Patent Medications
Most medications in the United States prior to 1880 came from England and Europe where heads of state regularly gave “patents” to their favorite manufacturers. “Patent medicines” are those with disclosed ingredients and were initially imported with great success since production in the colonies was limited.
Old Indian Liver & Kidney Tonic
Home remedies and "Indian cures" were very popular during the end of the nineteenth century.
Blackhawk’s Rattlesnake Oil (ca. 1880)
The whole era is represented by the now famous snake oil. This liniment was popularly used for musculoskeletal complaints with the advertised expectation that the reptile’s flexible nature could be transferred to the patient by topical application.
Over-the-counter controlled substances (ca. 1900)
Dangerous substances could be easily purchased without prescription: (left to right) heroin cough remedy, cannabis for children’s diseases, opium for abdominal pain.
Renovator with dangerous ingredients
This medicaton included a number of dangerous ingredients including strichnyne and arsenate in 10% alcohol.
Harter's fever Ague and Neuralgia Compound
This preparation contained 45% alcohol with the first doses to be given to children at the age of 2 years old. Alcholol containing preparations were obviously very popular.
Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound (ca. 1890)
Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound for the treatment of women's diseases was extremely popular and her face was the most recognized likeness in the United States in the late nineteenth century
Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound (ca. 1890)
13 1/2% alcohol (as a preservative)
late nineteenth century patent medications related to diseases of the kidney
This is an array of turn of the century patent medicines that were offered for the treatment of renal diseases.
Dalton's Sarsaparilla and Nerve Tonic
Smilax regelii is a vine that is native to Central America and was thought to have medicinal properties including an early treatment for syphilis. Other claims included its effectiveness for the treatment of eczema, psoriasis, arthritis, herpes, and leprosy.
Burdock Blood Bitters
Bitters were patent medications flavored with herbs that contained alcohol but no sugar, and thus the designation "bitters." They were primarily to be used as an aid in digestion.
Unusual early nineteenth-century ingredients
These medications had no experimental basis for their use but were regularly sold over-the-counter (from left to right): X-ray liniment, electric blood purifier, magnetic oil, radium radia; (bottom): ozone, magnetic pills, radioactive salve
Vin Mariana (with cocaine)
Vin Mariani was a very popular wine and coca product invented by Corsican chemist Angelo Mariani that was sold in both Europe and the United States. It was so popular that American John Pemberton manufactured a similar product that he called French Wine Coca. Because of the temerance movement at the time, Pemberton removed the alcohol and his product evolved into the modern day Coca Cola.
Vin Mariani advertisement from The Cosmopolitan magazine
Vin Mariani with endorsement of the Pope
Vin Mariani received numerous testimonials from the rich and famous, including Thomas Edison, Queen Victoria, and three Popes. In fact, Pope Leo XIII awarded the coca containing Vin Mariani a gold medal “in recognition of benefits received from the use of Mariani’s tonic.”
Belle of Marion prescription whiskey (ca. 1930)
During prohibition, alcohol could be distributed by prescription "for medicinal purposes only."
AIDS, a buffered antacid (ca. 1980)
This antacid was introduced just months before discovery of the AIDS virus and quickly failed, an example of unlucky marketing.