The Quack Doctor

I wrote recently on the new Royalty Free Fiction blog about how a handwritten note in a historical source inspired me to write my novel, Kill-Grief. The note was what started me thinking about how many interesting lives (and lives are all interesting, aren’t they?) have passed by without leaving anything for the future to know them by.

While I’m researching my blog posts, I sometimes find similar snapshots of an individual’s life or death, that make me wonder who they were, how they faced the experiences that came their way and how other people related to them. In other words, what was their story?

This obituary, reproduced in several newspapers in 1783, is one such snippet. I haven’t been able to find out anything else about Thomas Poxton, but he managed to get his name in the papers for posterity – which is more than most of us will ever do.

I have no background to the following newspaper story – I don’t know who the tailor was or even whether he really existed. The newspaper’s purpose in printing the tale is clearly to amuse readers and allow them to congratulate themselves that they aren’t among the supposed gullible masses who would consult quacks. The implicit criticism is not just of the healer, but of his victim for enabling the fraud to continue.

The way this story is pitched also reveals the expected default position of many 19th-century newspaper readers – one of scepticism about miracle cures. I often get asked whether people are just as gullible today as they were in the past, but that question assumes people in the past were generally gullible, which I don’t believe was the case. There would have been plenty of people chuckling over the wacky product names and strange stories like this one from the Morning Post, 8 September 1824.

There is a tailor going about the country parts of England, his plan is to cure by incantation, prayer, &c. The fellow is eternally drunk, but never staggers, and is possessed of one of those phlegmatic brandy faces which only grows more solemn in its appearances as his intellects become fuddled. A woman applied to him lately to request him to come to see her sick husband; she found him in the back parlour of an inn, booted, spurred, and (although she could not perceive it) drunk. He was walking to and fro, with his hands behind his back, when the poor woman entered the apartment. “Please your Honour. I come to beg you to see my husband, who is lying very ill.” No answer, but still pacing up and down. “He is very ill, I assure your Worship. I hope you will come, Sir.”—Not a word! After a long silence— “I hope, Sir, you’ll be so kind as to come and see my poor husband; I will pay you any thing you demand.” Still not a word; but a few mutterings, and a turn up of the drunken eye-balls, and still pacing about. The woman approached the doctor, pulled him by the coat, and in the most strenuous terms renewed her entreaties, but still he continued walking up and down, and muttering some nonsense to himself. At last she pulled him violently by the coat, when he turned round, and, in a gruff tone, cried— “Hould your tongue d—m you!— I’m busy curing a man in America: I’ll be ready for you by and bye.” and then began pacing and muttering again. This pacified the poor woman, who waited patiently until the American was cured.

TAPE WORM

Removed ALIVE IN TWO HOURS with HEAD or no charge. (No Fee in Advance.) No fasting. Have cured over 2,000 people of Tape worms with this harmless infallible specific, 50 per cent of which were doctoring for various other diseases, thereby eking out a miserable existence as thousands are doing. (Also cured two persons of LIZARDS.) Send stamp for circular.
Dr J. G. SHIPLEY
Montezuma, Iowa, Tape Worm Specialist of over twenty years’ experience.

Source: The Burlington Hawkeye, Iowa, 9 July 1895

………………………………………………………………………………

Tapeworm specialists advertised widely in late 19th-century American newspapers— Wait, what?… LIZARDS?

I wondered if ‘lizards’ was a colloquial term for some variety of parasite, but it seems Dr Shipley wasn’t the only one claiming to remove actual lizards from people’s innards. In 1900, Dr H D Rucker advertised that his medicine, ‘Korak Wonder’, had caused one Mrs E. J. Welker to expel a lizard ‘well formed and having four legs and feet.’

Tapeworm specialists had a variety of techniques and potions, but Charles Oleson, M.D, in Secret Nostrums and Systems of Medicine, describes a common method used by irregular practitioners. Oleson, though cataloguing the formulae of dodgy remedies, was not afraid to stand up for those he believed would work. This was one of which he heartily approved.

The patient must fast for a day, taking only a saline cathartic to empty the bowels. The next morning, he or she would take a teaspoon of the essential oil of male fern (whose Latin name, Dryopteris filix-mas, is one of the few things I remember from A-level biology) in a cup of warm milk. Milk was supposed to be ‘an article of food in which the tape-worm greatly delights.’

After this, the patient had to lie down for a few hours, keeping a slice of lemon handy in case of nausea, and then take a dose of castor oil, turpentine and croton oil – the latter being toxic and a rather drastic purgative. The spectacular effects of this mixture can be imagined. If you put a piece of mosquito netting over your chamber pot, ‘the worm itself can be easily retained for further examination,’ or for keeping as a pet or whatever.

