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# The Quack Doctor

History's medical advertisers and their remedies

## Sitemaps

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## Posts

- [Home](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/home/) - The Quack Doctor investigates the patent remedies, devices and therapies advertised in the past - from popular brands to medical frauds.
- ['We are now making our usual getaway': X W Wittman and the Diagraphoscope](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-diagraphoscope-a-wonder-working-machine/) - A charismatic young showman called X W Wittman promoted the Diagraphoscope - a device that could see inside the human body.
- [The Rhycol Method](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-rhycol-method/) - The Rhycol Method was an early 20th-century treatment for catarrh, featuring shell-like devices to keep the nostrils open.
- [Page Woodcock's Wind Pills](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/page-woodcocks-wind-pills/) - Page Woodcock's Wind Pills blew onto the patent medicine scene in 1851, ready to take on the flatulence of the British population.
- [Dr James's Fever Powder](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-jamess-fever-powder/) - A hard-drinking physician patented a popular fever powder in 1747 - but its ingredients could just as easily kill as cure.
- [Owbridge's Lung Tonic](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/owbridges-lung-tonic/) - Hull chemist Walter T Owbridge introduced this honey-based medicine for coughs and colds in the 1870s, and it was still in production 100 years later.
- [Dr Buckland's Scotch Oats Essence](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-bucklands-scotch-oats-essence/) - The Scotch Oats Essence was wholesome-sounding American patent medicine - but its short reign of advertising prominence ended when analysis showed it to be a dangerous and cruel fraud
- [Narcoti-Cure: 'Why smoke and spit your life away?'](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/why-smoke-and-spit-your-life-away/) - Narcoti-Cure was an 1895 patent medicine that claimed to make people stop smoking within 4 to 10 days.
- [The Zerret Applicator](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-zerret-applicator/) - In 1940s Chicago, William R Ferguson claimed that his invention could heal disease through mysterious Z-rays. Did they originate from outer space?
- [The goat gland wizard of California](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-goat-gland-wizard-of-california/) - Dr Clayton E Wheeler claimed to cure a host of conditions by injecting mashed-up goat gonads into patients' abdomens.
- [Dr Wheeler and the Bacillus of Death](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-wheeler-and-the-bacillus-of-death/) - British newspapers reported in 1895 that someone had discovered the 'Death Microbe'.
- ['Eat! Eat! Eat!' Those notorious tapeworm diet pills](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/eat-eat-eat-those-notorious-tapeworm-diet-pills/) - The tapeworm diet claims a long history, but did our great-grandmothers really fight weight gain with parasites?
- [The very thing for ladies: Harness' Electric Corset](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/harness-electric-corset-with-podcast/) - This Victorian magnetic corset was supposed to impart 'health, comfort and elegance' to women - but was it all just a con?
- [An inventor's survival: Ramey's Medicator](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/rameys-medicator-an-inventors-survival/) - Ramey's Medicator was meant to cure 'death-dealing disease' - and its inventor had been through a life-threatening medical experience of his own.
- [Mademoiselle Cavania: England's 'only female doctor'?](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/guest-post-englands-only-female-doctor/) - In this guest post for The Quack Doctor, Roger Cavania Sanders introduces the fascinating career of his great aunt, who practised as 'Mademoiselle Cavania' in the 1860s.
- ['A new sensation': hair-brushing by machinery](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-new-sensation-hair-brushing-by-machinery/) - Originating in Bristol in 1862, the hair-brushing machine whirred its way into the public consciousness of Victorian Britain.
- [A breath of maggoty air](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-breath-of-maggoty-air/) - A fshing-bait breeder discovered in 1911 that the gases in his maggot shed might cure consumption.
- [A Fortune Built on Sand: Health Grains](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-fortune-built-on-sand/) - In early 20th-century New York, a mailman introduced a new patent medicine for indigestion - but the ingredients were far from beneficial.
- [Dr MacKenzie's Harmless Arsenic Complexion Wafers](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/to-whiten-hands-and-skin/) - Arsenic was reputed to give a youthful, wrinkle-free complexion, so 1890s entrepreneurs started advertising arsenic pills and soaps.
- [Mr Grimstone and the Revitalised Mummy Pea](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/mr-grimstone-and-the-revitalised-mummy-pea/) - In 1840s London, the proprietor of Grimstone's Eye Snuff claimed to have grown plants from peas found in an Ancient Egyptian tomb.
- [A devil of a cure: the Sa-Tan-Ic Tonic Laxative](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-devil-of-a-cure/) - A company in early 20th-century Kansas named their constipation medicine after an unlikely figure. Satan.
- [Avoiding the trickcyclist and nutpicker: First World War home remedies and miracle cures](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/avoiding-the-trickcyclist-and-nutpicker-first-world-war-home-remedies-and-miracle-cures/) - Suzie Grogan, author of Shell Shocked Britain, explores the commercial remedies that claimed to alleviate the psychological effects of war.
- [Victorian asthma cigarettes: who was Dr Batty?](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/victorian-asthma-cigarettes-who-was-dr-batty/) - Asthma and cigarettes don't sound like a good mix, but 19thC doctors saw smoking as an efficient way to deliver medication to the lungs.
- ['A Damnable Villain' – Byron H. Robb and the Electro-Magnetic Brush Co.](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-damnable-villain-byron-h-robb-and-the-electro-magnetic-brush-co/) - Part 1 of 2. In this guest post for The Quack Doctor, author Robert K Waits introduces the colourful career of 19th-century fraudster Byron H. Robb.
- ['A Damnable Villain' part 2 – a free pony for your wife!](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-damnable-villain-part-2-a-free-pony-for-your-wife/) - In part 2 of Robert K. Waits' guest article, Byron H Robb moves to Texas, changes his name and starts selling mail-order Shetland ponies.
- [Detective Caminada and the quack doctors](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/detective-caminada-and-the-quack-doctors/) - In this guest post, Angela Buckley, author of The Real Sherlock Holmes, relates Detective Jerome Caminada's encounter with an ecclesiastical con artist in 1870s Manchester.
- [On thorny ground: the human x-ray scientists](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/on-thorny-ground-the-human-x-ray-scientists/) - In 1911, the Grant brothers of Maidstone claimed the power to grow new internal organs and bring dead people back to life.
- [Maria Owen, the bogus lady doctor](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-bogus-lady-doctor/) - In the West Midlands in the 1890s, Maria Owen pretended to be a doctor in order to part people from their cash.
- [The mysterious Doctor Du Brange](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-mysterious-doctor-du-brange/) - In this guest post from Dick Weindling and Marianne Colloms, an 1870s Kilburn practitioner finds himself in court for distributing indecent handbills.
- [To raise false hopes: Antidipso](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/to-raise-false-hopes/) - The drunkenness remedy Antidipso, as featured on Great British Railway Journeys Series 7 Episode 11.
- [Notorious Chrimes: The Blackmail Pills](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/notorious-chrimes-the-blackmail-pills/) - In 1890s London, the 'Lady Montrose Pills' blackmail scheme efficiently and heartlessly targeted more than 8,000 victims.
- [The alleged Dr Barber: a case of identity theft in 1912](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/identity-theft-1912/) - In 1912, detectives discovered that a local GP wasn't all he seemed. Sensational news reports described his dramatic attempts to escape arrest...
- [Dangerous beauty: Madame Anna Ruppert](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dangerous-beauty-madame-anna-ruppert/) - Anna Ruppert's career as a beauty specialist brought her acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, but there was a deadly secret to her success.
- [Kimball's Anti-Rheumatic Ring](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/kimballs-anti-rheumatic-ring/) - This 1890s product claimed to cure rheumatism by eliminating acid from the blood.
- [Anti-Stiff - strengthens the muscles](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/anti-stiff-strengthens-the-muscles/) - This 1890s product was so popular that some cyclists and footballers liked to rub it all over them.
- [Ali Ahmed's Treasures of the Desert](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/ali-ahmeds-treasures-of-the-desert-2/) - This range of exotic medicines was advertised in the serialised first edition of Charles Dickens' Bleak House.
- [Don't be gulled by misleading advertisements](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dont-be-gulled-by-misleading-advertisements/) - A booklet appearing to be part of an anti-quackery campaign turns out to be an advert.
