E. W. Kemble's "Death's Laboratory" in Collier's in 1906

Patent medicine is the somewhat misleading term given to various medical compounds sold under a variety of names and labels, though they were, for the most part, actually medicines with trademarks, not patented medicines. Collier's Weekly was an American Magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957 A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an In ancient times, such medicine was called nostrum remedium, "our remedy" in Latin, hence the name "nostrum," that is also used for such medicines; it is a medicine whose efficacy is questionable and whose ingredients are usually kept secret. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The name patent medicine has become particularly associated with the sale of drug compounds in the nineteenth century under cover of colourful names and even more colourful claims. The promotion of patent medicines was one of the first major products of the advertising industry, and many advertising and sales techniques were pioneered by patent medicine promoters. Advertising is a form of Communication that typically attempts to persuade potential Customers to Purchase or to consume more of a particular Brand Patent medicine advertising often talked up exotic ingredients, even if their actual effects came from more prosaic drugs. One memorable group of patent medicines — liniments that allegedly contained snake oil, supposedly a universal panacea — made snake oil salesman a lasting synonym for a charlatan. Liniment, (or embrocation from the Latin linere, to Anoint, is a medicated topical preparation for application to the skin Snake oil is a Traditional Chinese medicine used to treat Joint pain The panacea (pænəˈsiːə named after the Greek goddess of healing Panacea, was supposed to be a remedy that would cure all Diseases and prolong life indefinitely A charlatan (also called swindler) is a person practicing Quackery or some similar Confidence trick in order to obtain money or advantage via some form

Patent medicines and advertising

Mugwump, an invented name

The phrase patent medicine comes from the late 17th century^[1] marketing of medical elixirs, when those who found favour with royalty were issued letters patent authorising the use of the royal endorsement in advertising. Letters patent are a type of Legal instrument in the form of an Open letter issued by a Monarch or Government, granting an office right The name stuck well after the American Revolution made these endorsements by the crowned heads of Europe obsolete. In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" Few if any of the nostrums were actually patented; chemical patents came into use in the USA in 1925, and in any case attempting to monopolize a drug, medical device, or medical procedure was considered unethical by the standards upheld during the era of patent medicine. A chemical patent is an important source of technical and bibliographic information In Economics, a monopoly (from Greek monos, alone or single + polein, to sell exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient Medical ethics is primarily a field of Applied ethics, the study of Moral values and judgments as they apply to Medicine. Furthermore, patenting one of these remedies would have meant publicly disclosing its ingredients, which most promoters wanted to avoid.

Instead, the compounders of these nostrums used a primitive version of branding to distinguish themselves from the crowd of their competitors. A brand is a collection of Images and ideas representing an economic producer more specifically it refers to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a Many familiar names from the era live on in brands such as Luden's cough drops, Lydia E. Pinkham's vegetable compound for women, Fletcher's Castoria, and even Angostura bitters, which was once marketed as a stomach remedy. Luden's is a brand of Throat lozenge. History The Luden's brand was originally created by William H A bitters is an alcoholic beverage prepared with Herbs and Citrus dissolved in Alcohol or Glycerine and having a bitter In Human anatomy, the stomach is a J-shaped hollow muscular organ of the Gastrointestinal tract involved in the second phase of Digestion, following Many of these medicines, though sold at high prices, were made from quite cheap ingredients. Their composition was well known within the pharmacy trade, and druggists would sell (for a slightly lower price) medicines of almost identical composition that they had manufactured themselves. Pharmacy (from the Greek φάρμακον 'pharmakon' = drug is the Health profession that links the Health sciences with the chemical sciences To protect profits, the branded medicine advertisements laid great emphasis on the brand-names, and urged the public to accept no substitutes.