Some tapeworm specialists did medicine shows in the street, and for this they needed to impress the punters by displaying preserved worms of enormous length. The Decatur Review (Illinois) in 1903 printed an anecdote about a worm doctor called Joe Bowen, who had given up a successful career as an auctioneer in order to go into the lucrative worm business. When he started out he did not have any specimens to display, and as the newspaper said:

If these tapeworm specialists haven’t something to show and scare the people, there is no use for them to set up.

Mr Bowen found an inventive solution:

He borrowed a crimping machine then he went to the slaughterhouse and gathered a lot of entrails. In a few hours after that, Joe had the finest exhibit of tapeworms that ever went on the street.

The exhibit did the trick and Bowen earned a fortune.

Less successful in the fight against tapeworms was an invention from earlier in the 19^th century — Alpheus Myers’ Tapeworm Trap.

This small metal capsule, about ¾ of an inch long and half an inch in diameter, was patented in 1854. It had a hole in one end and, inside, a sprung trap. The patient had to insert some bait – when making fun of the invention, newspaper reporters suggested cheese, but in fact the patent says any nutritious substance will do. The brave sufferer, having fasted for a couple of days to get the worm hungry, had to swallow the trap, keeping a string dangling out between their teeth. The peckish parasite was supposed to lunge for the bait and get its head stuck, after which all you had to do was pull the whole length of worm out through your mouth. It was important that the trap wasn’t too vicious:

… care should be taken that spring g, is only strong enough to hold the worm, and not strong enough to cause his head to be cut off.

The invention was about as effective and popular as you might expect – i.e. not very. Whether it would also work on lizards, I don’t know.

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THE COMING EPIDEMIC!
THE COMING EPIDEMIC!!
———————————-
SALT REGAL A PREVENTIVE AND SAFEGUARD!!

EXTRACT FROM LONDON PRESS—
TELEGRAMS FROM BERLIN AND VIENNA state “that the Epidemic of
Influenza, which has been playing such havoc in Russia, has now spread to Germany and Austria, and will shortly make its appearance in England”
FORTIFY YOURSELVES
Against the attacks of this and all diseases by using the pleasant and refreshing
SALT REGAL
Heads of Families NEED HAVE NO FEAR of Infectious Diseases for themselves
or their children if they will use SALT REGAL. Influenza, Fevers, Malaria, Cholera, and the like are harmless to those who use SALT REGAL. See Analysis and authentic Testimonials with every Bottle.
The Press and Public declare SALT REGAL to be a pleasant and refreshing SAFE-GUARD AGAINST DISEASE. There is no preparation like it in the world.
SOLD EVERYWHERE, 1s. 6d. and 2s. 9d.
PROTECTED BY HER MAJESTY’S ROYAL LETTERS PATENT

Source: The Graphic, Sat 4 Jan, 1890

Salt Regal, the “King of Effervescents,” was in a similar vein to Eno’s Fruit Salt, and formed a pretty pink fizzy drink when mixed with water. It enjoyed a brief period of fame between about 1887 and the turn of the 20th century, and was advertised widely with claims ranging from the wild – e.g. that it would prevent influenza and cholera – to the vague:

…a high-class Antiseptic Salt, possessing hygienic properties hitherto unknown to science. A grateful, cooling cup, developing Ozone (the principle of life). Will cleanse the mouth, clear the throat, sweeten the breath, and maintain a natural condition of the system. Corrects all the impurities arising from errors of diet – eating or drinking. Salt Regal has the special property of purifying the water in which it is mixed.

Adverts often contained ‘analyses’ by some of the eminent chemists of the day, including A. Norman Tate, John Muter (click for pic of his epic moustache) and Henry Thomas Jones, but they were similarly wishy-washy and never actually said what was in the product:

I have examined the example of SALT REGAL handed to me some time ago. I find it to be a very carefully prepared saline. Its special feature is that is contains a small proportion of a very useful antiseptic, the value of which in such a preparation must be very great. Its use in warm climates will be found to be most valuable, both on account of its gentle aperient qualities, and of its antiseptic property. HENRY THOMAS JONES, F.I.C., Asst Professor of Chemistry, University of Aberdeen.

I don’t know whether the analysts’ names were used without their permission, or whether their testimonials comprised the best bits from genuine reports, but it seems unlikely that these top chemists would write up an analysis without even mentioning any ingredients.

As for “The Coming Epidemic!!,” by the time of this advert, it was already here. The Russian Flu reached the UK at the very end of 1889. Concern had been building up for several weeks, as reports came in of high mortality in Moscow and a rapid spread of the disease across Europe. Some reporters were less worried – The Daily News‘s Paris correspondent, for example, pointed out that “La Grippe” was prevalent every winter, and while the elderly or very young might suffer complications, for most people the disease ran its course within a few days.

