the original Patent Medicine Warehouse, No.
150, Oxford-street (opposite New Bond-street); E. Newbery,
corner of St. Paul’s; Tutt, Royal Exchange, London; and
Clarke, No. 269, Borough; in bottles, price 3s. 6d. each.—
The Genuine may be known by the Signature “H. Hill,” in
red ink on the label of each bottle.

Source: The Times, Friday 15 April 1796

The Rowlands – a father and son team - mainly produced cosmetic products. The one shown below veers more towards the medical side of things, as did their Cerelaeum elixir for headaches and vertigo. They also sold a tooth powder called Odonto, a beauty preparation named Kalydor and a hair dye called the Essence of Tyre. Their most famous product, however, was Macassar Oil for the hair, introduced to Britain in the late 18th century and still in production as late as the 1940s. The Rowlands are therefore the ones to blame for those doily antimacassars on the back of your grandma’s sofas, and for you getting told off every time you sat down too exuberantly and made them fall down.

               A WONDERFUL DISCOVERY
For The TOOTH ACHE,  and  preserving  and  beau-
                 tifying the Teeth and Gums,
Patronized by his Excellency the Duke of San Carlos,
the Spanish Ambassador, and most  of  the  Nobility,
R O W L A N D’s   A L S A N A   E X T R A C T,  or
Abyssinian Specific for the Teeth and Gums.
   This invaluable Specific has been in high estimation
for many years, and  recommended by  the  first  phy-
sicians.   Its   properties  are   truly  wonderful;  it   im-
mediately   relieves   the   most   violent  Tooth  Ache,
cleanses and beautifies  the  Teeth  and  Gums,  and
preserves them from decay; prevents decayed Teeth
giving   pain,   removes   the  Tartar  from   the  Teeth,
fastens those that are  loose,  and  makes  the  Teeth
beautifully   white  and  uniform;  cleanses  the  scurvy
from the  gums,  renders  them  firm  and  healthy,  re-
freshes   the  mouth  during  disease  after  medicine,
and imparts  a  sweetness  to  the  breath.   It  is  per-
fectly   innocent,   so   that   a  child  may  take  it,  yet
contains  those  inestimable  properties  that,  if  con-
stantly used, will render the Teeth and Gums sound,
beautiful, and free from pain, to  the  latest  period  of
life.   It  is  an  excellent  Stomachic.    Price   2s.   9d.;
4s. 6d.; and 10s. 6d. per bottle.
   Sold wholesale,  retail  and  for  exportation,  by  the
sole  Proprietors,   A.  Rowland  and  Son,  corner  of
Kirby-street,   the  first  turning  on  the   right   in   Hat-
ton  Garden,  Holborn,   London;   and,   by    appoint-
ment, by
              Messrs. HALDON and LOWNDES,
                     At the Office of this Journal,
and   Messrs.   Munday  and  Slatter,  Oxford;  James,
Reading;  Butler,  Wycombe;   Watkins,   Cirencester;
and by all Perfumers and Medicine Venders.
        None  are   genuine   without   the   signature   “A.
Rowland and Son.”

Source: Jackson’s Oxford Journal, Saturday 13 April 1822

The proprietor of this remedy, Thomas Greenough, was better known for his other preparation, the Lozenges of Tolu, which were for coughs and colds. The Samaritan Water, patented in 1779, was not widely advertised, but the lozenges continued to be sold by Greenough’s successor at Ludgate Hill, R. Hayward, during the first half of the 19th century.

Greenough’s other remedies included the Tincture for the Tooth-Ach, Tincture for the Teeth and Scurvy, and the Volatile Salt of Vinegar, which supposedly prevented the plague and smallpox.

(Image: Christ and the Samaritan Woman, Anon, 18th century)

                           By the KING’S PATENT.
           THE UNIVERSAL BALSAMICK, CALLED
                            SAMARITAN WATER.
THIS admirable Water merits, in  the  greatest  degree,
the  attention  of the  public,  being   the   best   remedy
yet discovered for almost every  outward  or  local  com-
plaint, and more particularly for  the  following: viz.
    1. For Strains,  Bruises,  and  Injuries  from  Blows  or
Falls.
    2. For fresh wounds of every kind.
    3.   For  old  Sores  and Ulcers, even of the very worst
Nature.
    4.   For   inflammatory  Tumours,  Boils,  Whitlows, &c.
    5.   For  the  Erysipelas,  or  St.  Anthony’s   Fire,   the
Shingles, Tetters, and all sharp scorbutic Eruptions,  es
pecially for that commonly obstinate complaint, a Scald-
head.
    6.  For  hard  Swellings  in  the  Breasts,  whether  pro
ceeding  from  Blows,  coagulated  Milk,   or   any   other
cause.
    7. For preventing Cancers; or,  if  already  formed,  for
stopping their further progress, and easing the pain.
    8. For White Swellings on the  Joints,  swelled  Glands,
and all disorders of a scrophulous nature.
    9. For Weakness or Soreness of the Eyes, Specks up-
on the Cornea,  Heat  and  Inflammation  of  the  Eye-lids,
&c.
In all the above cases, and in many others, it is the safest
and most certain application that  can  be  made  use  of,
never failing to give relief, performing  Cures  in  half  the
time  commonly  required,  and  even  where every other
means have been tried in vain. And will  be  found,  upon
trial, to be in reality, and Universal  Balsamick  and  Infal-
lible Remedy for almost all external complaints.
Sold by appointment of the  Patentee,  T.  GREENOUGH,
Chemist,  at   NO.   10,   Ludgate-Hill,   London;   and   by
HUSBAND,  ELDER  and  CO.  facing  the  Tron-Church,
Edinburgh. Price 2s. 6d. each Bottle.
N.B. A more particular account  of   the   nature   and   ef-
fects of the Samaritan Water may be had GRATIS at the
above places.

Source: The Edinburgh Advertiser, Tuesday 1 April 1783