At least in the earliest days, the history of patent medicines is coextensive with the history of medicine itself. All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, Death, and Disease. Empirical medicine, and the beginning of the application of the scientific method to medicine, began to yield a few effective herbal and mineral drugs for the physician's arsenal. Scientific method refers to bodies of Techniques for investigating phenomena A physician, medical practitioner or medical doctor who practices Medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human Health These few tested and true remedies, on the other hand, were inadequate to cover the bewildering variety of diseases and symptoms. A disease is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions and can be deadly A symptom' (from Greek σύμπτωμα, "accident misfortune that which befalls" from συμπίπτω, "I befall" from Beyond these patches of knowledge they had to resort to occultism; the "doctrine of signatures" — essentially, the application of sympathetic magic to pharmacology — held that nature had hidden clues to medically effective drugs in their resemblances to the human body and its parts. The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus (clandestine hidden secret referring to "knowledge of the hidden" The doctrine of signatures is a philosophy spread by the writings of Jakob Böhme (1575 - 1624 who suggested that God marked objects with a sign or "signature" Sympathetic magic, also known as imitative magic, is a type of magic based on imitation or correspondence Pharmacology (from Greek grc φάρμακον pharmakon, "drug" and grc -λογία -logia) is the study of how Drugs This led medical men to hope, at least, that, say, walnut shells might be good for skull fractures. Walnuts (genus Juglans) are Plants in the family Juglandaceae. Given the state of the pharmacopoeia, and patients' demands for something to take, physicians began making "blunderbuss" concoctions of various drugs, proven and unproven. Pharmacopoeia (literally the art of the drug compounder in its modern technical sense is a book containing directions for the identification of samples and the preparation of compound These concoctions were the ancestors of the several nostrums.

Touting these nostrums was one of the first major projects of the advertising industry. The marketing of nostrums under implausible claims has a long history. In Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749), allusion is made to the sale of medical compounds claimed to be universal panaceas:

As to Squire Western, he was seldom out of the sick-room, unless when he was engaged either in the field or over his bottle. Henry Fielding ( April 22, 1707 &ndash October 8, 1754) was an English Novelist and Dramatist known for his The History of Tom Jones a Foundling, often known simply as Tom Jones, is a Comic novel by the English playwright and novelist In Greek mythology, Panacea (Greek Πανάκεια, Panakeia) was the goddess of healing Nay, he would sometimes retire hither to take his beer, and it was not without difficulty that he was prevented from forcing Jones to take his beer too: for no quack ever held his nostrum to be a more general panacea than he did this; which, he said, had more virtue in it than was in all the physic in an apothecary's shop. Medication, also referred to as medicine, can be loosely defined as any substance intended for use in the diagnosis cure mitigation treatment or prevention of disease

Lydia Pinkham's Herb Medicine (circa 1875) remains on the market today.

Within the English-speaking world, patent medicines are as old as journalism. Journalism is the profession of writing or communicating formally employed by publications and broadcasters for the benefit of a particular Community of people "Anderson's Pills" were first made in England in the 1630s; the recipe was allegedly learned in Venice by a Scot who claimed to be physician to King Charles I. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Venice ( Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venesia or Venexia) is a city in Northern Italy, the capital of the Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Charles I, (19 November 1600 &ndash 30 January 1649 was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. The use of letters patent to obtain exclusive marketing rights to certain labelled formulas and their marketing fueled the circulation of early newspapers. The use of invented names began early. In 1726 a patent was also granted to the makers of "Dr. Bateman's Pectoral Drops"; at least on the documents that survive, there was no Dr. Bateman. This was the enterprise of a Benjamin Okell and a group of promoters who owned a warehouse and a print shop to promote the product.

