Rheumatism
Omega Oil
The Omega Oil company, which had London and US branches, had its work cut out to get the product noticed among pages of attractive pictorial adverts. But get noticed they did. The constant flow of new designs together with the unique selling point – It’s green – helped create a long-lasting brand. And there […]
Read MoreWhitehead’s Essence of Mustard
WHITEHEAD’S ESSENCE OF MUSTARD. —– CHILBLAINS are prevented from breaking, and their tormenting itching instantly removed, by WHITEHEAD’s ESSENCE of MUSTARD, universally esteemed for its extraordinary efficacy in Rheumatisms, Palsies, Gouty Affections, and Complaints of the Stomach; but where this certain remedy has been unknown or neglected, and the Chilblains have actually suppurated, or broke, […]
Read MoreThe Etherial Oil of Mustard for the Gout
Source: London Evening Post, December 27, 1755 The Dr Linden of the advert is Diederick Wessel Linden, a physician from Westphalia who came to Britain in 1747 and settled in Flintshire. Better known for his writings about spa waters, and for featuring in an amusingly earthy scene in Smollett’s Humphry Clinker, he deserves a post […]
Read MoreMagic Foot Drafts
RHEUMATISM Cured Through the Feet Without Medicine An external cure so sure that the makers send it FREE ON APPROVAL. Try it. Send your name and address to the makers of Magic Foot Drafts, the great cure for every kind of rheumatism; Chronic or Acute, Muscular, Sciatic, Lumbago, Gout, etc., no matter where located or […]
Read MoreDr Junod's Exhausting Apparatus
Important Notice to the Afflicted ALL Persons suffering from PARALYSIS, SPINAL AFFECTIONS, RHEUMATISM, NEURAL- GIA, ASTHMA, Pain in the Head, or all cases of INFLAM- MATION or CONGESTION, should at once try Mr G. W. Gedney’s VACUUM APPARATUS, by Dr. Junod, which has been practised with great success for upwards of 40 years. Testimonials of […]
Read MoreAllcock's Porous Plasters
Source: The Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times, Sat 26 January 1895. To view this rather fine-looking gentleman in full technicolour glory, click this ad from the National Archives. Allcock’s Plasters had their origins in an invention patented in the US in 1845 by Horace Day and William Shecut. (Day was a wealthy manufacturer of rubber […]
Read MoreCentaur Liniment
As we have seen before, nostrum-vendors’ talents were more suited to salesmanship than to poetry. This ad gets off to a tolerable start, but come verse 3 it goes downhill fast, and by the bit about the sheep it’s apparent that the copy-writer just wanted to get the wretched thing out the door and go […]
Read MoreThe Modena Fossil
. This is perhaps the most bizarrely named product yet featured on this site. It is not surprising that it should be obscure to the modern observer, but in fact it made no sense to the denizens of the early 19th century either. . . ……………HEALTH ……….A MOST IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. ……….The Modena Fossil ……….A SPEEDY […]
Read MoreWalter De Roos' Compound Renal Pills
Here’s another product from the enigmatic Dr De Roos, who once again uses the ploy of warning the punters against charlatans. The Renal Pills were still available in the early 20th century, when the results of analysis were reported in More Secret Remedies. The pills were made of sodium carbonate, soap, a resin that might have […]
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