- [An ulcer as big as a hen-egg](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/an-ulcer-as-big-as-a-hen-egg/) - An 1889 testimonial for Radam's Microbe Killer describes the patient's symptoms in all their gruesome glory.
- [Figuroids](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/figuroids/) - Day 3 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent calendar 2013
- [The devil in disguise: Hall's Coca Wine](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-devil-in-disguise/) - Hall's Coca Wine was criticised for its ingredients - but perhaps not the most obvious one.
- [Bomb the first sneeze with Kilacold](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/bomb-the-first-sneeze-with-kilacold/) - Inspired by chemical warfare, this product used chlorine gas in the fight against colds and flu.
- [The Worm-Doctor of Shoreditch](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-worm-doctor-of-shoreditch/) - John Gardner kept two museums supposedly full of the horrible intestinal parasites expelled by his patients - but they weren't all they were cracked up to be.
- [Terradermalax - a skin laxative](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/terradermalax-a-skin-laxative/) - This 1920s beauty product promised that even women over 30 could look good!
- [Habitina - an infallible remedy for addiction](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/habitina-an-infallible-remedy-for-addiction/) - Between 1906 and 1912, the Delta Chemical Company made more than half a million dollars selling an addiction cure that contained large doses of narcotics.
- [Munyon is ready...](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/munyon-is-ready/) - Munyon's Homeopathic Home Remedies made their inventor a fortune - but little did he know his company would be connected with one of the most famous murder cases of the early 20th century.
- [Antonius W. Van Bysterveld, Expert Inspector of Urine](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/antonius-w-van-bysterveld-expert-inspector-of-urine/) - An unlicensed doctor from Grand Rapids, Michigan, brought the tradition of the 'pisse-prophet' into the 20th century, but got more than he bargained for when a patient's angry father turned up with a gun.
- [BBC Radio 4 Best Medicine](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/bbc-radio-4-best-medicine/) - Tune in to Best Medicine on BBC Radio 4, 6.30pm, 14 November 2023 (or listen later at BBC Sounds and all podcast platforms). Hosted by Kiri Pritchard-McLean, it's an entertaining panel show that looks at the strange, the amusing and the uplifting sides of medicine, past and present. I talk about some inhalation inventions that Caroline Rance talks about history's dodgy inhalation devices on Radio 4's entertaining panel show, Best Medicine.
- [Tucker's Asthma Specific](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/tuckers-asthma-specific/) - This 19th-century asthma remedy contained cocaine and atropine.
- [Rocks that Shock: the Hillman Electric Resort](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/rocks-that-shock/) - In 1880s Georgia, a Baptist minister accidentally discovered rocks that appeared to emit a therapeutic power of electricity.
- [The Dolly Dimpler](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-dolly-dimpler/) - Day 6 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calender 2013
- [Hunt's Remedy](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/hunts-remedy/) - Day 7 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [Smedley's Chillie Paste](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/smedleys-chillie-paste/) - Day 9 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [The sparkle of perfect health](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-sparkle-of-perfect-health/) - Day 12 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [Madame Fox's Life for the Hair](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/madame-foxs-life-for-the-hair/) - Day 13 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [Merchant's Gargling Oil](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/merchants-gargling-oil/) - Day 14 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2014
- [I was a tub of fat!](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/i-was-a-tub-of-fat/) - Day 18 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [The Acme Worm Bouncer](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-acme-worm-bouncer/) - Day 19 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [Failure of '606'](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/failure-of-606/) - Day 20 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [Stay Vigorous at Seventy](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/stay-vigorous-at-seventy/) - Day 23 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [The Poor Man's Friend](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-poor-mans-friend/) - A 19th-century ointment that turned out to be only 95% friendly.
- [The Worm Has Returned](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-worm-has-returned/) - Did 12-year-old Ellen McCarthy really vomit up an 87-inch worm in 1825?
- [Gamjee's Oriental Salve](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/gamjees-oriental-salve/) - A late 19th-century ointment supposedly used by W. E. Gladstone.
- [The Lambert Snyder Health Vibrator](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-lambert-snyder-health-vibrator/) - An early 20th-century mechanical device to soothe your aches and pains.
- [Angelick Snuff](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/angelick-snuff/) - An early 18th-century cure for eye problems and epilepsy.
- [Dr Walter's Medicated Rubber Garments](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-walters-medicated-rubber-garments/) - An early 20th century weight loss aid that promised people they could 'perspire and grow thin'.
- [Atkinson & Barker's Royal Infants' Preservative](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/atkinson-barkers-royal-infants-preservative/) - This popular 19th-century infant soother not only contained laudanum but was promoted in a highly dodgy way.
- [A miraculous change right away quick](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-miraculous-change-right-away-quick/) - A 1915 sales letter that tries to push a customer into buying 'Magic Foot Drafts'.
- ['Like a half-felled cow' - a case of arsenic poisoning in Victorian Scotland](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/like-a-half-felled-cow-a-case-of-arsenic-poisoning-in-victorian-scotland/) - A quack in 1860s Scotland treated breast cancer with a salve made of arsenic and lard.
- [Dr Hammond and his Electric, Curative & Phosphoric Vitalizer](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-hammond-and-his-electric-curative-phosphoric-vitalizer/) - Victorian quack Dr Hammond used aliases, scaremongering letters and false qualifications to persuade as many men as possible that their genitals needed an electrical boost.
- [Something to show and scare the people](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/something-to-show-and-scare-the-people/) - 19th-century tapeworm remedies were sometimes drastic, sometimes stupid.
- [The Invisible Elevators for Short People](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-invisible-elevators-for-short-people/) - A Victorian entrepreneur promised to help short people look taller.
- [The Balm of Zura, or Phoenix of Life](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-balm-of-zura-or-phoenix-of-life/) - 19th-century quack Dr Lamert found himself the butt of some practical jokes.
- [Omega Oil](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-omega-oil/) - At the turn of the 20th century, a new emerald-green liniment was introduced as a miracle cure for pain.
- [The tragic story of Ching's Worm Lozenges](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-tragic-story-of-chings-worm-lozenges/) - Parents were assured this medicine was safe, but it contained dangerous levels of mercury and caused the death of 3-year-old Thomas Clayton in 1803.
- [Baron Spolasco and the Wreck of the Killarney](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/baron-spolasco-and-the-wreck-of-the-killarney/) - A flamboyant 19th-century quack doctor survives shipwreck - but is this only the start of his adventures?
- [The Continued Adventures of Baron Spolasco](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-continued-adventures-of-baron-spolasco/) - After surviving a shipwreck on the Irish coast, Baron Spolasco went on to an eventful career in England and Wales.
- [Homeopathy made plain to the meanest capacity](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/homeopathy-made-plain-to-the-meanest-capacity/) - In 'The Man About Town' (1838), Cornelius Webbe's humorous character, Mr Waggle, explains homeopathy to a friend.
- [Vigor's Horse-Action Saddle](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/vigors-horse-action-saddle/) - This Victorian exercise machine promised to stimulate the liver, help you lose weight, and cure indigestion and gout.
- [Capsuloids Hair Restorer](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/capsuloids-hair-restorer/) - An Edwardian hair restorer made from bullocks' blood.
- [Cameron the Piss-Prophet](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/cameron-the-piss-prophet/) - An 1820s quack claimed to diagnose diseases by tasting the patient's urine.
- [Barrett's Mandrake Embrocation](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/barretts-mandrake-embrocation/) - This everyday Victorian liniment was advertised with a bizarre logo.
- [The Aqua Antitorminalis for Griping in the Guts](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-aqua-antitorminalis-for-griping-in-the-guts/) - 17th-century remedies for diarrhoea included wafting the fumes of boiled beans up the affected part.
- [The 'Instra' Warmer](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-instra-warmer/) - An 1890s pocket warmer with a variety of uses.
- [The repeated delight of so divertising a remedy](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-repeated-delight-of-so-divertising-a-remedy/) - An anonymous 17th-century satirist lampoons the exaggerated claims of medical quacks.
- [Mayr's Wonderful Stomach Remedy](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/mayrs-wonderful-stomach-remedy/) - An early 20th-century scam was the forerunner of the modern-day liver flush.
