Old West Health: Patent Medicines

Written By: Jacquie Rogers on October 5, 2009 No Comment

Our modern sensibilities tell us certain aspects of our lives have “always been that way.” Not so. When we write historicals, we need to research the attitudes and mores of that particular time period, and incorporate that richness into our stories.

Take drugs, in the 19th Century, for instance. At one time, snake oil salesmen had a clear playing field, and their incredible claims went unchallenged. Our own opinions on drugs and laws that govern them are moot.

The labels carried wild promises but no list of ingredients. Patent medicines were ubiquitous in the 1800s, partly because medical science had made advances and partly because the search for health exceeded medical science’s capabilities.

These elixirs, creams, and compresses were made from any number of ingredients, ranging from vegetable juice to narcotics. Remember, there were no drug laws in the USA until after the turn of the 20th Century. When a patient took a dose of patent medicine, he or she could be taking opium, alcohol, mandrake, belladonna, marijuana, or extracts from hellebore, henbane, datura, and hemlock.

The term “patent medicine” refers to a product with a proprietary list of ingredients and sold directly to the public, not that the medicine was patented. Some of these products originated as old family recipes, but some manufacturers were a bit more mercenary in the development of their tonics. The quest for the almighty dollar soon surpassed any anecdotal or scientific basis for these medicines, and the patent medicine business became a huge economic force.

Tired of Viagra ads? Believe me, these ads certainly aren’t new. Here’s one of my favorite patent medicine ads, taken from The Owyhee Avalanche in the 1880s:

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LOST MANHOOD RESTORED
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THE DR. LIEBIG Private Dispensary
400 Geary St. San Francisco, Cal
Conducted by qualified physicians and surgeons–regular graduates. The Oldest Specialists in the United States, whose LIFE-LONG EXPERIENCE, perfect method and pure medicine, insure SPEEDY and PERMANENT CURES of all Private Chronic and Nervous Diseases. Affections of the Blood, Skin, Kidneys, Bladder, Eruptions, Ulcers, Old Sores, Swelling of the Glands, Sore Mouth, Throat, permanently cured and eradicated from the system for life. NERVOUS Debility, Impotency, Seminal Losses, Sexual Decay, Mental and Physical Weakness, Failing Memory, Weak Eyes, Stunted Development, Impediments to Marriage, etc. from excesses or youthful follies, or any cause, speedily, safely and privately cured.

Young, Middle-Aged and Old men, and all who need medical skill and experience, consult the old European Physician at once. His opinion costs nothing and may save future misery and shame. When inconvenient to visit the city for treatment, medicines can be sent everywhere by express, free from observation. It is self-evident that a physician who gives his whole attention to a class of diseases attains great skill, and physicians throughout the country, knowing this, frequently recommend difficult cases to the Oldest Specialist, by whom every Known good remedy is used. The Doctor’s Age and experience make his opinion of Supreme Importance.

…and it goes on and on!

The patent medicine industry was brought to its knees shortly after the turn of the 20th Century. From the Food and Drug Administration:

A few muckraking journalists helped expose the red clauses, the false testimonials, the nostrums laden with harmful ingredients, the unfounded cures for cancer, tuberculosis, syphilis, narcotic addiction, and a host of other serious as well as self-limited diseases. The most influential work in this genre was the series by Samuel Hopkins Adams that appeared in Collier’s on October 7, 1905, entitled “The Great American Fraud.” Adams published ten articles in the series, which concluded in February 1906; he followed it up with another series on doctors who advertised fake clinics. The shocking stories of the patent medicine menace were accompanied by startling images, such as “Death’s Laboratory.”

Good health to you!

Any day now!!!

Faery Merry Christmas will be released as a Kindle novella. Here’s the cover:

Faery Merry Christmas

Human World in 1956: carhops on roller skates, the submarine races, a pink Metropolitan, Lucky Strikes, Little Richard, and the Shoreline Sharks Baseball Club, starring ace pitcher Liam Stone. Elsewhere . . .

Romance has gone awry in Faery Realm.

Who would’ve thought Mr. and Mrs. Claus’s daughter would be “on the shelf”? Yep, Cheshya’s all a’flutter because her 2,000^th birthday, the last day she’s eligible to take a mate, is on Christmas, only four days away, but the only man she has ever wanted is otherwise occupied . . .

Liam of the Red Clan is obsessed with succeeding as a major league pitcher with the Cincinnati Reds. He has stayed away from Faery Realm to concentrate on achieving his heart’s desire. But in signing with the Reds, will he lose out on his true heart’s desire?

What will it take to make a Faery Merry Christmas?

The cover model? I spent two days looking for a redhead with shoulders, then I remembered I’d made one! So I bribed my son with potatoes au gratin and now he’s on the cover. Yay!

The winner of Justin Saragueta’s debut CD???

Lisa Alexander-Griffin!!!

Please send your snail mail address to jacquierogers@gmail.com, subject: GUETA CD.

Jacquie
Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues (See the Book Video featuring Justin Saragueta)
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