A number of American institutions owe their existence to the patent medicine industry, most notably a number of the older almanacs, which were originally given away as promotional items by patent medicine manufacturers. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ALMANAC is the name of a major Breast cancer trial The Acronym stands for "Axillary Lymphatic Mapping Against Nodal Axillary Clearance Promotional items or promotional products refers to articles of merchandise that are used in marketing and communication programs Perhaps the most successful industry that grew up out of the business of patent medicine advertisements, though, was founded by William H. Gannett in Maine in 1866. The State of Maine ( is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean There were few circulating newspapers in Maine in that era, so Gannett founded a periodical, Comfort, whose chief purpose was to propose the merits of Oxien, a nostrum made from the fruit of the baobab tree, to the rural folks of Maine. A newspaper is a written Publication containing News, information and Advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called Newsprint. Baobab is the common name of a Genus ( Adansonia) containing eight species of Trees native to Madagascar (having six species mainland Gannett's newspaper became the first publication of Guy Gannett Communications, which eventually owned four Maine dailies and several television stations. Guy Gannett Communications -- no relation to the larger Gannett communications chain -- was a family-owned business consisting of newspapers in Maine and a handful (The family-owned firm is not related to the giant Gannett Corporation, publisher of "USA Today. Gannett Company Inc ( is a publicly-traded media Holding company based in the United States. ") An early pioneer in the use of advertising to promote patent medicine was the New York businessman Benjamin Brandreth whose "Vegetable Universal Pill" eventually became one of the best selling patent medicines in the United States ^[2] “…A congressional committee in 1849 reported that Brandreth was the nation’s largest proprietary advertiser… Between 1862 and 1863 Brandreth’s average annual gross income surpassed $600,000…”^[3] For fifty years Brandreth’s name was a household word in the United States^[4] Indeed, the Brandreth pills were so well known they received mention in Herman Melville's classic Moby Dick^[5]. Advertising is a form of Communication that typically attempts to persuade potential Customers to Purchase or to consume more of a particular Brand Benjamin Brandreth (1807-1880 was a pioneer in the early use of mass Advertising to build consumer awareness of his product a Purgative that allegedly cured

Kickapoo Indian "Sagwa", sold at medicine shows

Another method of publicity undertaken mostly by smaller firms was the "medicine show," a traveling circus of sorts which offered vaudeville-style entertainments on a small scale, and which climaxed in a pitch for the nostrum being sold. Similar to the fabled gypsy bands of old Europe medicine shows were traveling Horse and buggy teams which peddled miracle medications and other products between various entertainment Similar to the fabled gypsy bands of old Europe medicine shows were traveling Horse and buggy teams which peddled miracle medications and other products between various entertainment A circus is most commonly a traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, Clowns trained animals trapeze acts Hoopers, tightrope walkers Vaudeville was a Genre of variety entertainment prevalent on the stage in the United States and Canada, from the early 1880s Muscle man acts were especially popular on these tours, for this enabled the salesman to tout the physical vigour offered by the potion he was selling. Bodybuilding is the process of maximizing Muscle hypertrophy. The showmen frequently employed shills, who would step forward from the crowd and offer "unsolicited" testimonials about the benefits of the medicine for sale. A shill is an associate of a person selling goods or services or a political group who pretends no association to the seller/group and assumes the air of an enthusiastic customer Often, the nostrum was manufactured and bottled in the same wagon that the show travelled in. The Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company became one of the largest and most successful medicine show operators; their shows had an American Indian or Wild West theme, and employed many Native Americans as spokespeople. Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States The medicine show lived on in American folklore and Western movies long after they had vanished from public meeting places. The folklore of the United States, or American folklore, is one of the folk traditions which has evolved on the North American continent since Europeans The Western is a fiction Genre seen in Film, Television, Radio, Literature, Painting and other Visual arts.

Ingredients and their uses

Sick Made Well, Weak Made Strong, Elixir of Life, etc. Typical ad for patent medicine.

Supposed ingredients

Some level of exoticism and mystery in the contents of the preparation was deemed desirable by their promoters. Unlikely ingredients such as the baobab fruit in Oxien were a recurring theme. A famous patent medicine of the period was Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root; unspecified roots found in swamps had remarkable effects on the kidneys, according to its literature.

