The Quack Doctor

I just rediscovered this book, which I’ve owned for years but had forgotten about. It’s a marketing publication produced by Elliman and Sons, who manufactured the hugely popular Elliman’s Embrocation (for people) and Royal Embrocation (for animals) at Slough from 1847 onwards. The human version of the liniment is still available over the counter.

The book, which has the cover title Horses, Dogs, Birds, Cattle. Accidents and Ailments. First Aid, is also known as The Uses of Elliman’s Embrocation for Horses, Dogs, Birds and Cattle, and this is the fifth edition, published in 1906. Rather than posing as a general veterinary work and sneaking in adverts for the products, the book is openly about Elliman’s Embrocation and it’s no surprise that the product is recommended as a treatment for most things. There is, however, plenty of useful information about horse anatomy, advice on identifying common conditions and practical tips about caring for sick animals, making the book handy to have around the early 20^th century stable and therefore frequently reminding the owner about the Elliman’s brand.

It is beautifully illustrated and at some point I will upload some of the horse pictures, but in this post I’d like to share an excerpt that addresses a perennial problem – how to give medicine to dogs. (No mention is made of cats – presumably, prior to the internet, their uses were limited.)

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The majority of persons who keep dogs seldom or never give a dose of medicine to them, and it is often difficult to do so.

When medicine can be conveyed in food or drink, it is, of course, the easiest plan of administering it.

The dog should not see the prepared food, neither should the first morsel contain it. The suspicious pet should taste the appetising morsel and find that it is all right, and take the medicament in a subsequent one. Dogs soon learn to count, and the programme should be varied each time.

Giving fluid medicines is the most difficult; and, having decided on the drug to be given, the pharmaceutical chemist should be consulted as to its most concentrated form. The tabloid has taken the place of the nauseous tincture, infusion and decoction in human practice, and the amateur does well to avail himself of these aids.

If a liquid is the only agent in which the medicament can be conveyed, the dog should be held up and his cheek pursed out to make a funnel for the fluid to run into. The teeth should not be forced open. The nose may be slightly pinched, but it is only a question of firmness and a little time before the dog swallows it.

Powders are the most convenient form in which to administer medicines. Place the left hand over the patient’s face, press the finger and thumb on the lips, and squeeze them against the teeth. The dog opens his mouth when he feels this gentle pressure. The powder should be placed upon the back of the tongue.

Pills are difficult only to the timid person who does not push his finger far enough up the animal’s mouth, so as to get the bolus beyond recall. There is no danger of being bitten, if the upper lips are held over the edges of the top teeth.

Giving a clyster or enema. If the patient is not alarmed by rough and clumsy hands, he will submit to this operation readily.

The tail should be firmly grasped with the left hand, the instrument (previously oiled) introduced slowly, not forcing the sphincter muscles, but tiring them until they yield. The india-rubber ball syringe (Higginson’s) is the best for the purpose, as it leaves one hand free.

A rheumatic dog before and after treatment with Elliman's Embrocation

As we have seen before, nostrum-vendors’ talents were more suited to  salesmanship than to poetry. This ad gets off to a tolerable start, but come verse 3 it goes downhill fast, and by the bit about the sheep it’s apparent that the copy-writer just wanted to get the wretched thing out the door and go home:

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What hear we now from West to East
Counfounding man, befriending beast,
But Centaur Liniment?—

What is it cures our many pains,
And limbers up severest strains
But Centaur Liniment?—

That knocks Rheumatism out of gear,
Bids gout good-by without a tear?
Why! Centaur Liniment:

Causes the cripple to walk, the lame to leap,
Hearts to thank, instead of eyes to weep,—
Only, Centaur Liniment.

What renders reptiles tooth and sting of bees
Harmless as the bite of fleas,
Excepting Centaur Liniment;

Assuages the pangs of a broken breast,
Flows to lacteal fluid, gives nights of rest,
But Centaur Liniment;

When chilblains sting or hot steam scalds,
What is it soothes, for what can we call,
But Centaur Liniment.

When the car crushed old Tilden’s arm,
‘Twas saved from amputation by this charm
The Centaur Liniment;

And when Barnum’s lion, Uncle Ben,
Broke his leg in that dismal den,
He roared for Centaur Liniment.

Now as the poor horse, lame and sore,
With crippled knee limps to our door,
And begs for Centaur Liniment;

And the docile sheep on a thousand hills,
Die by the million—the screw worm kills,
(All saved by Centaur Liniment; )

We hear it shouted from West to East,
By speaking man and neighing beast,
“Pass on the Centaur Liniment!”

This remarkable article is for sale by all
Druggists in every village, parish and ham-
let, in America. We warrant it to cure.

J.B. Rose & Co, 58 Broadway, N. Y.

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Source: The Marshal Statesman (Michigan) 4 Dec 1872

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Centaur Liniment arrived on the scene in 1871, and in October the following year its adverts took the form of a purported news story about the massive outbreak of equine influenza that was sweeping Canada and the US. In Buffalo, NY, the adverts claimed, ‘there are not well horses enough to carry merchandise through the streets… there are probably 12,000 sick horses in New York and Brooklyn to-day.’

