quacks

The Zerret Applicator

And now for something completely different… We leap forward into the 1950s today with this Public Service Announcement from the US Food and Drug Administration. The presenter is actor Raymond Massey and his advice is all too relevant today. [youtube]R2t6Ei55TYU[/youtube] ‘There are no Z-rays’ is undoubtedly the best line of the film, but it’s quite difficult […]

Dr Velpeau’s Magnetic Love Powders

WANTED! An industrious and strictly honest man in each County in the State to take orders by samples for Velpeau’s Magnetic Agents. Salary first year $800, and small commission, payable monthly. For full particulars address Dr. M. Velpeau, 422½ Broadway, N. Y., sending stamp. Source: The Sauk County Standard, (Baraboo, Wisconsin) 18 July 1855 —————————————————————————————– This […]

Dr Pierce’s Nasal Douche

. . This Cut illustrates the manner of Using DR. PIERCE’S Fountain Nasal Injector or DOUCHE. This instrument is specially designed for the perfect application of DR. SAGE’S CATARRH REMEDY. It is the only form of instrument yet invented with which fluid medicine can be carried high up and perfectly applied to all parts of […]

The Famous Montpellier Venereal Little Bolus

Source: The General Advertiser, 6 March 1744. Click here for transcript. I wonder if this advert looks familiar to regular readers. The writing style and capitalisation, and even the medicine’s name, are reminiscent of Mr. Burchell’s Famous Little Sugar Plums, and here again we see a proprietor tempting punters with freebies. Dr Russel of the […]

Bond’s Marvellous Corn Cure

Source: The Graphic, 19 Feb 1881 . This is a product I really don’t know much about, but I just had to feature it on the site because I love the chap’s cheerfully unsympathetic response to his friend’s agony. And the agony of corns is not to be underestimated, judging by a case study from […]

Harness’ Electric Corset (with podcast)

. Source: The Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times, 31 December 1892 . I’ve decided to have a go at doing a podcast. It’s about 13 mins long and goes into much more detail than the post below, so if you’ve got time, do have a listen. If for some reason you desperately want to […]

The Cordial Balm of Rakasiri – part 2

For part 1 of this article, click here. There’s also a transcript of an 1818 Rakasiri advert here. In 1828, a ‘nervous young man’ who had wasted more than 10l. on the Cordial Balm of Rakasiri went to a magistrate and succeeded in getting his money back. During the proceedings, the Balm’s proprietors, Charles and […]

The Cordial Balm of Rakasiri – part 1

Source: The Morning Chronicle, Saturday 12 December 1818. For transcript, click here. On this site I include anything medical or surgical provided it was advertised, so not all the remedies were considered quackery in their time. Some were endorsed and prescribed by reputable doctors, and many were no worse than the orthodox medicines then available. […]

Letter from An Old Surgeon

A brief interlude from the usual style of post today, as I’m still attempting to erase the Yankee Rubber Baby from my brain. The following letter was printed in The Monthly Gazette of Health in June 1821. A surgeon, not the most modest fellow in the world, gives an explanation for quackery – it’s all […]

Baron Schwanberg's Liquid Shell

By the KING’S Royal Letters Patent, SCHWANBERG’s LIQUID SHELL, DAILY confirmed, by Experience, not only to be a sure DISSOLVENT for the STONE and GRAVEL, but a most powerful, safe, and efficacious Medicine in the Spasmodic and Windy Cholic, Pains in the Breast, Hypochondriac Disease, and all Kinds of Flatulences, Diarræa, or Looseness; Cardialgia, or […]