Native American themes were also useful; Natives, imagined to be noble savages, were thought to be in tune with Nature, and heirs to a body of traditional lore about herbal remedies and natural cures. In the eighteenth-century cult of " Primitivism " the noble savage, uncorrupted by the influences of civilization was considered more worthy more authentically noble Nature, in the broadest sense is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe. A(n herb (ˈhɝb or /ˈɝb/ see pronunciation differences) is a plant that is valued for qualities such as medicinal properties flavor scent or the like One example of this approach from the period was Kickapoo Indian Sagwa, a product of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company of Connecticut (completely unrelated to the real Kickapoo Indian tribe of Oklahoma), supposedly based on a Native American recipe. Connecticut ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The Kickapoos ( Kickapoo: Kiikaapoa or Kiikaapoi) are one of the Algonquian speaking Native American Tribes Oklahoma ( is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. This nostrum was the inspiration for Al Capp's "Kickapoo Joy Juice," featured in the comic strip, "Li'l Abner". Al Capp (September 28 1909 &ndash November 5 1979 was an American Cartoonist and Humorist, best known for the satiric Comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a Comics artist Li'l Abner was a Satirical American Comic strip appearing in many newspapers in the United States and Canada, featuring a fictional Another benefit of claiming traditional native origins was that it was nearly impossible to disprove. A good example of this is the story behind Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills which was the mainstay of the Comstock patent medicine business. Dr Morse's Indian Root Pills was one of the most successful and enduring products to be manufactured and marketed in North America as part of the lucrative Patent medicine According to the text printed on a wrapper that accompanied every box of pills, Dr. Morse had been a trained medical doctor who enriched his education by travelling extensively throughout Asia, Africa and Europe. He also supposedly immersed himself among the natives of North America for three years during which time he discovered the healing properties of the various plants and roots that would eventually combine to yield Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills. Dr Morse's Indian Root Pills was one of the most successful and enduring products to be manufactured and marketed in North America as part of the lucrative Patent medicine It is unknown if Dr. Morse ever actually existed.

Other promoters took an opposite tack from timeless herbal wisdom. Just about any scientific discovery or exotic locale could be used as a key ingredient in a patent medicine. Consumers were invited to invoke the power of electromagnetism to heal their ailments. Electromagnetism is the Physics of the Electromagnetic field: a field which exerts a Force on particles that possess the property of In the nineteenth century, electricity and radio were gee-whiz scientific advances that found their way into patent medicine advertising, especially after Luigi Galvani showed that electricity influenced the muscles. Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. Luigi Galvani was an Italian Physician and Physicist who lived and died in Bologna. Muscle (from Latin musculus, diminutive of mus "mouse" is contractile tissue of the body and is derived from the Devices meant to electrify the body were sold; nostrums were compounded that purported to attract electrical energy or make the body more conductive. Albert Abrams was a well known practitioner of electrical quackery, claiming the ability to diagnose and treat diseases over long distances by radio. Albert Abrams (1863&ndash1924 was an American doctor well known during his life for inventing machines which he claimed could diagnose and cure almost any disease

Towards the end of the period, a number of radioactive medicines, containing uranium or radium, were marketed. Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable Atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and Radiation. Uranium (jʊˈreɪniəm is a silvery-gray Metallic Chemical element in the Radium (ˈreɪdiəm is a radioactive Chemical element which has the symbol Ra and Atomic number 88 These apparently actually contained the ingredients promised, and there were a number of tragedies among their devotees; most notoriously, steel heir Eben McBurney Byers was a supporter of the popular radium water "Radithor". Steel is an Alloy consisting mostly of Iron, with a Carbon content between 0 Eben McBurney Byers ( April 12, 1880 - March 31, 1932) was a wealthy American Socialite, athlete, and Radithor was a well known Patent medicine / Snake oil that is possibly the best known example of Radioactive quackery. He contracted fatal radium poisoning and had to have his jaw removed in an unsuccessful attempt to save him from bone cancer after taking more than a thousand bottles of "radium water. " Water irradiators were sold that promised to infuse water placed within them with radon, which was thought to be healthy at the time. Radon (ˈreɪdɒn is the Chemical element that has the symbol Rn and Atomic number 86

Actual ingredients

While various herbs, touted or alluded to, were talked up in the advertising, their actual effects often came from procaine extracts, cocaine, or grain alcohol. Procaine is a Local anesthetic drug of the Amino Ester group It is used primarily to reduce the pain of Intramuscular injection of Cocaine ( benzoylmethyl ecgonine) is a Crystalline Tropane Alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the Coca plant Those containing opiates were at least effective in relieving pain, though they could result in addiction. This hazard was sufficiently well known that many were advertised as causing none of the harmful effects of opium (though many of those so advertised actually did contain opium). In the case of medicines for "female complaints", the principal "complaint" that the medicine was intended to treat was early pregnancy; such products contained abortifacients, ingredients capable of inducing abortion, such as pennyroyal, tansy or savin. An abortifacient is a substance that induces Abortion. Abortifacients for Animals that have mated undesirably are known as Mismating shots An The herb Pennyroyal ( Mentha pulegium, family Lamiaceae) is a member of the mint Genus; an Essential oil extracted from Tansy ( Tanacetum vulgare) is a perennial herbaceous Flowering plant of the aster family that is native to temperate Europe and