‘The Centaur Liniment seems to be the specific acting both upon the glands and joints, and superior to the turpentine, opodeldoc and capsicum. When the throat, belly and legs of the animal are early rubbed with this Liniment, and cloths saturated with it bound on the legs, the disease is checked and the animal soon recovers.’

Although patent remedy adverts are prone to exaggeration, the Centaur ads were not inflating the extent of the epizootic. Beginning in Toronto in early October 1872, the disease quickly spread to the US and down the eastern seaboard, getting all the way to Cuba within 90 days. The New York Times reported that on Oct 25 alone, the number of cases in the city increased by 60%. Very few horses remained unaffected.

The outbreak was disastrous for the economy, completely disabling transport networks. Tram, omnibus and stagecoach services came to a standstill, and fire wagons had to be pulled by the firemen. Even the railways could not function without wagons to receive the goods from the trains. Because of the virulence and near-universality of the disease, the epizootic at least burnt itself out quickly.

Treatment with Centaur Liniment was indeed usually followed by recovery –  about 98% of affected horses got better anyway, with or without it.

According to Charles Oleson in Secret Nostrums and Systems of Medicine (10th Ed 1903) the animal liniment was made from oil of spearmint, oil of mustard, oil of amber, black oil, soap, caustic soda and water, though his recipes were intended to be ‘near enough’ rather than an exact copy of the formula.

The human version of the liniment was thicker in texture and a lighter colour, comprising oil of pennyroyal, oil of thyme, oil of turpentine, soap, caustic soda and water. The products were made by J B Rose and Co, later known as The Centaur Company, who also manufactured the famous Fletcher’s Castoria. The company’s US advertising campaigns were huge but, while the products did make it to the UK, the Liniment wasn’t promoted as much here – and we lucky Brits were spared the poetry.

Lord Grosvenor's Arabian Stallion with a Groom. Stubbs, c.1765

The Gentlemen, Farmers, Jockies, Stage-Coachmen and Carriers Universal Medicine in the true Cordial Horse Balls and Preparation of Antimony, adapted for the Use and Benefit of all, as well the Race as Cart Horse,
THE CORDIAL BALLS at 4s. per Pound, which in above 40 Years private Experience and 12 Years Publication, are approved of and recommended by several Noblemen, Gentlemen and Farmers as a Specifick Remedy for Sickness, Loss of Appetite, Colds, Gripes, Worms and Botts; they soon Cure a new Cold, and give immediate Relief in an old Cold, by opening the passages in the Lungs, and have cured many Horses thought to be broken Winded, and four Ounces is better than any Cordial Drink that can be made or given.
The Preparation of Antimony at 5s. per Pound for Grease. Stiffness in the Limbs after hard Riding, and by purifying the Blood disperses all Knots, Swellings, or Itching; and is, if used according the Directions, a preservative against the Farcin, Mange and Founder, and has cured many Horses of the Farcin after other Medicines have proved ineffectual, and the Horse worked all the while. It is an effectual Cure (with some of the Cordial Balls) for a dry husky Cough tho’ never so longstanding; it answers all the ends of Purging, with many other peculiar Virtues better experienced than expressed and set forth more at large in the Advertisement and Directions of both Medicines given with them.
They are prepared and sold by SAMUEL GIBSON, Druggist, at the Angel and Crown in Lombardstreet, AND NO WHERE ELSE, who also sells Pyrmont Water, Spaw Water, and all sorts of Drugs.
N.B. Whereas a certain Person at Exeter pretends to sell my Preparation of Antimony, and give with it a Written Advertisement and a Printed Direction, this is to inform all Gentlemen and others, that they may not be imposed upon by his common Antimony for my Preparation.

Source: The London Journal, 17 May 1729

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Although Gibson was not the only proprietor of a named version of Cordial Balls, they increasingly became a generic remedy for horses’ ailments, and the domestic farriery books of the 18th and 19th centuries freely gave recipes for making them. The famous Dr Henry Bracken, who published Farriery Improv’d in 1738, suggested a mixture of aniseed, caraway, cardamom, brimstone, turmeric, saffron, licorice dissolved in small beer, elecampane, and wheat flour.

Some writers, however, thought the habit of dosing, bleeding and purging horses for every little ailment had gone too far:

“I think the practice of giving cordial balls to horses on every slight occasion,” said Professor Thomas Peall of the Royal Dublin Society, “may be aptly compared to the nefarious custom of dram-drinking in men, and is attended with pretty much the same effects ultimately.” (The Sportsman’s Magazine, Jan 1817)

The professor continued his tenuous analogy by relating an anecdote about an Irish horse that had become addicted to whiskey. Horses, he warned, “may not only become passive, involuntary debauchees, by the custom of having cordials thrust or poured down their throats, but may actually be brought to be fond of ardent spirits.”