- [Professor Modevi's Beard Generator](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/professor-modevis-beard-generator/) - A late 19th-century German product promised a luxuriant growth of beard for even the callowest youth.
- [Make-Man Tablets](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/make-man-tablets/) - These pills from 1910 promised to make you into a real man - but they contained arsenic.
- [The Nose Machine](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-nose-machine/) - A Victorian contraption for improving the shape of the nose - the forerunner of today's nose jobs?
- [Bond's Marvellous Corn Cure](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/bonds-marvellous-corn-cure/) - A charlatan chiropodist in the 1840s persuaded a customer that he had extracted 116 corns from his foot.
- [McMunn's Elixir of Opium](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/mcmunns-elixir-of-opium/) - The Elixir of Opium, a 19th-century US nostrum, was popular with regular physicians, but its use sometimes had tragic consequences...
- [The Famous Montpellier Venereal Little Bolus](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-famous-montpellier-venereal-little-bolus/) - This 18th-century quack remedy for venereal disease was advertised by the offer of a Gleet Patient's Directory. If your name appeared in the Directory, you got the medicine free - but who would want their 'secret disease' publicised to the world?
- [The Pure Drops of Life](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-pure-drops-of-life/) - Early 19th-century minister T. Lucas sold a herbal preparation for the cure of coughs and colds. He claimed that Sir Joseph Banks endorsed the remedy - but Banks had never heard of him.
- [The Brinkerhoff System](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-brinkerhoff-system/) - Alexander W Brinkerhoff invented a procedure to cure piles. He sold the secret remedy together with all the necessary equipment to itinerant pile-doctors, who had to pay him a royalty on the money they made from patients.
- [Gordon's Vital Sexualine Restorative](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/gordons-vital-sexualine-restorative/) - This 1890s advert promised a free pamphlet on restoring lost manhood. The pamphlet recommended Gordon's Vital Sexualine Restorative, the Viro-Erectile Elixir, and more
- [Dr Pierce's Nasal Douche](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-pierces-nasal-douche/) - A late 19th-century quack device for clearing out the sinuses and curing colds.
- [Ede's Patent American Eye Liquid](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/edes-patent-american-eye-liquid/) - British entrepreneur John Ede introduced the American Eye Liquid in 1872, but in spite of his grandiose advertising claims, business didn't boom.
- [Lardner's Prepared Charcoal for the Teeth](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/lardners-prepared-charcoal-for-the-teeth/) - Recent reports of charcoal toothpaste being introduced in the Far East have a long history.
- [Dr Velpeau's Magnetic Love Powders](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-velpeaus-magnetic-love-powders/) - In the mid 19th-century US, a quack offers hope for spurned lovers.
- [McAlister's All-Healing Ointment](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/mcalisters-all-healing-ointment/) - A 19th-century salve that claimed to cure everything from hair-loss to cancer.
- [The Bloom of Ninon](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-bloom-of-ninon/) - A dangerous cosmetic product supposedly used by Ninon de L'Enclos and Marie Antoinette.
- [Whitehead's Essence of Mustard](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/whiteheads-essence-of-mustard/) - An early 19th-century patent remedy for chilblains was mercilessly parodied by an American writer.
- [Dr Junod's Exhausting Apparatus](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-junods-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
- [Magic Foot Drafts](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/magic-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
- [Dr Lowther's Powders and Drops](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-lowthers-powders-and-drops/) - MR. ELIAS GROVES, of Clapham, attests, that he was afflicted upwards of a Year and half with a most violent windy Disorder, to so great a Degree, that the Wind would roll about, as it were, all over his Body, and occasion him frequently to be discharging it in a surprising Manner out of his
- [Dr Young's Rectal Dilators](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-youngs-rectal-dilators/) - Source: Detroit Medical Journal August 1905 As you can see, this ad is aimed at the medical profession, and the product was (and still is) accepted by orthodox practitioners as helpful for certain conditions – it was not so much the dilators themselves but the claims made about their efficacy that at one point pushed
- [Swaim's Panacea - part 1](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/swaims-panacea-part-1/) - SWAIM'S PANACEA.—This Medicine has acquired a very extensive and established celebrity in Europe and America, and its virtues are known and acknowledged by many of the most respectable physicians of both countries. As an alterative, and in various diseases, particularly in cases of inveterate corruption of the blood descending to the second generation, it stands
- [Swaim's Panacea - part 2](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/swaims-panacea-part-2/) - For part 1 about Swaim's Panacea, click here. Within a few years of establishing his products, William Swaim was enjoying the benefits of endorsements from some of Philadelphia's most eminent physicians, including Nathaniel Chapman, William Gibson, William Pott Dewees, Thomas Parke and James Mease - and he didn't even have to make them up. For
- [The Famous Little Sugar Plums](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-famous-little-sugar-plums/) - Source: The General Advertiser, 19 Jan 1748 . I mentioned the Purging Sugar Plumbs for Worms early in the life of this blog, but didn't include much beyond the ad itself, and I hardly had any readers then anyway, so I think it's worth revisiting - especially as this advert is so delightfully worded and
- [Nutt's Trusses for Ruptures](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/nutts-trusses-for-ruptures/) - STeel Spring or Jointed Trusses for the help and cure of Ruptures for Men, Women and Children in the Navel, Cod or Groin. Belt Trusses, made without Iron or Steel Bow, the Belt or Girdle is with Neats Leather, Silk or Velvet, being very easy, with a Spring good for all tender Bodies, especially for
- [Salt Regal](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/salt-regal/) - THE COMING EPIDEMIC! THE COMING EPIDEMIC!! ---------------------------------- SALT REGAL A PREVENTIVE AND SAFEGUARD!! EXTRACT FROM LONDON PRESS— TELEGRAMS FROM BERLIN AND VIENNA state “that the Epidemic of Influenza, which has been playing such havoc in Russia, has now spread to Germany and Austria, and will shortly make its appearance in England” FORTIFY YOURSELVES Against the
- [Nelson's Mixture for Diseases of the Lungs](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/nelsons-mixture-for-diseases-of-the-lungs/) - A MORE VALUABLE DISCOVERY was never made in Medicine than NELSON'S MIXTURE for DIS- EASES of the LUNGS.—Coughs the most inveterate, sleepless nights, wheezing, and shortness of breath, profuse spitting, pains in the chest, and spitting of blood, in short asthma and consumption is completely cured by it; it lessens excessive perspirations and amends the expectoration,
- [Laxora](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/laxora/) - Source: The Graphic, Sat 23 August 1879 Laxora was introduced to Britain by its French proprietor, P. Guyot, in 1877, and at once attracted positive attention from the medical press. It sounds a pleasant medicine to take – The Medical Times and Gazette described it thus: They consist of a core, or centre-part, of compound
- [Allan's Anti-Fat](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/allans-anti-fat/) - Source: The Belfast News-letter, Tues 3 June 1879 This ad is unusual in appealing not to the potential consumer but to her weedy, emasculated little husband. (Presumably he's her husband, because he seems stuck with her.) Most ads for Allan's Anti-Fat, however, were aimed directly at people wishing to lose weight. (N.B. the spelling 'Allen's'
- [The Cordial Balm of Rakasiri - part 1](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-cordial-balm-of-rakasiri-part-1/) - Source: The Morning Chronicle, Saturday 12 December 1818. For transcript, click here. On this site I include anything medical or surgical provided it was advertised, so not all the remedies were considered quackery in their time. Some were endorsed and prescribed by reputable doctors, and many were no worse than the orthodox medicines then available.