Until the twentieth century alcohol was the most controversial ingredient; for it was widely recognised that the "medicines" could continue to be sold for their alleged curative properties even in prohibition states and counties. Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, also known as Noble Experiment, refers to a Sumptuary law which prohibits Alcohol Many of the medicines were in fact liqueurs of various sorts, flavoured with herbs said to have medicinal properties. A liqueur is a sweet Alcoholic beverage, often flavored with Fruits, Herbs Spices Flowers Seeds Roots Plants Many plants have traditional medical uses Ethnobotanists and pharmacognacists catalog and study these plants and uses Peruna was a famous "Prohibition tonic," weighing in at around 18% grain alcohol. A nostrum known as "Jamaican ginger" was ordered to change its formula by Prohibition officials; to fool a chemical test, some vendors added a toxic chemical, cresyl phosphate, an organophosphate compound that had effects similar to a nerve agent. Jamaican Ginger Extract (known in the United States by the slang name Jake) was an early 20th century Patent medicine that provided a convenient way An organophosphate (sometimes abbreviated OP) is the general name for Esters of Phosphoric acid. Nerve agents (also being referred to as nerve gases, though these chemicals are liquid at room temperature are a class of Phosphorus -containing organic chemicals Unwary imbibers suffered a form of paralysis that came to be known as jake-leg. Paralysed redirects here For other uses see xx Paralysed (disambiguation Paralysis is the complete loss of Muscle function Some included laxatives such as senna or diuretics, in order to give the compounds some obvious medical effects. Laxatives (or purgatives) are foods compounds or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool most often taken to treat Constipation. Senna (from Arabic sanā) the sennas, is a large Genus of around 250 Species of Flowering plants in the A diuretic is any Drug that elevates the rate of urination ( Diuresis) The narcotics and stimulants at least had the virtue of making the people who took them feel better, and in the eyes of the advertisers this was scored as a "cure. "

Clark Stanley the "Rattlesnake King" produced Stanley's snake oil, publicly processing rattlesnakes at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous Snakes, genera Crotalus and Sistrurus. The World's Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago World's Fair) a World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary His liniment, when seized and tested by the federal government in 1917, was found to contain mineral oil, 1% fatty oil, red pepper, turpentine and camphor. Mineral oil or liquid Petroleum is a By-product in the Distillation of Petroleum to produce Gasoline and other petroleum The chili pepper, chilli pepper, or chili, is the fruit of the plants from the Genus Capsicum, which are members of the nightshade Turpentine (also called spirit of turpentine oil of turpentine wood turpentine gum turpentine is a fluid obtained by the Distillation of Resin obtained from trees } Camphor is a waxy white or transparent solid with a strong aromatic odor This is not too unlike modern capsaicin and camphor liniments. Capsaicin /ˌkæpˈseˌɪsɪn/ (8- Methyl - N - Vanillyl -6-nonen Amide) is the active component of Chili peppers

When journalists and physicians began focusing on the narcotic contents of the patent medicines, some of their makers began substituting acetanilide, a particularly toxic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, discovered in 1886, for the laudanum they used to contain. Acetanilide is an odourless Solid chemical of leaf or flake-like appearance A toxin ( Greek:, toxikon, lit (poison for use on arrows is a Poisonous substance produced by living cells or organisms that is active at very low Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, usually abbreviated to NSAID s or NAID s, are drugs with Analgesic, Antipyretic and in higher Laudanum (ˈlȯd-nəm or ˈlȯ-də-nəm also known as Opium Tincture or Tincture of Opium, is an Alcoholic herbal preparation This ingredient change probably killed more of the nostrum's users than the narcotics did, since the acetanilide was toxic to the liver and kidneys. The liver is a vital organ in the human body and is present in Vertebrates and some other animals The kidneys are complicated organs that have numerous biological roles

