Good Health In A Jar!
by Sharon Archer
Reading: Diana Wynne Jones, Fire and Hemlock
Watching: Frequency
Making me smile: Clever Professor Thomas Holloway!
I’ve just been on the most wonderful few days away at the lighthouse on Bruny Island, Tasmania, with fellow LoveCats, Rachel Bailey and Nikki Logan, and our friend, Alison.
The quarters were cosy and fun and graciously old-fashioned – a delightful cross between staying at my nana’s place and visiting a working museum. And there were treasures that, as a medical romance writer, I couldn’t resist!
The first was a small ceramic pot that had once been filled with Holloway’s Ointment. This excellent multipurpose salve boasted that it was for The Cure of Gout and Rheumatism, Inveterate Ulcers, Sore Breasts, Sore Heads and Bad Legs.
Surely a must for every household medicine chest – and indeed it was in the 1800s.
The man behind the jar was Thomas Holloway. Born in 1800, he was apprenticed to a chemist at age sixteen. But his true genius was in marketing. Thomas began selling his ointment in 1837 and became an extremely successful “patent medicine merchant”. A born entrepreneur, his ointment and pills were advertised in newspapers around the world and offered full printed directions...in any language, even in Turkish, Arabic, Armenian, Persian or Chinese. The products were offered for sale by nearly every respectable Vendor of Medicine through the Civilized World.
In the wonderfully flowery prose of the nineteenth century, one advertisement assures us that the invaluable unguent acts by stimulating the absorbants to increased activity by preventing congestion and promoting a free and copious circulation in the parts affected, thence speedily and effectually it ensures a cure.
So what did this wonder lotion contain? One reference I found suggests one of the ingredients was opium, another reference, that it was mostly beeswax and lanolin.
Whatever it contained, Thomas's ointment and his pills made him a very, very wealthy man and he went on to become a philanthropist endowing the Holloway Sanatorium and the Royal Holloway College (now part of the University of London)....
But that's a subject for a whole other blog!
S
o have you got any treasures with wonderful descriptive prose you'd like to share? Or perhaps you've seen an advertisement in an old newspaper for a miracle cure that took your fancy?I'll give away a copy of my latest release, The Man Behind The Badge, to one commenter!
Hiya Sharon! When I was a kid, my mom swore by Mercurochrome - which was an antiseptic used on minor cuts...and which turned a lovely red color. She used to draw bunnies on our cuts and scrapes, which of course made them instantly better. :) It's outlawed in the US because of the mercury content now so no more red bunnies get drawn on scrapes and cuts...
ReplyDeleteSharon
ReplyDeleteIsn't it wonderful when you find something like this it really makes you think about how things were in the past. Many years a go when I was a child and on holidays Mum and I went into a second hand bookstore on the Central Coast here in NSW and we found some really old books one of them was A guide for Ladies and came out in the early 1900's and some of the advice for Ladies made Mum and I laugh for ages I am not sure what happened to this book but there were games in it the correct fashions how to write letters so many things and it is something I will always remember.
I look forward to your new book Sharon
Have Fun
Helen
Sharon, I have a fabulous book called the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. It's full of gems, such as this one:
ReplyDeleteGooseberry-eyed = one with dull grey eyes, like boiled gooseberries.
Love it!
Hi Sharon,
ReplyDeleteWe use basil leaves for most of our coughs and colds. And wrapping a small piece of camphor in a handkerchief around a baby's neck will take the sniffles away.
Congratulations on the release of THE MAN BEHIND THE BADGE!
Oh, yes, mercurochrome! I'd forgotten all about that, Kristina. It was a basic in the home medicine kit, wasn't it? I love the idea of the red bunnies - definitely an instant cure for cuts and scrapes! LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting!
:)
Sharon
Argh - blogger ate my response! Will keep it short this time.
ReplyDeleteMy mum has a book that was her mother in law's. It details all sorts of things a woman needed to know, including which day to turn the mattresses over. It also instructed that Tuesday was the appropriate day to wash - making me wonder as a kid what happened if it rained on Tuesday. I've avoided finding out by washing on other days.
Thanks, Helen!