Other reports scraped the barrel for evidence of dire consequences – in Vienna, said The Birmingham Daily Post:

The Christmas festivities have been interfered with to a very great extent by the epidemic, and the usual Christmas tree was missing from the homes of one-third of the families in this city, owing to sickness.

While the British just about got through Christmas intact, by the New Year the flu had arrived, apparently bearing “a special grudge against post-office officials,” as postmen in suburban offices rapidly succumbed.  Some people blamed the post for spreading the disease across the country.

Orthodox treatment usually involved quinine, but the main way of getting over the flu was to stay in bed for a few days and keep warm. Looking back a year later, the Bristol Mercury was rather dismissive of the mildness of the epidemic. As it happened, they spoke too soon – the flu returned with a vengeance in the spring of 1891, and again later that year, with worse outbreaks occurring over the next few winters. The Mercury‘s comment is nevertheless amusing for its relevance today:

The influenza was the fashion of the hour, and everyone who could manage two or three consecutive sneezes satisfied themselves that they were suffering from the prevalent complaint.

This remedy was not widely advertised and I don’t have much information about it, but I like the way the typography is laid out in the original, so have tried to reproduce it as far as possible, within the limitations of WordPress formatting. There will be more from The Western Mail soon, as it’s an excellent source of medicine adverts. Knowing that the paper is still very popular I just looked up its website and found the really “interesting” headline: Pregnant Torchwood Star Eve Myles has Creme Egg cravings. Good to know it remains at the cutting edge of journalism.

Image: Grandpapa’s Torments by J. T. Wilson, 1845. Courtesy of the US National Library of Medicine.

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WOULD YOU BE SURPRISED TO HEAR

That Chills, Colds, Neuralgia,
Toothache, Faceache, Headache
Rheums,    Tic   Doloreux,   Sciatica,
Pains  in  the  Limbs,  Loins,  Joints  etc.,
Gout, Ague and numerous other Symptoms,
Are all  Affections  of  a  RHEUMATIC  NATURE,
A n d    m a y   b e   q u i c k l y   C u r e d   b y   taking
C R O S S’ S   G O U T   A N D   R H E U M A T I C   P I L L S.
The  MAGICAL  EFFECT  of  which, in  giving  Tone to
The Stomach, Liver, Bowels, and Kidneys, Freeing
The System of all HUMOURS, SWELLINGS,
UNHEALTHY ACCUMULATIONS, &c.,
And inducing a Normal Circulation
In the BLOOD and NERVOUS
CURRENTS, is Astonishing.
——

It  is   in   consequence  of  the  almost  INCREDIBLE  Reputation
they have Gained in FOREIGN COUNTRIES, as may be   testified
by numerous  Testimonials  in  the  possession  of  the  Proprietor,
that   he   is   encouraged   to  make  them  generally  known to  the
British Public.
Price 1s. 1½d., 2s. 9d., and 4s. 6d. per Box.

——

To be had of
WILLIAM CROSS, CHEMIST, CARDIFF
or of any Patent Medicine Vendor.

Source: Western Mail (Cardiff) Monday 18 Dec 1871

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

        Image: Whiskerandos, by John Leech, 1854.
Courtesy of the John Leech Sketch Archives from Punch

            LUXURIANT HAIR, WHISKERS, EYEBROWS, &c.
     THE   TESTIMONIALS   daily   received   by   Miss   DEAN
establish  the  fact   that   CRINILENE  is  the  only  preparation  that
can be perfectly relied upon in  producing  those  acknowledged  orna-
ments of manhood  in  three  or  four  weeks,  with certainty.  It  is emi-
nently successful in nourishing,  curling  and  beautifying  the Hair, and
checking and preventing greyness in all its stages, strengthening weak
hair,   preventing   it   falling   off,   &c.  For  the  reproduction  of  hair in
baldness, from whatever cause, and  at  whatever  age,  it  stands  unri-
valled. One trial only is  solicited  to  prove  the  fact.  It  is  an elegantly
scented  preparation,  and  sufficient  for  three months’ use will be sent
post  free,  on  receipt of Twenty-four Postage stamps, by MISS DEAN,
48 Liverpool-street, King’s-cross, London.

Source: The News of the World, Sunday 23 March 1851

A 1s 1½d tin contained 50 lozenges, and the recommended dose was one or two lozenges at bedtime and up to 10 during the course of the day. The ingredients were morphine, ipecacuanha, extract of licorice, and sugar, held together by tragacanth gum.

