The Quack Doctor

 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 sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and sodium carbonate, but in 1906 the Pharmaceutische Centralhalle für Deutschland analysed it as 50% sodium bicarbonate, 15% sodium bitartrate and 35% free tartaric acid.

The advert below is rather subdued by Eno’s standards. More often than not the ads incorporated some moral and philosophical lesson and used poetry or literary quotations to enhance their message. Click on the thumbnail above for a 1897 ad, also from the Penny Illustrated Paper.

For more on the history of J C Eno and his invention, see the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

HOW TO AVOID
THE
INJURIOUS EFFECTS
OF
STIMULANTS.

The present system of living—partaking of too rich food, as pastry, saccharine, and fatty substances, alcoholic drinks, and an insufficient amount of exercise frequently deranges the liver. I would advise all bilious people, unless they are careful to keep the liver acting freely, to exercise great care in the use of alcoholic drinks, avoid sugar, and always dilute largely with water. Experience shows that sugar, pink or chemically coloured sherbet, mild ales, port wine, dark sherries, sweet champagne, liqueurs, and brandies are all very apt to disagree, while light white wine, and gin or whiskey largely diluted with soda-water, will be found the least objectionable. ENO’S “FRUIT SALT” is peculiarly adapted for any constitutional weakness of the liver; it possesses the power of reparation when digestion has been disturbed or lost, and places the invalid on the right track to health. A world of woes is avoided by those who keep and use ENO’S “FRUIT SALT”; therefore no family should ever be without it.
CAUTION.—Examine each bottle and see the Capsule is marked ENO’S “FRUIT SALT.” Without it you have been imposed on by a worthless and occasionally poisonous imitation.

SOLD BY ALL CHEMISTS

PREPARED ONLY BY
ENO’S “FRUIT SALT” WORKS.
LONDON S.E.,
BY J. C. ENO’S PATENT.

 Source: The Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times ( London) Sat 22 Nov 1890

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 as prosthetic limbs and braces for curvature of the spine. Some of his inventions, including the Rectum Supporter (also known as the Anal Truss) went on display in the Great Exhibition of 1851 – presumably not modelled by someone, but who knows? It was mainly advertised in the medical press (e.g. the Medical Times and The Lancet) rather than direct to punters.

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Piles and Prolapsus Ani.—The most
eminent of the Medical Profession, and thousands of persons afflicted
with the above complaints, can testify to
the advantage of ATKINSON’S  REGIS-
TERED RECTUM SUPPORTER in the
curative treatment of the Piles and Prolapsus
Ani during the last nine years. It never
fails to give immediate relief, and can be
worn under all circumstances. Price 42s.,
sent free on receipt of P.O. order, with cir-
cumference of body below the waist, to B. F.
Atkinson, 3, Hemming’s-row, Charing-crs.

Source: The Medical Times and Gazette, August 22 1863

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 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 salts, made at Lymington, were forwarded to Cheltenham. This fact may account for the water of certain wells not being weakened by the evaporation of nearly two thousand gallons daily!!”

In spite of cynicism from some quarters, however, Thompson was highly respected as the proprietor of the Montpellier Spa, which he established in the early years of the 19th century. The spa boasted several varieties of mineral water, a pump room, baths, and 50 acres of pleasure gardens carefully laid out with rides and drives. It became Cheltenham’s most celebrated spa and was further developed after Thompson’s death by his son, Pearson. Although the fashion for spas declined in the 1830s, and late 19th-century attempts to revive the Montpellier establishment failed, many of the fine buildings are still standing today.

Image: Effects of the Cheltenham Waters, or, ‘Tis necessary to quicken your motions after the second glass. Published by S W Fores, 1823. Courtesy of the US National Library of Medicine.

