The Quack Doctor

S. P. Kernick had two main products – the worm lozenges advertised here and the “Vegetable Pills,” which were for headaches, bilious attacks and constipation. Although the medicines weren’t widely advertised beyond the Cardiff area, they were still going strong at the end of the 19th century.

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                 K E R N I C K ‘ S   V E G E T A B L E
                                         WORM LOZENGES
may be  taken  by  children  of  all  ages  with  perfect safety, and are
also useful for children of delicate stomachs  and  pale  complexions.
      “SIR,—A   woman  gave  two  of  the  lozenges  for  five  mornings,
and by doing so  the  child  got  rid  of  no  less than eighty worms.—
DANIEL MORGAN, Nelson.”
       “W.  Harriss,  of  Cefncoed,  miner’s  child,  had  got  rid  of  140
worms in a week, whilst taking a box  of  your  worm  lozenges,  and
also has improved wonderfully in health since.”—JNO. PRICE, Cefn,
Merthyr.
        “A customer of mine, a short time  ago,  bought   a  box  of  your
worm  lozenges  to  try  their  effect  on  his  child,  who  was  very  ill.
The   little   boy   got  rid  of  forty  large  worms  and  so  many  small
ones that they could not reckon them.”—JAMES MEYRICK.
        From Mr.  Morgan,  Pondarran.—“Send  me  12  dozen  of  your
valuable   worm   lozenges;  they  are  curing  all  the  children  in  this
neighbourhood.”
                                       Prepared only by
               S.P. KERNICK, MANUFACTURING CHEMIST,
                              DUKE-STREET, CARDIFF.
Sold in Boxes, at 1s. 1½. and 7½., by the appointed Agents, and
most respectable Chemists and Druggists.

Source: The Western Mail (Cardiff) Monday 18 December 1871

Here we have an early example of the grocer’s apostrophe.

Basil Burchell was well-known not only for his Worm medicine (which was for getting rid of worms, not for making worms feel better, in case you were wondering) but also for the famous Anodyne Necklace, supposed to soothe teething babies. More about the necklace another time, but here’s the part of his advertisement relating to the vermifuge:

COUGHS, COLDS, and ASTHMA’s.
So prevalent at this Season of the Year.
THE famous PURGING SUGAR,
PLUMBS, for WORMS in CHILDREN and
GROWN PERSONS; or where there are no Worms,
no Medicine extant for a delicate fine purge, to free the
body from foul humours, can exceed, or even stand in
competition with them. The power of this Medicine is
truly astonishing; it purifies the blood, completely
cleanses the stomach, bowels and glands, and effectually
cures the Rheumatism, Agues, Intermitting Fevers,
Coughs, Colds, Asthmas, and a train of disorders too nu-
merous to insert, most of which are the offspring of a
foul stomach or obstructed perspiration.
For sickness, and pain at the stomach, want of appetite,
and shortness of breath, they are eminently serviceable. In
short, they have been found, on repeated trials, the best
and cheapest family medicine in the world.-Three dozen
for 2s. 8d. or a single packet of one dozen, 1s. 1½d. To
merchants, country dealers, and charitable persons, to give
away, 10s. per groce.
They have only the taste of fine sugar, and are as in-
nocent and easy to take as a common sugar-plumb
from the confectioner’s.

Source: The Times, Monday 25th February 1788

Note: Apostrophe in Asthmas, comma after Sugar and spelling groce are as shown.

For a detailed study of Burchell and his publicity, you can consult A Study of Eighteenth-Century Advertising Methods by Francis Doherty, a preview of which is available on Google Book Search HERE.

I’ve been looking forward to this one. It’s the most disgusting advert I’ve posted so far. DO NOT read it if you are eating.

        WORMS! WORMS! WORMS!
LAFFERE’S WORM POWDERS are the
best remedy for worms; they effect a certain cure, are
tasteless, and at the same time are perfectly harmless.
As a proof of their efficacy the following case, out of many
hundreds, is inserted:—Emma Knight, aged eight years, daughter
of James and Caroline Knight, Black Torrington, voided the
extraordinary number of eighty-six large worms, some of them
over twelve inches long, after taking one dose of the above Powders.
Price, under six years of age, 6d.; under twelve, 8d.; under
eighteen, 10d.; adults, 1s. Postage, one penny extra. Send
stamps and state age, to E. H. LAFFERE, Chemist, Hatherleigh,
from whom those Powders are only to be obtained.
                                    N.B.—No Agents.

Source: Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post, Or, Plymouth and Cornish Advertiser, Wednesday 21st January 1863.

Twelve-inch long worms might sound like the stuff of quack exaggeration, but sadly not. The starring role in the ad goes to Ascaris lumbricoides L. This species has haunted my dreams since the first year of university when I did a six-week parasitology “taster” course with lectures either side of Friday lunchtimes. If you desperately want to know more about what ascarids can get up to inside you, good ol’ Wikipedia is quite sufficient to give you all the info you don’t want. Click here – or, rather, don’t.