ReplyDeleteHey, I've seen some Guides for Ladies from earlier times as well and they're always good fun aren't they? But you know... it just occurred to me... were there Guides for Gentlemen? I feel sure they needed them just as much! LOL
:)
Sharon
Ooo, Emily, I love it too! What a gem of a book! I hope no one ever calls me gooseberry-eyed - it sounds VERY unattractive!
ReplyDeleteLOL
Sharon, I remember doing a lot of research into drug use in the 19th century when I was writing Courtesan. Stuff like cocaine and opium wasn't illegal then and was available as parts of all sorts of patent remedies. Perhaps it DID make people feel better, snort! And basically the cure-all for most things involved alcohol. Again, probably did make them feel better at least in the short term.
ReplyDeleteI really loved your post - what fun. I was dead jealous of the lighthouse stay! Lucky you!
And congratulations on the release of THE MAN BEHIND THE BADGE. It looks like another fabulous read from the pen of Ms Archer!
My parents used to keep a an ugly old bottle of cod liver oil in the fridge. : shudder : Now mum believes tea tree oil will cure anything!!! I remember her popping, was it, Vincent powders, many many moons ago. : another shudder :
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nas!
ReplyDeleteOh, your home remedies sound interesting! do you make a sort of tea with the basil leaves? And does it help to clear the sinuses?
Actually, the great thing with basil is that it's also a companion plant for tomatoes - makes them more flavoursome too apparently.
:)
Sharon
Anni, bummer about Blogger chomping your first comment. :(
ReplyDeleteThat book of your mum's sounds terrific. I never knew about Tuesday being the "correct" day to do washing! I wonder why... Maybe it was to make sure you had pleanty of time to dry your Sunday best! No tumble dryers back then!
:)
Sharon
gads, that should have been "Annie" - Blogger must have chomped the "e"!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anna!
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm sure you'd have loved the lighthouse on Bruny Island! A wonderful place for a writing retreat.
It's interesting to think that things like cocaine and opium could be dispensed so freely back then - and now there are such restrictions about what goes into medicines. Just as well. Yes, I'm sure the people "felt" better for a while after using/taking some of these remedies!
:)
Sharon
Urgh, on the cod liver oil. My mother had a bottle too. And I remember her telling me that her mother used to give cascara to her and her sister!
ReplyDeleteI remember Vincent's Powders! I looked them up and they were taken off the market in the late 70s because they could cause kidney problems!
Golly, a reminder to treat "medicines" with care!
:)
Sharon
My mother used a drawing salve we called "black salve" on splinters and other bits of debris in scrapes. I couldn't find any equivalents until around 15 years ago, except it is yellow. We still call it black salve and it works the same way. LOL
ReplyDeleteOh, Sharon, your post made me laugh. Obviously today's marketing companies have followed the lead of Holloway's Ointment because this is the blurb I have kept from a jar of moisturiser I once received as a gift:
ReplyDelete"A woman is never so glowing as when she is happy. These intense feelings of happiness stimulate the release of endorphins within the skin. These invaluable pleasure-inducing molecules trigger a series of responses that help make your skin look plumped up, smooth and luminous ... [company name] has brought out a new range of skincare products containing a special complex that recreates the visible effects of happiness within the upper layers of the skin."
Brilliant! A moisturiser that makes you happy :-) (I checked the ingredients -- no opiates that I could identify).
My mom was anemic and so was I for a while. We were told to take something called Beef Iron and Wine. I had a daily tablespoon of that nasty stuff for quite a while.
ReplyDeleteCod liver oil is still around but most people use Omega 3-6-9 instead. Just a fancier version. I remember taking it in liquid form before it came in a capsule. That was really nasty tasting as well. My uncle who lived to the age of 98 took cod liver oil daily and rarely had a cold.
Some ladies had a jar of Pond's (?) beauty cream but our family always had Noxema as a hand cream for chapped hands.
Hi Sharon,you always find the most fascinating subjects for your blogs! My family used Tiger Balm for all sorts of ailments, not sure what was in it...
