quacks

Sir John Hill's Pectoral Balsam of Honey

Sir John Hill (the “Sir” came from a Swedish title) started out as an apothecary and also tried his hand at acting before becoming a prolific writer. He edited the British Magazine from 1746-50 and produced a huge variety of works including plays, advice on marriage and child-rearing (under the pen-name The Hon. Juliana-Susannah Seymour), […]

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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 – […]

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Basil Burchell's Purging Sugar Plumbs for Worms

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, […]

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To Fat Persons

This is an interesting advert because there is nothing blatant about it. It doesn’t appear to be selling anything and it’s difficult to see what Mr. F. Russell has to gain. To the average reader, this could simply be a kind-hearted gentleman so excited about having lost weight that he wants to share the secret […]

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I Cure Fits!

“Dr.” H. G. Root was a New York chemist whose remedy (not named in most of his adverts) was called Elepizone. According to Martindale’s Extra Pharmacopaeia of 1892, it was made of “bromide of sodium 30 grains, bromide of ammonium 30 grains, bromide of potassium 20 grains, tincture of nux vomica 15 minims, with caramel q.s. […]

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Carrington's Life Pills

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 […]

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Newton's Restorative Tooth Powder

   (Image from Gray’s Anatomy, 20th US Edition 1918.) There’s a sub-species of urban myth specifically related to “the olden days,” and one of its pronouncements is that everyone before about 1950 had appallingly rotten teeth. That’s if they were lucky enough to have any teeth at all.  I have a vague memory of a primary school lesson where we […]

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Self-Adjusting Curative and Electric Belt

                  ELECTRICITY IS LIFE. HEALTH AND MANHOOD RESTORED                 (WITHOUT MEDICINE.) CURE YOURSELF by the PATENT SELF- ADJUSTING CURATIVE AND ELECTRIC BELT. Sufferers from Nervous debility, Painful Dreams Mental and Physical Depression, Palpitation of the Heart, Noises in the Head and Ears, Indecision, Im- paired sight and memory, Indigestion, Prostration, Lassitude, Depression of […]

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Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup

    Originating in New York in the 1840s, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup was a dangerous concoction. Parents often did not realise that it contained morphine, and sadly, as the American Medical Times put it in 1860, were “relieved of all further care of their infants” through its use.   ADVICE TO MOTHERS!—Are you broken […]

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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 […]

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