- [The Cordial Balm of Rakasiri - part 2](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-cordial-balm-of-rakasiri-part-2/) - For part 1 of this article, click here. There's also a transcript of an 1818 Rakasiri advert here. In 1828, a 'nervous young man' who had wasted more than 10l. on the Cordial Balm of Rakasiri went to a magistrate and succeeded in getting his money back. During the proceedings, the Balm's proprietors, Charles and
- [Dr Carter Moffat's Ammoniaphone](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-carter-moffats-ammoniaphone/) - Source: The Graphic, Sat 25 October 1884 The format of this one makes it a bit tricky to type out, but if you click on the advert, you should then be able to zoom in and read it. The Ammoniaphone was an instrument designed to help singers and public speakers improve the quality of their
- [The Etherial Oil of Mustard for the Gout](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-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
- [A Poem on Christmas Day](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-poem-on-christmas-day/) - From the Gentleman’s Magazine, December 1766: CHRISTMAS DAY. Welcome, thrice welcome Christmas day ! Let’s eat, drink, dance, and sing away: Old England ne’er had stronger reason To welcome in this joyful season ! Mark high and low, and all around us And know the blessings that surround us. Let ‘em in all their pomp
- [Derk P. Yonkerman's Tuberculozyne](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/derk-p-yonkermans-tuberculozyne/) - Consumptives There is Hope for You! Derk P. Yonkerman, Specialist, discoverer of a remarkable Cure for Consumption. To every consumptive person there is hope of life and health, for, incredible as it may seem, a specific which cures Consumption has at last been found. Seeking year after year, working early and late,
- [The Modena Fossil](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-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
- [Every Woman's Flesh Reducer](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/every-womans-flesh-reducer/) - Diet products that promised you could eat what you like and not have to do any tedious exercise had a market in the early 20th century, even though today's media would have us believe that everyone in the good old days was more robustly active than us morally decrepit modern lard-arses. While many of today's
- [Ambition Pills](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/ambition-pills/) - At first glance I thought this showed pictures of three men, but no - it's the same fellow, transformed from the seedy old roué on the left into a fine specimen of manly vigour, ambitious to take on the world and all its laydees. The perkiness of a chap's moustache was a good indicator of
- [Bailey's Light Spinal Stays and Invisible Crutches](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/baileys-light-spinal-stays-and-invisible-crutches/) - Source: The Era (London) Sunday 23 October 1853 Bailey was a respectable supplier of "every description of Anatomical, Dissecting, Amputating and Post-Mortem instruments" as well as trusses, support stockings, ear trumpets, railway conveniences (male and female), water beds and chest expanders. His adverts appeared in distinguished publications such as the Lancet as well as in
- [Pure and Healthy Leeches](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/pure-and-healthy-leeches/) - Pure and Healthy Leeches.—Potter and HAILEY beg to assure the Profession, Druggists, &c., that the Leeches they offer are such as can be recommended for Purity, Health, and Readiness of Biting. POTTER AND HAILEY, Importers of Leeches and Turkey Sponge, Herbalists, &c., 66, Farringdon-market, London. Source: The Medical Times and Gazette, 3
- [Ludlam's Electric Rubber](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/ludlams-electric-rubber/) - Source: The Medical Directory for Scotland, 1853 (click to enlarge ad or see transcript below.) This product was reviewed by The London Lancet, (vol.1 1851) which heartily endorsed it as a way of creating rapid and healthy circulation of the blood on the surface after bathing. "Rubber" here means something to be used for rubbing,
- [Dr Rock's Restorative Viper Drops](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-rocks-restorative-viper-drops/) - I originally posted this on my (now defunct) other blog before I started The Quack Doctor, so I thought I'd move it over here as not many people will have seen it before: Are your spirits hurried and your brain in need of comforting? Are you suffering from the effects of hard drinking? Do your
- [Empress Josephine Face Bleach](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/empress-josephine-face-bleach/) - In a testimonial included in another Empress Josephine Toilet Co. advert, “Mrs Jos. C. Morton” wrote: Some years ago I ruined my skin and complexion by the use of worthless face powders. Pimples would raise up in large lumps all over my face. They oft times resembled more closely a boil than a pimple. Modesty
- [Gibson's Cordial Balls](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/gibsons-cordial-balls/) - The Gentlemen, Farmers, Jockies, Stage-Coachmen and Carriers Universal Medicine in the true Cordial Horse Balls and Preparation of Antimony, adapted for the Use and Benefit of all, as well the Race as Cart Horse, THE CORDIAL BALLS at 4s. per Pound, which in above 40 Years private Experience and 12 Years Publication, are approved of and recommended by several Noblemen, Gentlemen and
- [Hystericon](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/hystericon/) - I'm attempting to use the long 's' for this transcript - I hope Wordpreſs doesn't do anything weird with it: . HYſtericon, or Antidote againſt Fits, Vapours, Hypochondriack Melancholy, Vertigoe, Gid- dineſs or Swimming in the Head, Phrenzy, or Deprivation of Senſes, Suffocations, or Riſings in the Throat, Faintings, Swoonings, &c. (common- ly called Fits
- [Sparks and Son India-Rubber Urinals](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/sparks-and-son-india-rubber-urinals/) - Far from being a quack remedy, this device must have been a boon to desperate travellers everywhere. Surgical instrument maker William Huntly Bailey, whom we have met before, described the problem: If there is any inconvenience in travelling on the railway, it is on account of the few stoppages, and no doubt many persons have
- [Centaur Liniment](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/centaur-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
- [Dr. Sibly's Re-Animating Solar Tincture](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-siblys-re-animating-solar-tincture/) - Googling for info on this remedy will get you quite a few results giving some variant on: "Dr." Sibley, an English patent medicine seller of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, even went so far as to claim that his Reanimating Solar Tincture would, as the name implies, "restore life in the event of sudden death”.
- [Homocea](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/homocea/) - Source: The Graphic (London) 13 October 1894 I haven't tried to transcribe this for obvious reasons, but I think it should be clear enough, and you can click to make it bigger. Some of the assertions on the sleeves of those elegant arms sound better than others; 'touches the spot for hemorrhoids' doesn't conjure up
- [Allcock's Porous Plasters](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/allcocks-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
- [La Vida Vibrator](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/la-vida-vibrator/) - Source: The Syracuse Herald (NY) 7 Sept 1919 . Every Woman needs a Vibrator La Vida $7.50 The Vibrator EVERY Woman Needs There comes a new world, a generous world of abundant health, of comfort, of beauty measured by long years—when La Vida enters in. To own La Vida is every woman's right—it costs so
- [Bile Beans, part 2](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/bile-beans-part-2/) - Just a quick post today while I languish on my sickbed without any useful remedies to console me. Following on from a previous post about the Bile Beans for Biliousness, Jane Ellen, Senior Archivist at the University of Melbourne Archives kindly sent me this image, probably from the 1930s. It looks as though it was
- [Wine of Cardui](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/wine-of-cardui/) - WINE FOR WOMEN! Woman's modesty and ignorance of danger often cause her to endure pains and suffer torture rather than consult a physician about important subjects. Pains in the head, neck, back, hips, limbs and lower bowels at monthly intervals, indicate alarming derangements. McELREE'S WINE OF CARDUI is a harmless Bitter Wine without intoxicating qualities.
- [Weston's Wizard Oil](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/westons-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
- [Kernick's Vegetable Worm Lozenges](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/kernicks-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
- [Cross's Gout and Rheumatic Pills](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/crosss-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
- [Bell's Anti-Prandium](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/bells-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
- [Dr Scott's Aperitive Vase](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-scotts-aperitive-vase/) - The Aperitive Vase, a cure for constipation, is somewhat coyly advertised here, but adverts from earlier in the 1840s left less to the imagination: The apparatus is a fountain in miniature, so small that when filled it may be concealed in the pocket until it can be used conveniently; when, by an hydraulic double-action within it, the
- [Dr Ball's Ivory Eye Cups](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-balls-ivory-eye-cups/) - This device, invented by Dr Ball of Nassau Street, New York, was a small cup with a squeezy rubber balloon attached to it, as pictured left. The invention made its way to England in 1872, when Chichester minister Joseph Fletcher filed a British patent for it. The patient had to put the cup over the eye and
- [Mr. Lewis's Incomparable Sheep-Drench](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/mr-lewiss-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
- [The Guttae Vitae, or Vegetable Life Drops](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-guttae-vitae-or-vegetable-life-drops/) - Although no proprietor is shown in the following advertisement, the Vegetable Life Drops were one of several cures touted under the name Dr Walter De Roos. De Roos was an enigmatic character and the name was purported to be an alias for one John (or George) Robinson, who might well have bought the business in 1858 from brothers Alfred and Samuel Barker.
