history of medicine

Bailey's Light Spinal Stays and Invisible Crutches

Source: The Era (London) Sunday 23 October 1853 Bailey was a respectable supplier of “every description of Anatomical, Dissecting, Amputating and Post-Mortem instruments” as well as trusses, support stockings, ear trumpets, railway conveniences (male and female), water beds and chest expanders. His adverts appeared in distinguished publications such as the Lancet as well as in […]

Eno’s Fruit Salt

Invented in the 1850s by James Crossley Eno of Newcastle, the Fruit Salt sold like hotcakes to sailors looking for something to keep them healthy on long journeys. The product is still available today – now manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, it sells in vast quantities worldwide and is a popular ingredient in Indian cookery. It contains […]

Atkinson's Registered Rectum Supporter

The pic is a bit small so I’ve transcribed the text anyway, but you can probably get the idea how this contraption was worn. The white circular bit in the centre of the picture was a smooth piece of ivory designed to fit where the sun don’t shine. The inventor, Benjamin Atkinson, manufactured a variety of surgical mechanisms, such […]

Jackson's Asthmatic Candy

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.” […]

Henry Thompson's Real Cheltenham Salts

Although Henry Thompson claimed to manufacture the salts by evaporating spa water, The Monthly Gazette of Health for 1 Sept 1819 claimed that the product was nothing more than Glauber’s salt (sodium sulphate decahydrate). The Gazette had “been informed, by a gentleman residing in Cheltenham, who could prove the fact, that many tons of common Glauber’s […]

J Gerred, Medical Herbalist (and poet)

Joseph Gerred’s talents as a medical herbalist surpassed his poetic abilities, though judging by the verse in the following advert, that’s not saying much. Born in 1816, he took up herbalism in the 1830s, while also editing his own newspaper, The Devonshire Times. In 1856, Gerred was accused of libel after his paper printed a story claiming that […]

Weston's Wizard Oil

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 […]

Hance's Candy

Apologies for the lack of background information or ironic commentary on this one, but I’m too busy celebrating the launch of my first novel. For more info on that, have a look at my website. Otherwise, today’s ad has a suitably literary (or least vaguely poetic) section. H A N C E ‘ S C […]

Dr Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People

Here’s another big-business remedy, this time originating in Canada. “Dr Williams” was a brand name, and the pills were manufactured by George T. Fulford of Brockville, Ontario. Born in 1852, Fulford went into the patent medicine business in 1886 and four years later bought the rights to the Pink Pills recipe from Dr William Jackson for $53.01. The Pills […]

Grimstone's Eye Snuff

Grimstone’s Eye Snuff was widely advertised, purportedly at a cost of £5000 per year to its inventor. Testimonials were often included in the ads, and the product even inspired one satisfied customer to write a poem about it (Quoted in The Champion and Weekly Herald, 3 Feb 1839): . From Blackwood’s Lady’s Magazine for May […]