T H E    late    H E N R Y   T H O M P S O N ‘ S   R E A L
C H E L T E N H A M   S A L T S,  made by the simple Pro-
cess of Evaporating the Montpellier Spa Waters, at the Labo-
ratory,  at  Cheltenham.        Also,   REAL    EFFERVESCING
CHELTENHAM SALTS, and the concentrated Waters
and native Waters, from the Springs.
 CAUTION.—The  many  Chemical  and  most  injurious  Fa-
brications assuming the Name of Cheltenham Salts, induce
the  Proprietors  to  Caution  the  Public  to  ask  for  the  late
“HENRY   THOMPSON’S    R E A L    C H E L T E N H A M
SALTS.”   None  are  genuine  that  have  not  the  Initials  R.
W. and C. J., and the late Henry Thompson’s Name, on the
Stamp.
To be  had  at  No. 7,  Throgmorton  Street;  of  the  principal
Wholesale Dealers in London, and Retail of all the Medicine
Venders throughout the United Kingdom.

Source: The Newcastle Courant, Saturday 6 September 1834

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 a political rival, Mr Stowbridge, had sold some goods belonging to the Famine Committee, and kept the money. The Devon Lent Assizes awarded costs of £20 to Mr Stowbridge, and Gerred became insolvent later that year. According to a witness at the hearing, The Devonshire Times had been ”a poor thing—both editor and paper were very poor.”

Fortunately for Gerred, this was just a blip in a long and successful career in herbalism. He practised for 65 years, continuing to work until shortly before his death in 1900.

(Image: Thrift Cottage, Joseph Gerred’s house in Exeter. This image was included within the advertisement below.)

To Fellow Citizens infirm
And weakly people dwelling round;
I write these lines you to inform,
Four days each week, at home I’m found.
Fifty-six years in practice now,
Some hundreds truly thankful are;
They unsolicited avow,
That they have gain’d a lasting cure.
In pure love with all—and opposing none,
I continue on as I first begun.
If other sources you have tried,
And all have given you over,
Give me a call ‘ere you decide,
Impossible to recover.
If there is hope you to restore,
I’ll try my best what I can do;
And if no hope of this be sure,
I’ll freely tell my thoughts to you.
Scores I have cur’d—given hundreds relief,
Whose treatment by others only caused grief.

Note the address—J. GERRED, Medical Herbalist, Thrift Cottage, EXETER.
ATTENDANCE DAILY (Mondays and Wednesdays excepted) from 10 to 8. ADVICE GRATIS.
Visiting Barnstaple—North Country Inn, second and fourth Monday every month, 11 to 4,
Newton Abbot—126, Queen-street, first and third Wednesday every month, 1 to 4.
Call or send for list of Testimonials—Sent post free.

Source: Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, Saturday 22 November 1890

 Unlike many of the remedies featured on this site, Cigars de Joy were popular with the medical profession, and were recommended in publications such as the London Medical Journal and the BMJ.          

According to the Medical Times and Gazette in 1875, the herbal cigarettes were ”very useful little agents for inhaling the smoke of stramonium.” Datura stramonium and its relative Datura tatula were common remedies for asthma, formerly being pipe-smoked before the “convenient” cigar form came along. Stramonium is hallucinogenic and an overdose can be fatal.

Image: W. S. Penley as Charley’s Aunt, by Alfred Bryan, 1893

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                    CIGARS DE JOY
             ASTHMA, COUGH, BRONCHITIS
One of  these  Cigarettes  give  immediate  relief  in
the worst  attack  of  Asthma,  Cough,  Bronchitis,
Hay  Fever,  and  Shortness  of  Breath.  Persons
who suffer at night with coughing, phlegm, and short
breath, find them invaluable, as they instantly  check
the spasm, promote sleep, and allow the  patient  to
pass a good night. Are perfectly harmless, and may
be smoked by ladies,  children,  and  most  delicate
patients. In Boxes of  35  Cigarettes,  2s.  6d.,  or  7
boxes 15s., post free, from  Wilcox & Co.,  and  all
Chemists.
CAUTION.—To guard against fraudulent imitations,
see that each box bears the name of “Wilcox & Co.,
239, Oxford Street, London.”

