Patent medicines

Mr. Lewis's Incomparable Sheep-Drench

Although Mr Lewis admits in this ad that the causes of sheep rot were imperfectly understood, he is on the right lines when he refers to “insects in the liver.” The liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica L. was often noticed in sheep that had died of the rot, but there was a lot of controversy as to whether they were a […]

Bell's Anti-Prandium

Image: Daguerreotype of the Duke of Wellington in 1844 Cashing in on the Duke of Wellington’s death in order to sell fart pills quite frankly seems a bit distasteful to me: VERBUM SAT.—Our Immortal Wellington clearly died from an attack of Indigestion. All who suffer from Dyspepsia, Indigestion, Cardialgia, Eructations, Fla- tulency, Torpidity of […]

Cross's Gout and Rheumatic Pills

This remedy was not widely advertised and I don’t have much information about it, but I like the way the typography is laid out in the original, so have tried to reproduce it as far as possible, within the limitations of WordPress formatting. There will be more from The Western Mail soon, as it’s an excellent […]

Kernick's Vegetable Worm Lozenges

S. P. Kernick had two main products – the worm lozenges advertised here and the “Vegetable Pills,” which were for headaches, bilious attacks and constipation. Although the medicines weren’t widely advertised beyond the Cardiff area, they were still going strong at the end of the 19th century. . K E R N I […]

Weston's Wizard Oil

Weston was an entertainer who toured Australia and New Zealand from the 1860s to the 1880s, putting on free two-hour shows featuring jokes, songs and comic tales that incorporated lots of plugs for his products. A NZ correspondent to London’s The Era in August 1872 wrote of Weston as follows: FRANK WESTON, the Wizard Oil Prince, is here. He […]

Alex Ross's Complexion Globules

This double advert shows only a fraction of the cosmetics range sold by Alexander Ross. He sold several products for the hair, including his famous Cantharides (Spanish Fly) Oil for curing baldness, and Golden Hair wash that turned the hair “a golden colour after a few usings.” Other products included a Skin Tightener liquid for […]

Tricosian Powder, Huile de Cachmere, etc.

As someone with a “countenance of moderate pretensions,” I can see the allure of some of these products … TRICOSIAN POWDER. For rendering Red or Grey Hair and Whiskers a beautiful Black or Brown. THIS POWDER, which is a very curious dis- covery in Chemistry, will be found, upon trial, much […]

Hance's Candy

Apologies for the lack of background information or ironic commentary on this one, but I’m too busy celebrating the launch of my first novel. For more info on that, have a look at my website. Otherwise, today’s ad has a suitably literary (or least vaguely poetic) section. H A N C E ‘ S C […]

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), […]

Rowland's Alsana Extract

The Rowlands – a father and son team – mainly produced cosmetic products. The one shown below veers more towards the medical side of things, as did their Cerelaeum elixir for headaches and vertigo. They also sold a tooth powder called Odonto, a beauty preparation named Kalydor and a hair dye called the Essence of Tyre. Their most famous product, […]