Supposed uses

Bonnore's Electro Magnetic Bathing Fluid was claimed to help many unrelated ailments. Electromagnetism is the Physics of the Electromagnetic field: a field which exerts a Force on particles that possess the property of

Patent medicines were supposedly able to cure just about everything. Nostrums were openly sold that claimed to cure or prevent venereal diseases, tuberculosis, and cancer. A sexually transmitted disease ( STD) or venereal disease ( VD) is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between Humans Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common Cancer (medical term Malignant Neoplasm) is a class of Diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled Bonnore's Electro Magnetic Bathing Fluid claimed to cure cholera, neuralgia, epilepsy, scarlet fever, necrosis, mercurial eruptions, paralysis, hip diseases, chronic abscesses, and "female complaints. Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera, is an infectious Gastroenteritis caused by the Bacterium Neuralgia is a painful disorder of the Nerves. Under the general heading of neuralgia are Trigeminal neuralgia (TN Atypical trigeminal neuralgia (ATN Epilepsy is a common chronic Neurological disorder that is characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. Scarlet fever is a disease caused by an Exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Necrosis (in Greek Νεκρός = "dead" is the name given to unnatural Death of cells and living tissue. Syphilis is a Sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochetal Bacterium Treponema pallidum pallidum. Paralysed redirects here For other uses see xx Paralysed (disambiguation Paralysis is the complete loss of Muscle function An abscess (abscessus is a collection of Pus (dead Neutrophils) that has accumulated in a cavity formed by the tissue on the basis of an infectious process " A panacea so universally effective cannot be bought today at any price. In Greek mythology, Panacea (Greek Πανάκεια, Panakeia) was the goddess of healing William Radam's Microbe Killer, a product sold widely on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1890s and early 1900s, had the bold claim 'Cures All Diseases' prominently embossed on the front of the bottle. Ebeneezer Sibley ('Dr Sibley') in late 18th and early 19th century Britain went so far as to advertise that his Solar Tincture was able to "restore life in the event of sudden death", amongst other marvels.

Every manufacturer published long lists of testimonials in which all sorts of human ailments were cured by the compounds. For the use of the term testimonial in sport (especially Football) see Testimonial match. Fortunately for both their makers and users, the illnesses that they claimed were cured were almost invariably self-diagnosed, and the claims of the writers to have been healed of cancer or tuberculosis by the nostrum should be considered in this light. In fact many, if not most, patent medicines were products of quackery, and were of little or no therapeutic benefit.

The end of the patent medicine era

Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment. Snake oil is a Traditional Chinese medicine used to treat Joint pain Liniment, (or embrocation from the Latin linere, to Anoint, is a medicated topical preparation for application to the skin Accept no substitutes!

Muckraker journalists and other investigators began to publicize instances of death, drug addiction, and other hazards from the compounds. For other meanings see Muckraker (disambiguation The term muckraker most associated with a group of American investigative reporters Death is the termination of the biological functions that define living Organisms It refers both to a specific Drug addiction is widely considered a pathological state. The disorder of addiction involves the progression of acute Drug use to the development of drug-seeking This took some small courage on behalf of the publishing industry that circulated these claims, since the typical newspaper of the period relied heavily on the patent medicines, which founded the U. S. advertising industry. In 1905, Samuel Hopkins Adams published an exposé entitled "The Great American Fraud" in Collier's Weekly that led to the passage of the first Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. Samuel Hopkins Adams ( January 26, 1871 &ndash November 15, 1958) was an American writer best known for his investigative journalism Collier's Weekly was an American Magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957 The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906 is a United States federal law that provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture This statute did not ban the alcohol, narcotics, and stimulants in the medicines; it required them to be labelled as such, and curbed some of the more misleading, overstated, or fraudulent claims that appeared on the labels. A statute is a formal written enactment of a Legislative authority that governs a Country, State, City, or County. In the broadest sense a fraud is a Deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual In 1936 the statute was revised to ban them, and the United States entered a long period of ever more drastic reductions in the medications available unmediated by physicians and prescriptions. A physician, medical practitioner or medical doctor who practices Medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human Health A prescription (℞ is a health-care program implemented by a Physician or other medical practitioner in the form of instructions that govern the plan of care for an individual