Source: The Ipswich Journal, Sat 8 May 1886

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 is a comical card, possessing a great amount of dry Yankee wit, humour and assurance. His entertainments are free, and it is needless to add that he draws “crowded houses” nightly. The usual style of his public announcements are that “he will dig down and speak a piece.”

Audience members would receive a booklet called Frank Weston’s Australian Companion: A Selection of Valuable Recipes for Cooking, &c., with Much Information about Horses, Cattle, Social, Witty, and Other Important Subjects

As well as the Wizard Oil, Weston manufactured Weston’s Magic Pills and Mexican Mustang Liniment.

The image shown was printed as part of the following advert:

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THE GREAT AMERICAN MEDICINES
     WESTON’S WIZARD OIL
          PRICE HALF A CROWN
  Established in Australia in 1864.
  A   MEDICINE   to  be  taken  in-
ternally,   and  used  externally,  for
all   NERVOUS  DISEASES   and
INFLAMMATORY   ACHES   and
PAINS, composed of the choicest
Aromatic  Herbs,  Healing   Gums,
Balsams, and Vegetable Oils.
    Cures      Rheumatism,     Sci-
atica,        Gout,           Neuralgia,
Cholera,    Spasms,    Headache,
Coughs and Colds, etc,
   WESTON’S   WIZARD   OIL  has
the   power    to   distribute    itself
over   every   part    of    the   body
internally   as   well   as   externally,
curing the  most  inveterate  cases
of     tumors,    ulcers,      scrofula,
diseased   liver,    piles,   swellings,
wounds, etc. etc.
I N T E R N A L   U S E—Weston’s
Wizard   Oil,   as   a   medicine  for
inward  use,  may  be  relied  upon
as a prompt relief for a depressed
vital   action,   and  a  regulator  of
the   disturbed   circulation  of  the
blood,   produced  by  any  cause
whatever.

Source: The Northern Territory Times and Gazette, Saturday 2 May 1885

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 A N D Y,
For Coughs, Colds,  Hoarseness,  &c.,  contains
Hoarhound,   Wild   Cherry,   Slippery   Elm,   El-
ecampane, and other ingredients, amounting to
TWENTY-SEVEN.
         Cease from coughing—cure your colds—
         From your lungs remove each pain;
         Do not wait their action longer,
         If you’d peace and health regain.
   Why continue to be  afflicted  with  pains  at   the
lungs, a constant Cough, and want of sleep, when
a package of
   S. S. HANCE’S COMPOUND EXTRACT OF
                            HOARHOUND
will at once  restore  you?  A  few  packages  will
benefit you in the  way  of  cure,  when   all   other
remedies fail.                         SETH S. HANCE.
                            corner Charles and Pratt streets.
For sale in Cumberland, Md, by
                                                R. D. JOHNSON.

Source: The Cumberland Alleganian (Maryland) Friday 17 April 1846

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 arrived in Britain by 1893, and the company had premises on Holborn Viaduct, London.

The Pink Pills included ferrous sulphate, so they would have had a geniune effect against anaemia, but they were weaker and far more expensive than the ordinary iron pills commonly prescribed by physicians.

Fulford, who was appointed to the Senate in 1900, used an “advertorial” style to promote his products. The ads, like the one below,  appeared to be news stories reporting a miracle in some distant town – the miracle always turning out to be a result of someone taking Dr Williams’ Pink Pills.

In 1905, Senator Fulford had the dubious honour of becoming the first Canadian to be killed in an automobile accident, but his company remained in business until 1989.

