Patent Medicines: Strong Stuff! by @JacquieRogers #oldwest #health

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Patent Medicines: Strong Stuff!

by Jacquie Rogers

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.  What a goldmine for stories!

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:


*************************************
LOST MANHOOD RESTORED
*************************************

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!  I couldn't resist this one--yes, I used it in Much Ado About Marshals.  I managed to squeeze in a few more, too.  Hostetter's Stomach Bitters was another favorite.  But the cash cow for the patent medicine manufacturers would soon be dried up.  Abuse of such strong ingredients couldn't go 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!

Hearts of Owyhee

Much Ado About Madams

Much Ado About Marshals

Much Ado About Miners

Much Ado About Mavericks

coming soon:

Much Ado About Mustangs

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Bosom Inflaters, Anyone? Advertising in the Old West by @JacquieRogers #western

Advertising in the Old West
by Jacquie Rogers

If you lived in the Old West, what products would you need? want?  Seems to me that people haven't changed much--we want great looking hair and skin, fashionable clothing, and functional tools to make a living.  We can learn a lot about people who lived 150 years ago by looking at the ads in period newspapers and magazines.

People need entertainment.  In the frontier, they had to devise their own.  Imagine the young man who impresses his girlfriend with magic tricks. ☺ Here's an ad for Haney's Journal, which promises that and more.  Everything more, actually.  And that's the theme of most advertising--one product does whatever you need it to do.

And so it goes with Dr. Terrel's Healing Ointment.  It cures everything from chapped lips to piles, and guarantees "universe satisfaction."

Newspapers were full of curatives that claimed wondrous healing powers.  I used Hostetter's Stomach Bitters in Much Ado About Marshals.  The widows, Mrs. Courtney and Mrs. Proctor, were both addicted.  I use this as comic relief, but it was a real problem since many of these patent medicines contained opium and other addictive drugs that are illegal or regulated today.

Along about the 1880s, commercial tooth powder became part of good grooming, although still not readily available.  Here's an ad about Rubifoam.

How do you hold your papers together?  In 1894, they used Gem Paper Clips.

Everyone likes to have nice looking hair, no matter which period in history you study.  This is an ad for Prof. Robb's Curlique from 1870, and promises "beautiful flowing curls."  I find it interesting that this product was aimed at both sexes.

Men's desire for more, um, vitality certainly wasn't invented by Viagra.  Dr. Liebig's Manhood Restorer gave me a fun scene in Much Ado About Marshals.  (I'm not saying any more about that!)  This ad goes on and on, almost the entire length of the newspaper.  It's not all that easy to read, but if you can manage, it's quite entertaining.

And of course there were other products for the same purpose.  Here's Dr. Sanden's Electric Belt--not so sure most men would want this on their tender bits, but it promises to be a "Wonderful Remedy" for Sciatic Rheumatism and Lost Manhood.  And probably anything else you could think of.

The ladies wanted their enhancements as well, and I use these in a book to be released next year.  In 1870, Cox & Purves provided Zephyr Bosom Pads to help those less endowed with "The Only Inflating Pads" that were "Concave and Ventilating."

So there you have it--a sampling of the plethora of ads that tell us a little something about what 19th century citizens.

You can read my next release, Sleight of Heart, in the 9 Ways to Fall in Love boxed set.  This is a fun book set in 1883, mostly in Colorado and ending in Virginia City, Nevada.  I love the characters, of course.  Here's the blurb:

Starched-up Lexie Campbell, more comfortable with neat and tidy numbers than messy emotions, must find the man who ruined her little sister and make him marry her. When his lookalike brother Burke appears, she greets him with a gun and forces him to help her. Smooth-dealing Burke O’Shaughnessy, riverboat gambler and prestidigitator, must find his brother Patrick to claim the family fortune. But when Lexie shows an astounding talent for counting cards and calculating odds, he figures she might be useful after all. Can he resist the queen of hearts?

Happy reading!

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