- [Walter De Roos' Compound Renal Pills](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/walter-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
- [J Gerred, Medical Herbalist (and poet)](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/j-gerred-medical-herbalist-and-poet/) - Joseph Gerred's talents as a medical herbalist surpassed his poetic abilities, though judging by the verse in the following advert, that's not saying much. Born in 1816, he took up herbalism in the 1830s, while also editing his own newspaper, The Devonshire Times. In 1856, Gerred was accused of libel after his paper printed a story claiming that
- [Henry Thompson's Real Cheltenham Salts](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/henry-thompsons-real-cheltenham-salts/) - Although Henry Thompson claimed to manufacture the salts by evaporating spa water, The Monthly Gazette of Health for 1 Sept 1819 claimed that the product was nothing more than Glauber's salt (sodium sulphate decahydrate). The Gazette had "been informed, by a gentleman residing in Cheltenham, who could prove the fact, that many tons of common Glauber's
- [Jackson's Asthmatic Candy](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/jacksons-asthmatic-candy/) - In Autumn 1800, the proprietors of this remedy, J. Barclay & Son, who had taken over the patent in the 1780s, found it necessary to change the name to Barclay's Asthmatic Candy. According to them, the death of Mr Jackson had "afforded an opportunity for unprincipled persons to assume his name, to put off their pernicious compositions."
- [Atkinson's Registered Rectum Supporter](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/atkinsons-registered-rectum-supporter/) - The pic is a bit small so I've transcribed the text anyway, but you can probably get the idea how this contraption was worn. The white circular bit in the centre of the picture was a smooth piece of ivory designed to fit where the sun don't shine. The inventor, Benjamin Atkinson, manufactured a variety of surgical mechanisms, such
- [Eno's Fruit Salt](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/enos-fruit-salt/) - THE INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF STIMULANTS. The present system of living—partaking of too rich food, as pastry, saccharine, and fatty substances, alcoholic drinks, and an insufficient amount of exercise frequently deranges the liver. I would advise all bilious people, unless they are careful to keep the liver acting freely, to exercise great care in the use
- [Dr MacKenzie's Improved Harmless Arsenic Complexion Wafers](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-mackenzies-improved-harmless-arsenic-complexion-wafers/) - 'Dr MacKenzie' was one of several brand names attached to arsenic products - similar 'wafers' (pills) were sold under the names Dr Simms, Dr Rose and Dr Campbell. The wafers made the skin fashionably pale by destroying red blood cells. Although it was possible to build up a tolerance for arsenic by taking regular small amounts, it
- [Charles Forde's Bile Beans for Biliousness](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/charles-fordes-bile-beans-for-biliousness/) - While Bile Beans were initially pitched as a cure for biliousness, the influenza epidemic of 1899 was too good an opportunity to miss. Horrible though the 'flu was, a lot of people would recover after a week or so anyway, and it was an easy matter for quacks to point to cases where the recovery coincided
- [Radam's Microbe Killer](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/radams-microbe-killer/) - Famous for its trademark showing someone walloping the living crap out of a reanimated skeleton (if skeletons can be said to possess any living crap), Radam's Microbe Killer was a fraud. Its inventor, William Radam, published a book, Microbes and the Microbe Killer (189o) describing at great length his quest for a cure for his
- [Albert's Grasshopper Ointment](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/alberts-grasshopper-ointment/) - Grasshopper Ointment was registered in 1874 and the name was trademarked in 1884. It was still listed in Martindale's Extra Pharmacopoeia in 1989, where the ingredients were given as rosin, yellow beeswax, larch oleoresin, arachis oil, white soft paraffin and copper acetate - but no grasshoppers. The copper would have given it a green tint
- [Goss & Co.](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/goss-co/) - According to a correspondent of the Monthly Gazette of Health (vol 5 1825), the proprietor of Goss & Co was a former shop assistant going by the unlikely name of Mr Crucifix. While Mr Crucifix insisted that his company had genuine surgical credentials, it had a terrible reputation among the medical profession. The Medical Adviser and
- [Compound-Magnetic Bands and Pads](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/compound-magnetic-bands-and-pads/) - The Jevons brothers capitalised on the Victorian fashion for electro-magnetism with a range of products - including the "Goliath Belt," the "Chest Strengthener" and the "Spinal Reviver" that could be worn discreetly under the clothing. One of their adverts described the terrible state of a person deficient in the vital or magnetic force: ...the poor dyspeptic,
- [Alex Ross's Complexion Globules](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/alex-rosss-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.](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/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](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/hances-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](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/sir-john-hills-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](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/rowlands-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,
- [Dr Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-williams-pink-pills-for-pale-people/) - Here's another big-business remedy, this time originating in Canada. "Dr Williams" was a brand name, and the pills were manufactured by George T. Fulford of Brockville, Ontario. Born in 1852, Fulford went into the patent medicine business in 1886 and four years later bought the rights to the Pink Pills recipe from Dr William Jackson for $53.01. The Pills
- [Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-pierces-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 -
- [Grimstone's Eye Snuff](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/grimstones-eye-snuff/) - Grimstone's Eye Snuff was widely advertised, purportedly at a cost of £5000 per year to its inventor. Testimonials were often included in the ads, and the product even inspired one satisfied customer to write a poem about it (Quoted in The Champion and Weekly Herald, 3 Feb 1839): . From Blackwood's Lady's Magazine for May
- [Cosmeticon](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/cosmeticon/) - This is another of the ads from Defoe's A Review of the Affairs of France, which I have mentioned previously. COSMETICON: A most excellent wash to Beautifie the Face, &c., rendring the Skin sur- prisingly white and clear: It takes away all Hard- ness, Tan, Sunburn, or other Discolourings: All Morphews, Scurfs, Freckles, Lentils, &c., tho' of
- [Samaritan Water](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/samaritan-water/) - The proprietor of this remedy, Thomas Greenough, was better known for his other preparation, the Lozenges of Tolu, which were for coughs and colds. The Samaritan Water, patented in 1779, was not widely advertised, but the lozenges continued to be sold by Greenough's successor at Ludgate Hill, R. Hayward, during the first half of the
- [Dr. Stolberg's Voice Lozenge](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-stolbergs-voice-lozenge/) - I don't have much info on these lozenges, but other similar products of the time tended to be based on cayenne pepper. Later in the 19th century, cocaine also became a popular ingredient, albeit in very small amounts. In 1844, according to the Eclectic Magazine, Dr Stolberg "bequeathed the secret of his voice lozenge - with presents of which he
- [Wainwright's Staffordshire Cordial](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/wainwrights-staffordshire-cordial/) - Image: Kavalkade vor Schloss Heiligenberg by Allbrecht Adam, 1831 . WAINWRIGHT's STAFFORDSHIRE CORDIAL, AND ROYAL ENGLISH MEDICINE FOR HORSES, WHICH has been given with unprecedented success in the most dangerous stages of the Sleeping or Raging Staggers, Gripes, Colds, Coughs, Fevers, and all disorders originating in colds, or from grazing
- [Champion Damiana Wafers](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/champion-damiana-wafers/) - Damiana is a shrub long reputed to have aphrodisiac effects, and is still used in herbal medicine to boost libido. P.N. George sold a variety of products that were despatched with the utmost discretion. As well as the "Rubber Goods" advertised below, there was also a "Male and Female Combined Preventive Appliance," and if you were having trouble deciding, you
- [Crinilene](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/crinilene/) - Image: Whiskerandos, by John Leech, 1854. Courtesy of the John Leech Sketch Archives from Punch LUXURIANT HAIR, WHISKERS, EYEBROWS, &c. THE TESTIMONIALS daily received by Miss DEAN establish the fact that CRINILENE is the only preparation that can be perfectly relied upon in producing those acknowledged orna- ments of manhood in three
- [Keating's Cough Lozenges](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/keatings-cough-lozenges/) - A 1s 1½d tin contained 50 lozenges, and the recommended dose was one or two lozenges at bedtime and up to 10 during the course of the day. The ingredients were morphine, ipecacuanha, extract of licorice, and sugar, held together by tragacanth gum. . KEATING'S COUGH LOZENGES. "94, Commercial Road, Peckham, July 12,
- [Taylor's Anti-Epileptic Medicine](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/taylors-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
- [Clarkson's Specific for Bad Legs](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/clarksons-specific-for-bad-legs/) - Another very long advert today. Thomas Clarkson was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, but his method of cure, which isn't named in this ad, was a patent medicine by the name of Clarkson's Specific for Bad Legs. Initially, Clarkson treated the afflicted in person, but because this often meant they had to find lodgings near his
- [The Royal Essence for the Hair](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-royal-essence-for-the-hair/) - This is the oldest advert featured on The Quack Doctor so far – it's from a 1705 edition of Daniel Defoe's periodical A Review of the Affairs of France. Defoe began the publication in February 1704 as a weekly opinion piece, but by the time of this example he was publishing it every Tuesday, Thursday and
- [Dr A Wilford Hall's Hygienic Treatment](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-a-wilford-halls-hygienic-treatment/) - A 19th-century forerunner to colonic irrigation.
