A Chill Ranking of Some of the Weirdest Victorian Medicines
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Published 2023-03-23
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Poisons! Poisons! We love poisons in today's ranking of some scary nasty stuff the Victorians tried to pass off as medicines, some of which are still being sold today. Come learn with me about why you should NOT trust cure-alls.
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Sources
The Influence of Victorian âPatent Medicinesâ on the Development of Early 20th Century Medical Practice by F. Charles Tring
The Patent Medicines Industry in Georgian England: Constructing the Market by the Potency of Print by Alan Mackintosh
The Pharmacology of Nineteenth-Century Patent Medicines by J. Worth Estes
Nervous Women and Noble Savages: The Romanticized âOtherâ in Nineteenth-Century US Patent Medicine Advertising by JANE MARCELLUS
The Commodity Culture of Victorian England: Advertising and Spectacle, 1851-1914 by Thomas Richards
The Mighty Healer: Thomas Holloway's Victorian Patent Medicine Empire by Verity Holloway
British Patent Medicines: âInjurious Rubbishâ? By Lori Loeb
From Cure-alls to Calcium Tablets: A Comparative Semiotic Analysis of Advertisements for 19th and 20th Century Patent Medicines and Contemporary Dietary Supplements by Karin A. Albrecht
National Museum of American Historyâ Balm of America: Patent Medicine Collection americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/bâŠ
Digital Public Library of Americaâ Quack Cures and Self-Remedies: Patent Medicine dp.la/exhibitions/patent-medicine/1860-1920
Patent medicines and the public's health. By J Parascandola
Snake Oil Salesmen Were on to Something by Cynthia Graber for Scientific American www.scientificamerican.com/article/snake-oil-salesâŠ
Bitter medicine: gout and the birth of the cocktail by Richard Barnett for The Lancet www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140âŠ
Secret remedies : what they cost and what they contain by British Medical Association
Annals Of Weight-Loss Gimmicks: From Bile Beans To Obesity Soap by Scott Hensley for NPR www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/01/19/13304âŠ
Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones: The American Medicine Show By Ann Anderso
All Comments (21)
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Curing a morphine addiction by replacing it with a cocaine addiction is certainly a move. A lateral move, but a move nonetheless.
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Hydrophobia is actually the historical name for rabies, so the wizard oil was definitely promising to cure rabies.
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"Struggling with alcoholism? Try cocaine!" is one hell of a marketing strategy
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I always was told that you use 7up or sprite or even ginger ale when your kid has the stomach flu because 1. it tastes good so kids are likely to drink it and stay hydrated even though they don't feel well and 2. the sugar means their body is getting Some energy and liquids are easier on the stomach than solids.
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My great-grandma Verna drank Dr Pepper daily for decades and she died at age 105, so don't worry my family says it's good for you lol
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Long Covid has certainly put me in a state of thinking I'm a Victorian lady wasting away from some mystery ailment.
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me, chugging the original coca-cola formula during this adderall shortage: "surely this will cure me!"
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I actually really like that Kaz didn't only showcased Victorian medicine, but also stuff from much later as well. It really shows that it wasn't like "oh people back then were stupid, they used dangerous chemicals that could and did kill them, thankfully, we are smart nowadays and don't do that..." oh wait, we still do.
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Imagine an alternate universe where instead of trying to quit morphine, he decided to double down and market it: Mora-Morpha
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"You can't take dr. pepper out from Taxis lesbian" killed me
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I thought The âmum loves me nowâ article to promote a laxative was wild, but then we come to opium child medecine đ
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In the UK a drink called Lucosade is commonly given if you're feeling sick with cold/flu or a hangover. It's just a glucose energy drink with a bit of caffeine. It used to be marketed as a medicine in pharmacists but now it is sold as an energy/sports drink. The whole history of soda origins in medicine is fascinating !
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i love how this is a chill ranking
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Honestly, a lot of those things listed for the pink pills like fatigue and such can be related to anemia, so I'd put it at the top since it'd absolutely do some of what it claimed. I had pretty severe anemia from my ulcerative colitis and besides fatigue it also caused hair loss and tinnitus! Had to be on prescription iron supplements for months.
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As far as names go, âDr. Battyâs Asthma Cigarettesâ is a longtime favorite of mine. But as an asthmatic who smoked when they were younger, the idea of these having been touted as a cure for anything horrifies me (although in fairness, the ad Iâm looking at states that they werenât recommended for children under 6).
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I have an ancestor who had his own patent medicine â Dr. D. Hanson's GOLDEN OINTMENT. The ad copy I've found is hilarious because it's like "We don't claim it to be a cure-all", but also claimed it could cure quite a lot. I have no idea what was in it or if it did more harm than good.
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My mom told me once that root beer tasted like the cough syrup that they had in Belarus where she's from. She won't touch root beer because of it.
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"These days you don't really see medicines advertised in magician form" đ
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[/j] Prohibitionist were like: âAlcohol? Heavens forbid! Hard drugs are a much better alternative!â