ReplyDeleteI'm a great fan of antibiotic Bandaids with the pad impregnated with an antiseptic/antibiotic cream. They're not available in Australia. Each time I visit the US, a drugstore is my first port of call to load up on them!
LOL, Nancy! So your "black salve" is yellow! Perfectly reasonable!
ReplyDelete:)
Sharon - still chuckling!
LOL, Michelle, that's fabulous! With all that "scientific, molecular" stuff happening in your moisturiser, you must have very happy skin! I'll be sure to check extra carefully when I see you in August!
ReplyDelete;)
Sharon
Like Robbie's parents, I'm a believer in tea tree oil. And we use a lot of lavender oil too here - good to stop itchybites itching, etc. And paw paw ointment (in the tube, not the tub, to avoid the petroleum jelly). Paw paw ointment fixes everything! :)
ReplyDeleteKaelee, I'm sure the theory was that the worse a medicine tasted the better it was for you! so your Beef Iron and Wine must have been very beneficial indeed!
ReplyDeleteYour uncle is a very good advertisement for the benefits of daily cod liver oil!
We used to have Ponds cream here but I haven't seen it for a while. I wonder if it's still around...
:)
Sharon
Thanks, Kandy! I confess I had waaaaay too much fun researching about this ointment!
ReplyDeleteHey, I've used Tiger Balm - for aches and pains and clears the sinuses at the same time. And I don't mind the smell at all though I guess you would want to be going out anywhere too swish wearing it.
I can see the temptation about those antibiotic-impregnated plasters - I'm sure they'd be excellent used sparingly. My inner (and very out-dated qualified!) microbiologist wonders if bacterial resistance might be a potential problem.
:)
Sharon
Rachel, I love tea tree oil, too. Very useful stuff! And lavender oil. And vinegar for ant and wasp bites - though, come to think of it, a slice of Alison's was a big help when I got bitten by that jumping jack on Bruny Island!
ReplyDeletePaw paw ointment sounds fantastic. I saw a snippet about it on TV the other night. Thanks for the tip about the tube rather than the pot!
:)
Sharon
er, that should have been a "slice of Alison's lime"!
ReplyDeleteGolly, my inner proof-reader is really falling down on the job this morning! LOL
;)
Sharon
Fabulous post, Sharon. I love reading about medical history. Just been reading about breast cancer through the ages and the birth of anasthetics. Fascinating but sobering!
ReplyDeleteHi, Sharon! I'm so late (and soooo envious of your writers' retreat!).
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of paw paw, my mother used to boil the leaves in water and make me drink the tincture when I was a teenager. It had the most appalling, bitter taste, but its cleansing action cleared up zits like magic!
Oh, goodness, yes, Zana! Aren't we so lucky with the sophisticated anaesthetics available today. Before they were perfected, anaesthesia was quite risky... and before that again... well, you had to grit your teeth and be held down. (shudder)!
ReplyDelete:-O
Sharon
Vanessa, how interesting about your mum's homemade zits solution! It looks like paw paw really is a magic plant! Let's face it, when we were teens, ANYTHING was better than zits!
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever mum!
:)
Sharon
Sharon,
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother had a pile of old magazines under a bed. I used to pour over them looking at the old meds and things to make you beautiful in 1910. Humans are still trying to improve on the same old things.
Susan
Forgot to say, I love the title 'The Man Behind the Badge', Sharon! Congrats on its release -- I'm really looking forward to reading it!!
ReplyDeleteI remember the good old hydrogen peroxide, used to love watching it foam up. Think it's still available in some chemists etc?
ReplyDeleteHi Susan, aren't old magazines fun to read! Those 1910 magazines must have been fabulous - and just think how many things that have changed since then... and how many others have stayed the same! 100 years have passed since those mags were first picked up and eagerly scanned for beauty tips and you're so right that we pick up our magazines today to do the same thing.
ReplyDelete:)
Sharon
Hey, thanks, Emily! It's an interesting title for a medical, isn't it? Not a hint of antiseptic anywhere!
ReplyDelete:D
Sharon
Yes, indeed, Mel, you can still get peroxide at the chemist! It was rather fun to watch it fizz and bubble, wasn't it! LOL
ReplyDelete:)
Sharon