- [You Needn't be Bald](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/you-neednt-be-bald/) - In the early years of the 20th century, inventors like Napoleon W. Dible harnessed the power of vacuum pumps to promote hair growth.
- [Paul Gage's Tonic Antiphlegmatic Elixir](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/paul-gages-tonic-antiphlegmatic-elixir/) - A 19th-century chemist believed that phlegm was the cause of all disease and that ignorant doctors failed to recognise how it could be cured.
- [Sequah - a Victorian Celebrity Quack](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/sequah-a-victorian-celebrity-quack/) - Sequah brought a touch of the Wild West to Britain's shores and built up an almost cult-like following.
- [Dr Rock's Political Speech to the Mob in Covent-Garden](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-rocks-political-speech-to-the-mob-in-covent-garden/) - In a speech satirically attributed to 18th-century quack Richard Rock, politicians come under fire for accepting power and deserting their policies.
- [Torpid Liver Positively Cured](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/torpid-liver-positively-cured/) - I'm sure all The Quack Doctor’s readers have leapt out of bed bright and early this morning, clear-headed, sparkly-eyed and ready to go out and grab all the exciting opportunities that the New Year presents. But if you know someone who is feeling a little more fragile right now, you could point them towards the
- [Curlypet](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/curlypet/) - A 20th century product that promised to help mothers get over the disappointment of having a baby with straight hair.
- [Smith's Live-Long Candy](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/smiths-live-long-candy/) - This 19th-century antacid, supposed to have been used by the Duke of Wellington, was unfairly implicated in the death of a young woman.
- [Sago Jenkinson and the Case of the Witched Child](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/sago-jenkinson-and-the-case-of-the-witched-child/) - A grubby quack spread rumours of witchcraft in 1840s Hull.
- [Mother's Friend](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/mothers-friend/) - A liniment supposed to make labour and birth easy, and to produce intelligent and beautiful babies.
- [Tuna - a vegetable compound](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/tuna-a-vegetable-compound/) - A Victorian remedy for face-ache
- [The Benefits of Phrenology](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-benefits-of-phrenology/) - A householder needs a bit of support during the 1891 census.
- [The Ear-Doctor Fraud](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-ear-doctor-fraud/) - A gang of 1850s quacks charged patients an extortionate amount of money for a rather unpleasant medicine.
- [The Electropathic and Zander Institute](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-electropathic-and-zander-institute/) - The showrooms for products such as the Electric Corset and the Ammoniaphone is still standing in London today.
- [Bourbon Poultry Cure](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/bourbon-poultry-cure/) - Sick fowls don't pay and droopy hens won't lay - so this remedy promised to cure poultry of a multitude of diseases.
- [A Wife is the Peculiar Gift of Heaven](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-wife-is-the-peculiar-gift-of-heaven/) - An advert for the famous Eno's Fruit Salts commemorates the wedding of the Duke of York and Princess May of Teck in 1893,
- [Dr W. S. Rice's Rupture Method](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-w-s-rices-rupture-method/) - I had this post all specially planned for 21 May 2011 and now you tell me today has nothing to do with ruptures? Honestly, I don't know why I bother.
- [Pockey Warts, Buboes and Shankers](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/pockey-warts-buboes-and-shankers/) - In the 18th century, buying a venereal disease remedy from a newspaper ad might be preferable to calling in a doctor.
- [Crossthwaite & Co's Occult Lozenges](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/crossthwaite-cos-occult-lozenges/) - The Occult Lozenges were advertised as 'a preventive and a destroyer of the incipient seeds of corrupt consumption.'
- [No More Baldheads, No More Dandruff](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/no-more-baldheads-no-more-dandruff/) - A selection of adverts for Victorian and Edwardian hair-related products.
- [The Voice of the People](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-voice-of-the-people/) - Beecham's Pills took a witty approach to criticism in 1909
- [To Short Persons](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/to-short-persons/) - An American captain tempted Londoners with a mysterious new method of increasing their height.
- [If the patient is not alarmed](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/if-the-patient-is-not-alarmed/) - The makers of Elliman's Embrocation give some handy hints on administering medicines to suspicious dogs.
- [The Mormon Elder's Damiana Wafers - the most powerful invigorant ever produced](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-mormon-elders-damiana-wafers-the-most-powerful-invigorant-ever-produced/) - A herbal product that capitalised on the stereotype that Mormons were particularly virile.
- [Valentine's Meat-Juice](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/valentines-meat-juice/) - A tonic for invalids, this product ended up as evidence in a murder trial.
- [A Lyrical Interlude](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-lyrical-interlude/) - Edinburgh M.D. John Smith's humorous song about quackery, 1886.
- [Guest Post - Dickens, Holloway and product placement](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/guest-post-dickens-holloway-and-product-placement/) - Guest post by Leslie Katz. Charles Dickens' friend Edmund Yates claimed that patent medicine king Thomas Holloway offered Dickens money to plug his pills - but was Yates telling the truth?
- [Armbrecht's Coca Wine](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/armbrechts-coca-wine/) - A pictorial advert shows this nerve tonic's imitators crashing to earth in failed hot air balloons.
- [Bailey's Rubber Complexion Brush](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/baileys-rubber-complexion-brush/) - An 1880s invention for stimulating the skin's circulation and giving the user a radiant, wrinkle-free complexion.
- [A nameless tramp's discovery](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-nameless-tramps-discovery/) - Hobo Kidney & Bladder Remedy claimed to be made of fresh green little herbs accidentally discovered by a hobo.
- [Lazy salesmen and popular bachelors](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/lazy-salesmen-and-popular-bachelors/) - Druggists and travelling patent medicine salesmen had time for some high jinks at the Illinois Pharmaceutical Association's annual convention.
- [Poison. To be applied night and morning.](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/poison-to-be-applied-night-and-morning/) - Images of 19thC remedy pot lids - including cures for cancer, piles, sore heads and inflamed eyelids.
- [Wonder-workers and styptics](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/wonder-workers-and-styptics/) - Beautiful antique patent medicine bottles from the collection of Michael Till.
- [A pleasant time and a pleasant tomorrow](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/a-pleasant-time-and-a-pleasant-tomorrow/) - We all have those Facebook friends - you know, the ones who make it clear what a wild, fun and edgy life they lead by announcing that they're, like, sooooo hungover lol. Well, perhaps their troubles would have been easier to bear in 1955, when a party-pak of Quaff-Aid could have formed part of
- [For the blood is the life](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/for-the-blood-is-the-life/) - Clarke's Blood Mixture - a Victorian medicine with a vampiric connection.
- [10 Victorian products for Movember](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/10-victorian-products-for-movember/) - 19th-century inspiration for the Mo Bro, including curlers, protectors, the Excelsior Lotion and the Kaiser Moustache Trainer.
- [ADvent Calendar 1: The Health Jolting Chair](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/advent-calendar-1-the-health-jolting-chair/) - Every day until Christmas, The Quack Doctor will be showing a different historical health-related advertisement.
- [Dr Ralph's Pills](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-ralphs-pills/) - Day 2 of the The Quack Doctor's ADvent calendar 2013.
