History of the term patent medicine
The phrase patent medicine comes from the 17th century. The marketing of such medicine curried favor with royalty and were issued letters patented. Thus allowing them to use royal endorsements in advertising. These medicines weren't patented in the traditional sense, partly due to not wanting the public, and competitors to know the ingredients. Chemical patents didn't become available in the U.S. until 1925.
Patent medicines in America
By the middle of the 19th century, patent medicines were a major industry in America.
Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound was one of the most popular patent medicines during its heyday. The compound didn't contain any vegetables, but it did contain alcohol...18% of it was alcohol in fact.
Another popular medicine was Mrs. Winslows Soothing Syrup. First marketed in 1849 Soothing syrup was used to relieve the pain of teething in babies. Soothing syrup also contain opium and alcohol. People raved over soothing syrup. In a letter dated December 4, 1860 a mother wrote to the NY Times raving about how soothing syrup helped her baby sleep. That baby was lucky, a lot of babies died due to the deadly combination of opium and alcohol, and those that didn't die became addicted to opium. Hard to imagine I know.
Coca Cola,
which started out as a patent medicine contained cocaine at one point. This is a well known fact. Today, Coca Cola contains coca, however the Stepan company extracts the cocaine from the coca leaves and then sends the leaf to Coca Cola who in turn make Coca Cola. The active ingredient of the leaf or the Cocaine is then sold to a pharmaceutical firm, for medicinal purposes.
Cocaine was also one of the main ingredients of Cocaine Toothache Drops.
Cocaine was cheap! $0.15, and I'm sure it really did relieve toothaches. Cocaine after all does have a numbing effect. The end of an era
Although some patent medicines like Cocaine Toothache Drops listed the main ingredient on the label. Most didn't. Until 1906 and the Pure Food and Drug Act of America. It didn't ban illicit and licit drugs from patent medicines, it did however require them to list them in the ingredient list. In 1936, the act was revised to ban illicit and licit drugs from patent medicines.
Patent Medicines today
Believe it or not, some patent medicines still survive.
Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound still exist, it however does not contain alcohol like it did in the past. In Closing..
Patent medicines, especially those containing opium, cocaine or alcohol were highly addictive. Many people were addicted to them, and had no idea that they were addicted. Most didn't even have an idea that they were in fact drug abusers. On the other hand, patent medicines did bring some good to America. Because of patent medicines, we have the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Our food and drugs are safer.
Websites used:
www.google.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.nytimes.com
www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/coc03.htm
www.wonderlabs.com
www.drugstoremuseum.com
www.hagley.org
www.images.google.com
