quack remedies

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 […]

Compound-Magnetic Bands and Pads

The Jevons brothers capitalised on the Victorian fashion for electro-magnetism with a range of products – including the “Goliath Belt,” the “Chest Strengthener” and the “Spinal Reviver” that could be worn discreetly under the clothing. One of their adverts described the terrible state of a person deficient in the vital or magnetic force: …the poor dyspeptic, […]

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 […]

Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets

Dr Ray Vaughn Pierce (pictured, courtesy of Project Gutenberg) was an über-quack whose laboratory in Buffalo, NY, produced millions of dollars worth of patent remedies. As well as the Pleasant Pellets shown below, there were Dr Pierce’s Anuric Tablets, Dr Pierce’s Favorite Prescription, Dr Pierce’s Vaginal Tablets, Dr Pierce’s Extract of Smart-Weed and Dr Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery – […]

Keating's Cough Lozenges

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. . KEATING’S COUGH LOZENGES. “94, Commercial Road, Peckham, July 12, […]

Taylor's Anti-Epileptic Medicine

Like other antiepileptic medicines of the time, the Taylors’ remedy contained potassium bromide and ammonium bromide, together with some tincture of iodine. These ingredients were topped up with water to make 12 fl. oz. that went on sale at 2s. 9d. – a good profit on the penny or so that it cost to make. . A […]

Clarkson's Specific for Bad Legs

Another very long advert today. Thomas Clarkson was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, but his method of cure, which isn’t named in this ad, was a patent medicine by the name of Clarkson’s Specific for Bad Legs. Initially, Clarkson treated the afflicted in person, but because this often meant they had to find lodgings near his […]

Abernethy's Pile Ointment

Today’s advert is rather long. The Mr Abernethy referred to was the eminent surgeon John Abernethy (1764-1831), pictured right. He wrote about piles in his Surgical Observations (1804-06), a work that according to his biographer, George MacIlwain, was known as “the My-Book” because “he not unfrequently recommended his patients” to read it. Although Abernethy advised patients with a […]

York Medicinal Soap

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 […]

Hood's Sarsaparilla

Hood’s Sarsaparilla was big business in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – you can get an idea how big from this picture of the Massachusetts laboratory. Adverts for it were everywhere, and there were also spin-off products such as calendars and cookbooks. GOOD BLOOD GOOD BLOOD Is essential to health. Every nook and […]