- [Claxton's Patent Ear Cap](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/claxtons-patent-ear-cap/) - Day 4 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent calendar 2013
- [Godfrey's Inhaler](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/godfreys-inhaler/) - Day 5 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [The intangible power that controls human destiny](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-intangible-power-that-controls-human-destiny/) - Day 8 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [The Century Thermal Bath Cabinet](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-century-thermal-bath-cabinet/) - Day 10 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [How to grow tall](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/how-to-grow-tall/) - Day 11 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [Cigares de Joy](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/cigares-de-joy/) - Day 17 of The Quack Doctor's ADvent Calendar 2013
- [Some remarkable cases of worms](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/some-remarkable-cases-of-worms/) - This post departs from the usual because it's not directly related to an advertised remedy, and no one involved is out to make money from selling cures. While I was researching the Sugar Plums for Worms, however, I came across many interesting stories showing the impact of parasites on individuals' health, and the heroic efforts
- [Girl vomited 87-inch worm - or did she?](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/girl-vomited-87-inch-worm-or-did-she/) - The National Archives' Surgeons at Sea project has just been launched. Newspapers reported on a case of a girl who vomited up an 87-inch worm. But is this a case of someone misinterpreting the surgeon's handwriting?
- [Busy curing a man in America](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/busy-curing-a-man-in-america/) - A drunken tailor claims to be able to heal people across the miles... but is rather rude to someone in the same room.
- [The tracks of a spider whose legs had been dipped in ink](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-tracks-of-a-spider-whose-legs-had-been-dipped-in-ink/) - Some examples of Victorian doctors' dreadful handwriting.
- [Hearty and Vigorous to the Last](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/hearty-and-vigorous-to-the-last/) - An 18th-century newspaper's brief obituary of a quack doctor called 'Mad Roger'.
- [The Elixir of Opium podcast, plus award news](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/the-elixir-of-opium-podcast-plus-award-news/) - A podcast about McMunn's Elixir of Opium, plus news of the Medgadget Blog Awards.
- [Baron Schwanberg's Liquid Shell](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/baron-schwanbergs-liquid-shell/) - By the KING'S Royal Letters Patent, SCHWANBERG's LIQUID SHELL, DAILY confirmed, by Experience, not only to be a sure DISSOLVENT for the STONE and GRAVEL, but a most powerful, safe, and efficacious Medicine in the Spasmodic and Windy Cholic, Pains in the Breast, Hypochondriac Disease, and all Kinds of Flatulences, Diarræa, or Looseness; Cardialgia, or
- [Letter from An Old Surgeon](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/letter-from-an-old-surgeon/) - A brief interlude from the usual style of post today, as I'm still attempting to erase the Yankee Rubber Baby from my brain. The following letter was printed in The Monthly Gazette of Health in June 1821. A surgeon, not the most modest fellow in the world, gives an explanation for quackery - it's all
- [Pigeon Milk, the Gentleman's Friend](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/pigeon-milk-the-gentlemans-friend/) - . PIGEON MILK THE GENTLEMAN'S FRIEND Fits vest pocket (no liquid). Does not stain. Stricture impossible. Cures Gonorrhea and Gleet in 1 to 4 days. A safe, sure cure. Mailed (sealed) to any address for $1. Ask druggists or write, RUST MEDICAL COMPANY, DETROIT, MICH. Source: Sandusky Daily Register (Ohio) 1 April 1891 (sorry about
- [Johnson's American Pig Spice](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/johnsons-american-pig-spice/) - As well as the Pig Spice, Johnson's also manufactured American Calf Spice, Johnson's Prairie Sheep Spice and Johnson's Horse, Cattle, Game and Poultry Condiment. All rather culinary-sounding in name, products like this were intended to fatten livestock or improve condition, and were more of a food than a medicine. This one, however, claims to prevent pig typhoid,
- [Beetham's Corn & Bunion Plaster](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/beethams-corn-bunion-plaster/) - It's interesting that this advert uses the phrase "worth a guinea a box." This slogan was plastered everywhere in the second half of the 19th century, advertising the famous Beecham's Pills. Mr Beetham wasn't necessarily copying his near-namesake, however. The phrase was around before Thomas Beecham adopted it in 1859, so the satisfied customer who is supposed to have
- [Alfred's Royal Composition](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/alfreds-royal-composition/) - Image: Portrait of Madame Récamier, by François Pascal Simon Gérard FEMALE ATTRACTION TO obviate the unpleasant sensation experienced by those Ladies who may have SUPERFLUOUS HAIRS growing on the Face or Arms, and to render their persons more lovely and attractive, was the chief motive that
- [Cuticura Soap and Ointment](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/cuticura-soap-and-ointment/) - Skin "literally on fire"? Then you need Cuticura - or possibly a large bucket of water and a good plastic surgeon. Cuticura originated in the US in 1865 and had reached the UK by 1880. The famous company is, of course, still going strong with a wide range of top-quality skincare and haircare products, as
- [Abernethy's Pile Ointment](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/abernethys-pile-ointment/) - Today's advert is rather long. The Mr Abernethy referred to was the eminent surgeon John Abernethy (1764-1831), pictured right. He wrote about piles in his Surgical Observations (1804-06), a work that according to his biographer, George MacIlwain, was known as "the My-Book" because "he not unfrequently recommended his patients" to read it. Although Abernethy advised patients with a
- [York Medicinal Soap](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/york-medicinal-soap/) - The one and only benefit of this product was that it made guys wash ... BY ROYAL AUTHORITY GENERAL SAFETY, or YORK MEDI- CINAL SOAP, an infallible Prevention against Venereal Infection; a Preparation, though simple, yet so efficacious, as to render it of the utmost importance to every one who values Health; and from its peculiar pro- perties
- [Hood's Sarsaparilla](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/hoods-sarsaparilla/) - Hood's Sarsaparilla was big business in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - you can get an idea how big from this picture of the Massachusetts laboratory. Adverts for it were everywhere, and there were also spin-off products such as calendars and cookbooks. GOOD BLOOD GOOD BLOOD Is essential to health. Every nook and
- [Basil Burchell's Purging Sugar Plumbs for Worms](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/basil-burchells-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,
- [Stevens's Ointment for Horses](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/stevenss-ointment-for-horses/) - Henry Rowe Stevens was a respected veterinary surgeon and farrier who spent the first 20 years of his career at Newmarket before moving to London in the 1850s. His adverts suggest that he had a humane and progressive outlook, as he condemned the traditional practice of firing (i.e. placing a red-hot iron against the leg in
- [Dr. Haines' Golden Specific](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-haines-golden-specific/) - Dr James Wilkins Haines was a Quaker physician from Cincinnati, and you can learn more about his eventful life at Karen Campbell's Quaker Genealogy blog. In 1917 the American Medical Association denounced his remedy (by then known as “Haines' Golden Treatment”) as “a cruel humbug.” On analysing the powders, they found them to comprise
- [Butler's Vegetable Restorative Tooth Powder](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/butlers-vegetable-restorative-tooth-powder/) - Image: Le Baume d'Acier by Louis Leopold Boilly. Courtesy of the US National Library of Medicine. BEAUTY, HEALTH, and a PEARLY SET of TEETH, may be preserved to old age, by the use of BUTLER's VEGETABLE RESTORA- TIVE TOOTH-POWDER, a specific for the Tooth Ach, and its cause, the Scurvy in the Gums. Of the
- [To Fat Persons](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/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
- [Thompson & Capper's Corn and Wart Remover](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/thompson-cappers-corn-and-wart-remover/) - Thompson and Capper were homeopathic chemists who, as well as making their own medicines, published books and pamphlets on homeopathy. The company is still going strong today - based in Runcorn, they are a specialist manufacturer of all kinds of tablets, from medicines to kettle descalers, and there is more information about their history
- [Walker's Jesuits Drops](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/walkers-jesuits-drops/) - Robert Walker obtained the King's Royal Letters Patent for his remedy in 1755, and on his death, surgeon Joseph Wessels took it over. The drops were still around, under the name Wessel's Jesuit Drops as late as the 1870s. In 1843, the Medical Times published a note stating that the Drops were "a spirituous tincture of
- [I Cure Fits!](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/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.
- [Corns, Bunions and Deformed Nails](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/corns-bunions-and-deformed-nails/) - This chiropodist appears to have been a fine, upstanding member of the community rather than a charlatan – but his advertisement has just enough of the yuk factor to make it worth including. Joel Farbstein was born in Warsaw in about 1820 but probably spent some time in London before settling in Hull in the 1840s.