The patent medicine makers moved from selling nostrums to selling deodorants and toothpastes, which continued to be advertised using the same techniques that had proven themselves selling nostrums for tuberculosis and "female complaints. Deodorants are substances applied to the body particularly the Armpits mainly to reduce Body odor caused by the bacterial breakdown of Perspiration. Toothpaste is a Paste or Gel Dentifrice used to clean and maintain the aesthetics and health of Teeth. " One survival of the herbal exoticism that once characterized the patent medicine industry is the marketing of shampoos, which are often promoted as containing perfumes such as vetiver or ylang-ylang, and foods such as mangoes, bananas, or honey; consumers are urged to put these ingredients in their hair despite lack of any evidence that these ingredients do anything other than make the hair smell like the ingredients. Shampoo is a Hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt skin particles Dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that Perfume is a mixture of fragrant Essential oils and Aroma compounds Fixatives and Solvents used to give the human body animals objects and living This article refers to the tropical grass For the men's fragrance Vétiver see Guerlain. Ylang-ylang (ˈiːlæŋˈʔiːlæŋ (ee-lang ee-lang Cananga odorata, is a small flower of the Cananga tree Mangoes belong to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous species of tropical fruiting Trees in the Flowering plant family Anacardiaceae For the fruit see Banana. For other meanings see Banana (disambiguation. Honey is a sweet and Viscous fluid produced by Honey bees (and some other species and derived from the nectar of Flowers According to the

In more recent years, also, various herbal concoctions have been marketed as "nutritional supplements". While their advertisements are careful not to cross the line into making explicit medical claims, and often bear a disclaimer that asserts that the products have not been tested and are not intended to diagnose or treat any disease, they are nevertheless marketed as remedies of various sorts. A disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally-recognized relationship Weight loss "while you sleep" and similar claims are frequently found on these compounds (cf. Weight loss, in the context of Medicine or Health or Physical fitness, is a reduction of the total Body weight, due to a mean loss of fluid , Calorad, Relacore, etal. Calorad is a liquid Protein Weight loss supplement which was first introduced to the US and Canadian marketplace in 1984 Relacore is a Herbal supplement marketed by the Carter Reed Company a brand for Basic Research of Salt Lake City, Utah. ). One of the most notorious such elixirs, however, calls itself "Enzyte", widely advertised for "natural male enhancement" — that is, penis enlargement. Enzyte is a herbal Nutritional supplement manufactured by Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals of Cincinnati Ohio. Penis enlargement procedures (sometimes euphemistically referred to as "male enhancement procedures" in spam email and television advertisements are techniques Despite being a compound of herbs, minerals, and vitamins, Enzyte formerly promoted itself under a fake scientific name Suffragium asotas. A vitamin is an Organic compound required as a Nutrient in tiny amounts by an Organism. Enzyte's makers translate this phrase as "better sex," but it is in fact ungrammatical Latin for "refuge for the dissipated. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. "^[6]

Surviving consumer products from the patent medicine era

A number of brands of consumer products that date from the patent medicine era are still on the market and available today. Their ingredients may have changed from the original formulas; the claims made for the benefits they offer have typically been seriously revised. These brands include:

A horse drawn Bromo Seltzer wagon. Horse -drawn vehicles were once common worldwide but they have mostly been replaced by Automobiles and other forms of self-propelled transport

• 666 Cold Medicine
• Absorbine Jr.
• Andrews Liver Salts
• BC Powder
• Bromo-Seltzer
• Carter's Little Liver Pills (Currently sold as Carter's Little Pills)
• Chlorodyne
• Doan's Pills
• Fletcher's Castoria
• Geritol
• Goody's Powder
• Lobeila Cough Syrup
• Luden's Throat Drops
• Phillips' Milk of Magnesia
• Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
• Smith Brothers Throat Drops
• Vicks VapoRub

