History's medical advertisers and their remedies

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 CERTAIN CURE FOR

F I T S ! !    E P I L E P T I C    F I T S ! ! !
EPILEPSY, LOSS OF MEMORY, TREMBLING  OF
THE LIMBS.
These     complaints     hitherto considered    incurable,   yield
at once to a dose or two of
T A Y L O R ‘ S   A N T I-E P I L E P T I C   Medicine.
Ask your Druggist    to get   it   for   you    and   do not  be
persuaded to try any   other Medicine,   as   one dose of this
will prove   its efficacy,    or   it   can   be sent direct  from
SANGERS,   150,   Oxford-street,   London,   W.   Price  13½d,
2s. 9d. and 4s. 6d. a bottle.

Source: The Staffordshire Sentinel Thursday 18^th March 1875

A Fortune Built on Sand: Health Grains

In early 20th-century New York, a mailman introduced a new patent medicine called Health Grains for indigestion – but the ingredients were far from beneficial. Mrs Bertha Bertsche, a 38-year-old widow, could often be found supervising the pans on the kitchen range at her home in Glebe Avenue, Westchester Square, New York. Inside the pans, […]

Victorian asthma cigarettes: who was Dr Batty?

While browsing your local newspaper in the 1890s, an asthma-cure advertisement might distract you from tales of the latest sensational crimes. ‘Agreeable to use, certain in their effects, and harmless in their action, they may be safely smoked by ladies and children,’ ran the promotional copy. The product was Cigares de Joy, handy little cigarettes […]

Sanitized Tape Worms - a spurious 'vintage' ad

‘Eat! Eat! Eat!’ Those notorious tapeworm diet pills

Peoria, Illinois, 1912: the horror begins. A society lady, encouraged by a friend’s success with an easy new weight-loss treatment, pays $25 for ‘two rather large and suspicious-looking pills.’ Her husband sends the pills to be analysed by the Washington public health service, and before long a ‘government secret official’ appears, informing him that the […]