Yevette sent me the pic and described it as a poison cough remedy. I wanted to know what was in it and I looked but apparently no-one knows what was in it as this was before the time of drug regulation. (Old Main Artifacts: Chamberlain Med. Co., Des Moines, IA)
Their cough remedy was a 'patent medicine' and they're described as follows:
Patent medicines are named after the “letters patent” granted by the English crown. The first “letters patent” given to an inventor of a secret remedy was issued during the late 17th century. The patent granted the medicine maker a monopoly over his particular formula. The term “patent medicine” came to describe all pre-packaged medicines sold “over-the-counter” without a doctor’s prescription. In the United States very few preparations were ever actually patented.
- Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center: excerpt from Balm of America: Patent Medicine Collection – History
It was surprising to discover snake oil has such a long history but I suppose it shouldn't be such a revelation when hucksters didn't suddenly pop into existence in America only. Now we see medical hucksterism was a tradition going back several hundred years.
Ed: are we heading for Kumbaya with the FDA?
A group hug with a bunch of old geezers is not part of my Saturday evening plans but we can give them a hat tip since the FDA started in 1906 and that killed things for outfits like the Chamberlain Med. Co., Des Moines, IA. I didn't see anything in the article which identifies what's in this medicine. It doesn't seem there's evidence anyone knows.
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