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Kimball’s Anti-Rheumatic Ring
Kimball’s Anti-Rheumatic Ring fits into the tradition of the magnetic or copper jewellery that many people still swear by for arthritis and general health. Frederick W Kimball (b.1854) introduced it in about 1883 in Boston, MA, advertising it as ‘The Great German Anti-Rheumatic Ring’. By 1890, the company had moved to State Street, Chicago, and […]
Read MoreThe Diagraphoscope – a wonder-working machine
Twentieth-century businessman X. W. Witman saw a lot of potential in X-rays. Doctors might get excited about their emerging medical application, but for him X-rays offered something even better – the chance to get rich quick. If you could X-ray Witman’s head, the plate would display a fine collection of dollar signs. Adverts puffed his […]
Read MoreThe Worm-Doctor of Shoreditch
It’s a while since we last heard from our old friend Ascaris lumbricoides, so it’s time he made another appearance on The Quack Doctor together with a few of his helminthic chums. I’m putting together a talk about the career of John Gardner, a former soldier and picture-framer who became a medicine vendor and Methodist […]
Read MoreTerradermalax – a skin laxative
Source: The Pittsburgh Press, 11 March 1923 . . Why, when a woman is 30, do her blushes no longer show? How does a skin grow dull and unlovely while the eyes are still clear and sparkling? Science has learned the reason, and – glorious news! – a painless, pleasant way to correct it in […]
Read MoreMunyon is ready…
Would you buy a homeopathic remedy from this man? Source: The Morning Times (Washington D.C.) 13 December 1896 James Monroe Munyon’s pompadour hairstyle was a familiar feature of American newspapers around the turn of the 20th century. Having tried his hand at teaching, law, social work, publishing and song-writing, he started his Homoeopathic Home Remedy […]
Read MoreHabitina – an infallible remedy for addiction
Source: The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette,17 April 1907 —————————————————————————————— Following on from the last post, we remain in early 20th-century America. But while Mayr’s Wonderful Stomach Remedy was fairly harmless (albeit rather revolting), this nostrum was notorious for the damage it caused in just 6 years of existence. Between 1906 and 1912, the Delta Chemical Company […]
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