A number of patent medicines are produced in China; among the best known of these is Shou Wu Chih, a black, alcoholic liquid which is claimed to turn gray hair black. Bromo-Seltzer ( Acetaminophen, Sodium bicarbonate, and Citric acid) is an Antacid used to relieve pain occurring together with Bisacodyl ( INN) is a stimulant Laxative drug It is typically prescribed for relief of Constipation and for the management of neurogenic bowel dysfunction Bisacodyl ( INN) is a stimulant Laxative drug It is typically prescribed for relief of Constipation and for the management of neurogenic bowel dysfunction Chlorodyne was the name for one of the most famous Patent medicines sold in the British Isles Castoria redirects here For the titular see see Castoria (titular see. Geritol is a US trademarked name for various supplements past and present Goody's Powder is an over-the-counter pain reliever in elemental "powder" form marketed and sold by GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Luden's is a brand of Throat lozenge. History The Luden's brand was originally created by William H Milk of Magnesia is an aqueous suspension of Magnesium hydroxide, Mg ( O[[hydrogen H]]2 in water The Smith Brothers were makers of Cough drops. William Wallace Smith I (1830-1913 and Andrew Smith (1836-1895 were the sons of James Smith (c1800-1866 Vicks is a line of over-the-counter Medications owned by the American company Procter & Gamble. Shou Wu Chih (Chinese 首[[wiktionary 乌|乌]] 汁; pinyin Shǒu Wū Zhī is a Chinese patent medicine that is reputed to act as a tonic and

Products no longer sold under medicinal claims

Some consumer products were once marketed as patent medicines, but have been repurposed and are no longer sold for medicinal purposes. Their original ingredients may have been changed to remove drugs, such is the case with Coca-Cola. The compound may also simply be used in a different capacity, as in the case of Angostura Bitters, now associated chiefly with cocktails. A cocktail is a style of Mixed drink. Originally a mixture of distilled spirits, Sugar, Water, and Bitters, the word has gradually

• 7-Up
• Angostura Bitters
• Bovril
• Coca-Cola
• Dr Pepper
• Fernet Branca
• Hires Root Beer
• Moxie brand soda
• tonic water

See also

• Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills
• Hadacol
• Homeopathy
• Chinese patent medicine
• Opodeldoc
• Quackery
• Snake oil
• George Gill Green and his "Green's August Flower" and "Boschee's German Syrup"
• Universal panacea
• Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People
• Tono-Bungay
• Blue mass (not a patent medicine, but a popular contemporary remedy)

References

Literature

• Nostrums and Quackery, reprints articles from the Journal of the American Medical Association, no editor named; (Chicago: American Medical Association Press, 1912)
• The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser, Dr. JAMA The Journal of the American Medical Association is an international peer-reviewed general Medical journal, published 48 times per year by the American R. V. Pierce, MD, eighty-third edition (World's Dispensary, 1917), available from Project Gutenberg
• The Golden Age of Quackery, Stewart A. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works Holbrook. (Boston: MacMillan & Co. , 1959)
• The Great American Medicine Show, David and Elizabeth M. Armstrong, (New York, Prentice-Hall, 1991) ISBN 0-13-364027-2
• History of the Comstock Patent Medicine Business and Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills, Shaw, Robert B. (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1972)
• "Balm of America: Patent Medicine Collection," National Museum of American History

External links

• Dr. Bob's Homepage for Medical Quackery
• Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Varieties of Medical Ephemera at the National Library of Medicine
• The Great American Fraud online exhibit at Vanderbilt Medical Library. Contains an etext of two of the Samuel Hopkins Adams exposés.
• The Toadstool Millionaires by James Harvey Young (1961), reproduced at Quackwatch by permission of Princeton University Press
• History of the Comstock Patent Medicine Business and Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills by Robert B. Quackwatch, Inc is an American Non-profit organization founded by Stephen Barrett that aims to "combat health-related frauds myths fads fallacies The Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Shaw
• Barak Orbach's Quack and Petent Medicine Collection