Image: Kavalkade vor Schloss Heiligenberg by Allbrecht Adam, 1831

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   WAINWRIGHT’s STAFFORDSHIRE CORDIAL,
        AND ROYAL ENGLISH MEDICINE FOR HORSES,
WHICH  has  been  given   with   unprecedented  success  in
the   most   dangerous   stages   of   the  Sleeping  or  Raging
Staggers,  Gripes,  Colds,  Coughs, Fevers,  and all disorders
originating in colds, or from grazing in  marshy  wet  meadows,
or after severe exercise in racing, hunting, working in coaches,
post chaises, or waggons, hard riding,  &c.  and  is  universally
acknowledged  to  be  the  greatest  restorative  to  exhausted
nature, and  the  most  valuable  horse  medicine  ever  known.
   Mr.  NEWMAN,  of   the  Green  Man  Inn,  Barnet,  near Lon-
don, one of the principal Posting Houses  on  the  Great  North
Road,  has  authorised   the   Proprietor  to  inform  the  Public,
that he has used the above medicine for several years  among
his own Horses with such complete success, that he feels him-
self warranted in recommending it  to  the  Notice  of  Post and
Stage Coach Masters, Carriers, Horse Dealers, Farmers, and
all others who employ a number of  Horses,  as  the  most valu-
able thing of the kind he ever met with.
   Sold  at  the  Original  Warehouse   for   Genuine   Medicines,
No.  10,    Bow    Church    Yard,    London;   also    by    Drewry,
Pike, Derby;  and  by   all   the   principal   Country   Booksellers
and Druggists—Price 2s. 6d. the bottle.

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Source: The Derby Mercury, Wednesday 27 March 1822

Henry Rowe Stevens was a respected veterinary surgeon and farrier who spent the first 20 years of his career at Newmarket before moving to London in the 1850s. His adverts suggest that he had a humane and progressive outlook, as he condemned the traditional practice of firing (i.e. placing a red-hot iron against the leg in an attempt to stimulate tendon repair). Mr Stevens also advocated the new Charlier System of farriery, which used lightweight shoes around the front of the hoof, rather than the very heavy, close-nailed iron plates previously in use.

Image: Thorough Bred by H. Hardy. 1888

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STEVENS’S OINTMENT the only substitute
for firing horses, after twenty-five years’ extensive use, retains its
celebrity as the safest and best remedy for curbs, splints, spavins, sore
shins, diseased ligaments or tendons in the horse; it never blemishes, may
be applied during work, and no horse will gnaw its legs after applica-
tion.—Prepared only and sold by Henry R. Stevens, Veterinary Surgeon,
No. 8a, Park-lane, in boxes, 2s. 6d. each; or free by post, 3s. Sold also
by Barclay and Sons, 96, Farringdon-street, and all Druggists.

Source:  The Era (London) Sat 23^rd Feb 1862

Mr Stevens did not manage to keep out of trouble through the whole of his 40-year veterinary career. In 1861 he was sued for negligence after an unfortunate accident when a horse caught its eye on a hook in his forge. 

The court heard that the horse “had hung back during shoeing; and one of the men had hit it with the flat side of a hammer, and the other with a twitch-stick, to make it go forward.” Although another vet gave the opinion that the horse had permanently lost the sight in that eye, it did eventually recover. Mr Stevens was ordered to pay 20 guineas in damages to the horse’s owner.

As a horse owner, I can make an educated guess that this medicine was no worse than a lot of the crappy potions and supplements available at extortionate prices in modern feed stores.

CUPISS’s CONSTITUTION HORSE-BALLS.
To Sportsmen, Agriculturalists, Postmasters, and all Pro-
prietors of Horses, these Balls are particularly recommended in all
cases of swelled legs, cracked heels, loss of appetite, and vital energy ;
for coughs, colds, fever or inflammation, they are the best medicine
that can be exhibited ; moreover their operation, though effectual, is
so mild, that they require no alteration of diet, and if given with a
bran mash on Saturday night, will not interfere with the ensuing
week’s regular work.
NEAT CATTLE.—The Constitution Balls are strongly recommended
by many highly respectable gentlemen (see testimonials) for Cows
and Oxen as a most valuable medicine in cases of hove or blown,
scouring or turning out to grass, or from bad food, gargate, hide-
bound, loss of appetite, staring coat, distemper, epidemic, or influenza.
Bullocks fat much faster by occasionally giving a Ball.
Prepared only by FRANCIS CUPISS, M.R.V.C., Author of the
“Prize Essay on the Disease of the Liver of the Horse,” Diss, Norfolk ;
and sold by all respectable Medicine Vendors in town and country, in
Packets, six Balls each, 3s. 6d. per packet, with a wrapper giving full
directions for the use of the Balls, and treatment of the Horse whilst
taking them. Also, a Pamphlet of Testimonials from many Gentle-
men who have used the Balls in various complaints.
Any Gentleman using the Balls may consult the Proprietor gratui-
tously, either personally, or by letter, post-paid.

Source: The Bristol Mercury, Saturday 11th January 1851