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     KEATING’S     COUGH        LOZENGES.
“94, Commercial Road, Peckham, July 12, 1889.
      “Dear Sir,— I  am  a  poor  hand  at  expressing  my
feelings,    but    I   should   like   to   thank   you.   Your
lozenges have  done  wonders  in  relieving  my  terrible
cough.  Since  I  had   the   operation   of   ’Tracheotomy’
(the same as the late Emperor of Germany,  and  unlike
him,   thank   God,   I   am   still  alive)  performed  at  St.
Bartholomew’s  Hospital,  no  one  could  possibly  have
had  a  more  violent  cough;  it was so bad at times that
it   quite   exhausted  me.  The  mucus,  which  was  very
copious and hard, had been softened, and I have  been
able  to   get   rid   of   it   without   difficulty. — I am,   sir,
yours truly, J. HILL.
                           UTTERLY UNRIVALLED.
     The  above  speaks  for  itself.  From  strict  inquiry  it
appears  that the  benefit  from  using  Keating’s  Cough
Lozenges is understated. The operation was a specially
severe one, and  was  performed  by  the  specialist,  Dr.
H.  T.   Butlin,   of   St.   Bartholomew’s   Hospital.   Since
the   operation   the  only  means  of  relief  is  the use of
these   Lozenges.   So   successful   are   they  that  one
affords   immediate   benefit,  although  from  the  nature
of the case the throat irritation is intense.
                               WEIGHT IN GOLD.
     Under  date  Sept.  8,  Mr  Hill  writes:  ”I  should  long
since have been dead but  for your Lozenges—they are
worth   their   weight  in  gold.  I  will  gladly  see  and  tell
anyone   what   a   splendid   cough   remedy   they  are.”
    Keating’s Lozenges are sold in tins, 1s 1½d each. The
unrivalled   remedy    for    COUGHS,    HOARSENESS,
and THROAT TROUBLES.

Source: The Northern Echo, Tuesday 20 March 1894

 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

Carrington’s Life Pills were made principally of capsicum, so they might well have cured your cold — if having your entire head blown off could be said to constitute a cure.

The Reverend Caleb Carrington was Vicar of Berkeley from 1799 until his death in May 1837, and his eventful incumbency included getting embroiled in a court case in which the Countess of Berkeley sought to prove that the seven children born before her marriage to the Earl were actually legitimate, owing to an earlier, secret wedding.

(Image: Capsicum frutescens, from Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy by David Culbreth, M.D. 1927. Courtesy of the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine, Arizona.)

COLDS, RHEUMATISM, GOUT & INDIGESTION
LIFE PILLS, entirely vegetable, discovered by
the Rev. C. CARRINGTON, Vicar of Berkeley, one
of his Majesty’s Deputy Lieutenants, &c. for the County of
Gloucester.—To alleviate the tortures of Spasm, Gout, Rheu-
matism, Cholic, and Nervous Afflictions, with superb success
by giving fresh life and energy to the efforts of nature, is
not the only merit of CARRINGTON’S LIFE PILLS. On
the same principle they are adapted to Female Complaints,
rouse the dormant constitution, and with gentle exercise in
the open air soon spread the bloom of health on the palest
cheek. They strengthen the digestive organs and expel
wind, they cherish and prolong life in the debilitated, and
they prevent the attack of many fatal acute diseases, if re-
sorted to on the first sensation of chill, pain or lassitude. A
large portion of the human race is hurried to an untimely
grave by Inflammations, Consumptions, &c. the effect of
neglected Colds; but a recent cold is certainly cured by
these Pills, invigorating the torpid arteries of the skin, and
thereby restoring the perspiration.
Sold in Boxes, at 1s. 1½d. and 4s. 6d. each, by J. Drewry,
Derby, and all Medicine Dealers. “BARRY and SON,
BRISTOL,” is engraved in the Government Stamp.

Source: The Derby Mercury, Wednesday 4th February 1835.

The Monthly Gazette of Health, Vol. VIII, 1823, carried an indignant letter from one J.D. of Brighton to the Bishop of Gloucester, condemning the Rev. Mr. Carrington as a quack more concerned with personal gain than with the spiritual welfare of his parishioners.

“This ecclesiastical nostrum-monger,” wrote the correspondent, “surpassing the impudence of ordinary empiricisms, enlists into his service the terrors of religious guilt, and denounces as a suicide every individual, who has been cut off by sudden death, without attempting to avert the fatal blow by a box of the Life Pills!!!”

The Bishop replied that “… the advertisement in question, however grossly unbecoming the clerical character, would not be deemed punishable in the clerical court,” while other correspondents pointed out that it was the supplier, Mr Barry, who placed the adverts and profited from sales.

If Mr Carrington took his own pills, they certainly didn’t do him any harm, as he lived to the age of eighty. They were less efficacious for his financial state, however. Although his brief obituary in The Gentleman’s Magazine doesn’t mention the place of death, other records suggest it was Gloucester debtors’ prison.