- [Carrington's Life Pills](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/carringtons-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
- [White's Restorative Salo Pills](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/whites-restorative-salo-pills/) - Nothing very funny about today's remedy, I'm afraid. Adverts for abortifacients appeared in many 18th- and 19th-century newspapers, but they had to be discreet, as is the case with this one, which focuses on the pamphlet before mentioning the availability of the pills. The pamphlet was most likely an advertisement for Mr and Mrs White's other services - they also offered lying-in
- [Holland's Balsam of Spruce](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/hollands-balsam-of-spruce/) - Holland's Balsam of Spruce is in the tradition of other tree resin remedies, such as Solomon's Balm of Gilead and the Balsam of Mecca. Given that nearly 170 years later, a cure for the common cold remains as elusive as ever, this medicine would have been worth a punt - if nothing else, it was probably
- [Dr. De La Motte's Sassafras Chocolate](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-de-la-mottes-sassafras-chocolate/) - The sassafras tree is native to North America, and its healing properties were valued by Native Americans long before it became an export to the Old World. This 1848 advertisement lifts most of its text verbatim from Dr Richard Reece's book, The Medical Guide, published in 1828. Neither Dr De La Motte nor the retailer can therefore be blamed for the
- [Monteet's Infallible Medicines](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/monteets-infallible-medicines/) - Monteet's Medicines weren't among the more famous of 19th-century remedies. The proprietor, R. Hodgson, advertised them quite heavily in the Northern Echo for a few months in 1880-81, but after that they disappear. There is no way to tell whether the various mixtures were all pretty much the same, but it wouldn't be a surprise. My favourite
- [Renovating Essence of Azilica](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/renovating-essence-of-azilica/) - I have absolutely no idea what was in this medicine, so instead of a witty and/or informative comment, here is a picture of a fellow epitomising health and manly vigour. The image is from the Dictionnaire encyclopédique Trousset, published in Paris between 1886 and 1891, and is reproduced courtesy of Old Book Illustrations.
- [Laffere's Worm Powders](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/lafferes-worm-powders/) - I've been looking forward to this one. It's the most disgusting advert I've posted so far. DO NOT read it if you are eating. WORMS! WORMS! WORMS! LAFFERE'S WORM POWDERS are the best remedy for worms; they effect a certain cure, are tasteless, and at the same time are perfectly harmless. As a
- [Newton's Restorative Tooth Powder](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/newtons-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
- [Lockyer's Sulphur Hair Restorer](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/lockyers-sulphur-hair-restorer/) - (Image: Brunette Combing her Hair. James Carroll Beckwith, 1851) We continue the hair theme today with the pungent-sounding Lockyer's Sulphur Hair Restorer. This preparation was scrutinised in 1912 by the British Medical Association in More Secret Remedies: What they cost and what they contain. Analysis showed that it comprised: Precipitated Sulphur.....1.3 parts Lead acetate.................1.6 parts Lead
- [Edwards' Instantaneous American Harlene](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/edwards-instantaneous-american-harlene/) - (Image: Tempus Edax Rerum, by John Leech. Punch, 1852. Courtesy of the John Leech Sketch Archive.) The advert below has a wonderfully tabloid feel to it, reflecting the sensationalist publication that carried it. The Illustrated Police News featured shocking accounts of true crime stories, and its advertising tended to be towards the seedier end of the spectrum. While the
- [Rees's Compound Essence](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/reess-compound-essence/) - I decided against searching for a picture to go with this one... REES'S COMPOUND ESSENCE has proved in all cases the most safe and efficacious remedy ever discovered for the removal of strictures without the use of a bougie, as well as a speedy and certain cure for all discharges, gleets, whites, seminal weakness, irritation
- [Infallible German Corn Plaister](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/infallible-german-corn-plaister/) - Various proprietory corn plasters were available, and were not greatly different from the treatment you could get from a reputable surgeon. Samuel Cooper, in his The First Lines of the Practice of Surgery (1813) recommended making a plaster from 2oz. Gum Ammoniacum, 2oz yellow wax and 6 drams of "verdigrease." He said this composition was "said to be
- [Cupiss's Constitution Horse Balls](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/cupisss-constitution-horse-balls/) - As a horse owner, I can make an educated guess that this medicine was no worse than a lot of the crappy potions and supplements available at extortionate prices in modern feed stores. CUPISS's CONSTITUTION HORSE-BALLS. To Sportsmen, Agriculturalists, Postmasters, and all Pro- prietors of Horses, these Balls are particularly recommended in all
- [Self-Adjusting Curative and Electric Belt](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/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
- [Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/mrs-winslows-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
- [Dr. Steers's Opodeldoc](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/dr-steerss-opodeldoc/) - Steers's Opodeldoc seems to have been fairly reputable, but it was also easy to mix it up yourself, hence the proprietors' attempts to convince the public of the superiority of their version. The opodeldoc (a general term for this type of liniment rather than a brand name) was made from soap, spirit of wine, camphor, rosemary oil and
- [The Vital Regenerator](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/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
- [Barclay's Dr. Bateman's Pectoral Drops](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/barclays-dr-batemans-pectoral-drops/) - Bateman's Drops had been around since the 1720s and were prepared by various suppliers, hence the specification that these were Barclay's Bateman's Drops rather than anyone else's. The main ingredients were aniseed, camphor and opium, so the drops would have at least a temporary effect and could be rather dangerous if swigged indiscriminately. Different suppliers
- [May's Celebrated Love Lozenges](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/mays-celebrated-love-lozenges/) - This advert doesn't specify whether you have to take the lozenges yourself in order to exert a magnetic influence on the object of your affections, or whether you're supposed to give him or her one (a lozenge, that is) under the pretence that it's a delicious bon-bon. But in either case, who could resist ordering the "extra-strong" version?
- [Widow Welch's Pills for ladies](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/widow-welchs-pills-for-ladies/) - I like this one because there's a real sense of feminine solidarity. Mrs Smithers, possessor of knowledge passed down through the generations, sounds like a better bet than the mortifying prospect of consulting a male doctor. TO LADIES.—THE ONLY GENUINE WIDOW WELCH'S PILLS are those prepared by MRS SMITHERS (Granddaughter to the WIDOW WELCH), from the real Family
- [Solomon's Drops](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/solomons-drops/) - Happy New Year and welcome to The Quack Doctor! For more information about this new blog, please have a look at the About page. I'll be posting transcripts of historical advertisements for all sorts of weird and wonderful patent medicines, with the aim of building up quite a collection. I'm hoping to post daily for the

## Pages

- [About](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/about-2/) - The Quack Doctor looks at the history of advertised health products, health fraudsters and out-of-the-ordinary medical happenings.
- [Contact](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/contact/) - To contact me, please email caroline@thequackdoctor.com You can also find me on Twitter as @quackwriter, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/quackdoctor and on Instagram as @quackwriter Copyright: All original material on this website is © Caroline Rance and The Quack Doctor, with the exception of guest posts, whose authors retain copyright. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without
- [Fiction](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/fiction/) - Caroline Rance's historical fiction.
- [](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/inquisitor/) - Beginning 21 October 2013, see The Quack Doctor's Victorian remedies in The Inquisitor, the online newspaper accompanying Sky Living and NBC's 'Dracula'.
- [](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/about-2/2915/) - This transcript relates to the blog post The Famous Montpellier Venereal Little Bolus. . The Famous Montpellier Venereal Little BOLUS. THE Bigness of a PEA, to Take, Makes the Person Easy AT ONCE, tho' Before, in great Misery, And a SECOND Bolus Carries off the Venereal Infection, and Foulness of a GLEET in Common Cases,
- [](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/about-2/2865/) - This transcript relates to the blog post on McMunn's Elixir of Opium . . DR. McMUNN'S ELIXIR OF OPIUM. THIS IS THE PURE AND ESSENTIAL EXTRACT FROM THE NATIVE DRUG. It contains all the valuable medicinal properties of Opium in natural combination, to the exclu- sion of all its noxious, deleterious and useless principles, upon
- [](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/about-2/rakasiri/) - This transcript relates to the blog post The Cordial Balm of Rakasiri. The Morning Chronicle, Saturday 12 December 1818 . RAKASIRI WE are requested to direct the attention of persons afflicted with mental or bodily decay, nervous debility, inward wastings, loss of appetite, indigestion, depression of spirits, trembling or shaking of the hands, scorbutic and
- [](https://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/google5b4e3bab23224060-html/) - Verification page

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