REMARKABLE AFFAIR IN YORKSHIRE.–The daugh-
ter of Mr.  J.  Bridges,  42,  Foljambe-road,  Eastwood
View,  Rotherham,  has  been  the  theme  of  a  well-
authenticated report in the Yorkshire papers, the facts
having been investigated, and the  lady and her parents
seen, by press representatives. Miss Bridges at seven-
teen was described by her parents as “prematurely old.”
She could  not  eat,  had  no  strength,  and  was  nearly
copper-coloured, suffering severely from palpitation of
the heart. But when seen  by  the  reporter  she  was  in
the bloom of health, eating and sleeping well and quite
free from heart-trouble, with complexion  like  the  rose
—a recovery entirely due to the now  famous  remedy,
Dr.   Williams’  Pink  Pills  for  Pale  People.    When
a    girl    is   pale,   weak,   easily   ”tired   out,”   trou-
bled   with    headache,    backache,    pain    in    the
side;   when   her  temper  is  fitful  and  her  appetite
poor—she  is  in  a  condition  of  extreme  peril, a fit
subject for the development of the most  dreaded  of
all diseases—consumption. Dr. Williams’  Pink  Pills
will assist the patient to  develop  properly  and  regu-
larly; they will enrich  the  blood,  and  danger  of  con-
sumption and premature death will be  averted.   Pru-
dent mothers will insist  upon  their  daughters  taking
Dr.  Williams’  Pink  Pills  upon  the  approach  of  the
period of womanhood and thus avoid all  chances  of
disease or early decay.   The  same  medicine  cures
rheumatism, sciatica, neuralgia, paralysis,  locomotor
ataxy, nervous headache, scrofula, chronic erysipelas,
and influenza. A specific for the female sex.
In   men   they   cure   all   cases   from   worry,   over-
work, or excesses. Sold by  Dr.  Williams’  Medicine
Company,  46,  Holborn  Viaduct,  London,  and   by
chemists, at 2s. 9d. a box, or six boxes 13s. 9d., post
free.  Only  genuine  in  pink  wrapper  with  full  name,
Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People.

Source:  The Derby Mercury, Wednesday 10 April 1895

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):

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From Blackwood’s Lady’s Magazine for May 1838. To Mr. W. Grimstone, on his valuable invention of the Eye-Snuff, made from British herbs, for the diseased organs of the head and eyes:—

Great was the power that did to man impart
Creative genius and inventive art;
The second praise is, doubtless, Grimstone, thine!
Wise was thine head, and great was thy design.
Our precious sight from danger now set free
Wives, widows, fathers, praises sing to thee.

19 Bell-street, Edgware-road, Marylebone.   ELIZ. ROBSON

__________________

Here is the advert for today:

    SIGHT   RESTORED,   and   Nervous    Head-ache
cured—Numerous  testimonials  and   references   of   the   first   re-
spectability  may  be   seen   at  the  manufactory,  39,  Broad-street,
Bloomsbury, and  24,  King-street,  Long-acre,  proving  cataract,  in-
flammations, and all other diseases of the eyes and head completely
eradicated, glasses left off after using them 20 years, and the breath
rendered impervious to  contagion,  by  taking  GRIMSTONE’s  EYE
SNUFF.  Thousands  have  been  restored  by  this  delightful  com-
pound of the  most  choice  aromatic  and  odiferous  herbs.  A  fact
too well known to be doubted. Observe the signature of  the  inventor
on each canister, “with the  Patronage  of  His  late  Majesty  and the
Lords of  the  Treasury.”  Sold  in  canisters,  1s. 3d., 2s. 4d., 4s. 4d.,
and 8s. each, by almost every tobacconist in the world. All are  spuri-
ous that have not the inventor’s signature.

Source: The Times, Saturday 6 April 1833 

__________________

Dr. A L Wigan, in his A New View of Insanity (1844) claimed (approvingly) that Grimstone’s snuff comprised nothing but black pepper. He didn’t give any evidence for this, however, and perhaps more reliable is the analysis done by Dr Hassall of the Lancet Analytical Sanitary Commission in 1855, which suggested that it contained a variety of herbs including orris-root, savory, rosemary and lavender, plus a fairly high proportion of salt. There was no actual tobacco in it and so it was not an exciseable article, but the Stamp Office nevertheless made several attempts to prosecute Mr Grimstone for selling it without tax. They also turned their attention to retailers of the snuff, with the result that Mr Grimstone was beseiged by angry stockists demanding that he take back his supplies and pay their fines. In 1850 this left him insolvent with debts of £6000. He did, however, manage to continue selling the snuff and other herbal products until his death in 1862 at the age of 71.