quack remedies

Rees's Compound Essence

I decided against searching for a picture to go with this one… REES’S COMPOUND ESSENCE has proved in all cases the most safe and efficacious remedy ever discovered for the removal of strictures without the use of a bougie, as well as a speedy and certain cure for all discharges, gleets, whites, seminal weakness, irritation […]

Page Woodcock's Wind Pills

Page Woodcock’s Wind Pills were well-known throughout the second half of the 19th century and into the 20th. Born in Norwich and spending most of his life either there or in Lincoln, Woodcock (1820-1889) had a successful business as a chemist. He was a Methodist, and came under satirical fire from Punch in 1853 for placing long sermonising advertisements […]

The Vital Regenerator

Balsam of Mecca was a prized substance in Arabian medicine and cosmetics, but it was very difficult to get hold of the real thing in Europe in the 19th century. The true balsam – a resin from the shrub then known as Balsamodendron Opobalsamum (now more commonly Commiphora gileadensis) – was rare, but an inferior form […]

Barclay's Dr. Bateman's Pectoral Drops

Bateman’s Drops had been around since the 1720s and were prepared by various suppliers, hence the specification that these were Barclay’s Bateman’s Drops rather than anyone else’s. The main ingredients were aniseed, camphor and opium, so the drops would have at least a temporary effect and could be rather dangerous if swigged indiscriminately. Different suppliers […]

Widow Welch's Pills for ladies

I like this one because there’s a real sense of feminine solidarity. Mrs Smithers, possessor of knowledge passed down through the generations, sounds like a better bet than the mortifying prospect of consulting a male doctor. TO LADIES.—THE ONLY GENUINE WIDOW WELCH’S PILLS are those prepared by MRS SMITHERS (Granddaughter to the WIDOW WELCH), from the real Family […]

Solomon's Drops

Happy New Year and welcome to The Quack Doctor! For more information about this new blog, please have a look at the About page. I’ll be posting transcripts of historical advertisements for all sorts of weird and wonderful patent medicines, with the aim of building up quite a collection. I’m hoping to post daily for the […]