Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs

by Bethard, Wayne

• ISBN13: 9781570984327
• ISBN10: 1570984328
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-06-01
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Pub

Summary

This light hearted look includes an authoritative Frontier Materia Medica list of common drugs. dates they were in use, doses, and idiosyncrasies. The author's outstanding collection of bottle labels, advertising art, and rare photographs of medicine shows round out this colorful survey of America's medicinal past.

Author Biography

A pharmacist by trade and author by design, Wayne Bethard is Texas's truest drugstore cowboy. He's a certified, full-blooded, registered, and still-practicing pharmacist who makes his home in Longview, Texas

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Frontier Dosage Forms	p. 5
The Wets	p. 6
The Mineral Acids	p. 6
The Vegetable Acids	p. 6
Tars, Paints, Swabs, and Other Disgusting Taints	p. 7
Astringents, Expectorants, Tinctures and Fluidextracts, Bitters, Blisters, Tonics, Waters, and Wines	p. 10
Medicinal Waters and Wines	p. 15
Lotions and Emulsions	p. 16
Pastes, Ointments, Poultices, Plasters, Oils, Liniments, Fats, Salves, and Rubs	p. 17
The Drys	p. 20
Medicinal Folded "Powders"	p. 20
Pills	p. 22
Cachets	p. 24
Solid and Semisolid Extracts	p. 26
Effervescents	p. 26
Sprinkle Powders, Sugartits, Talcs, and Insufflates	p. 26
Lozenges, Troches, and Pastilles	p. 27
Suppositories	p. 27
Treatments: The Good, the Sad, and the Ungodly	p. 29
Frontier Viagra	p. 29
Mamoides' Aphorisms	p. 30
Miss Clare: La Yegua	p. 31
Sofie Herzog: The "Bullet Surgeon"	p. 34
Bad Medicine	p. 37
An Uneasy Dose to Swallow: The Story of Sergeant Charles Floyd	p. 40
Diathermy: The Story of Harry Eaton Stewart, M.D.	p. 46
Have a Seat: Ben Franklin's "Electised" Experiment	p. 49
Ben Franklin's Famous "Turpentine Pill"	p. 50
Awe Shucks	p. 52
Have a Real Drink, Son	p. 55
A Bizarre Brassiere	p. 61
An Apron Full of Gut	p. 63
Cuff's Bluff: "By Gawd, He's a Girl!"	p. 66
There's a Tear in My Beer, Dear	p. 69
Rats!	p. 71
America's First "Lady" Doctor	p. 74
Barefoot and Pregnant--for a Long, Long Time	p. 77
Wound Sucking on the Sly	p. 77
Saving Grace	p. 79
Give Me a Break	p. 81
A House of Pain	p. 82
The Hair Shirt	p. 85
A True, Inside Glance at Indigestion	p. 87
Bloodletting	p. 88
The Worms Crawl In ...	p. 90
Who's There?	p. 98
Water Cures	p. 100
Abraham's Blue Pills	p. 110
The Snake Oil Legacies	p. 112
The Perry Davis Painkillers	p. 118
Dear Lydia	p. 119
Frontier and Pioneer Drugs: A Folk Materia Medica	p. 123
Aconite (1762-1960)	p. 124
Alum (1750 to date)	p. 125
Angostura (1824 to date)	p. 125
Anise Oil (1500 to date)	p. 126
Apple Cider Vinegar (3000 B.C. to date)	p. 126
Arsenic (3000 B.C.-1920)	p. 128
Asafetida (1753-1960)	p. 128
Aspirin (1897 to date)	p. 129
Bamboo	p. 130
Barbed Wire and Horseshoe Nails (1753 to date)	p. 131
Barley (1753 to date)	p. 132
Bat Crap (Guano)	p. 133
Beeswax (300 B.C. to date)	p. 133
Belladonna (1504 to date)	p. 134
Benzoin (1300 to date)	p. 134
Bezoars	p. 135
Black Pepper (1753 to date)	p. 137
Boneset (88 B.C. to date)	p. 138
Borax (10 A.D. to date)	p. 139
Buchu (1842 to date)	p. 140
Buckeye (1753 to date)	p. 140
Burdock (1753 to date)	p. 141
Calamine (1740 to date)	p. 142
Camphor (1753 to date)	p. 142
Carbolic Acid or Phenol (1867 to date)	p. 143
Cascara Sagrada (1894 to date)	p. 143
Castor Oil (1800 to date)	p. 144
Chalk (1753 to date)	p. 146
Chamomile (1753 to date)	p. 147
Charcoal (1753 to date)	p. 147
Chaulmoogra Oil (1826-1955)	p. 148
Chloral (1832 to date)	p. 149
Chloroform (1831 to date)	p. 150
Chokeberry	p. 151
Cinnamon (78 B.C. to date)	p. 151
Clove Oil (1753 to date)	p. 152
Coal Oil (Kerosene) (1753 to date)	p. 153
Coca-Cola (1886 to date)	p. 153
Cocoa Butter (1863 to date)	p. 154
Cod Liver Oil (1851 to date)	p. 154
Columba (1753 to date)	p. 155
Copper (2600 B.C. to date)	p. 155
Corn Silk (1700 to date)	p. 157
Cotton	p. 158
Cow's Milk Colostrum	p. 158
Cream of Tartar (1753 to date)	p. 158
Creosote (1842 to date)	p. 159
Croton Oil (1753-1947)	p. 159
Dandelion (1753 to date)	p. 160
Deer	p. 161
Deer Balls	p. 162
digitalis (1753 to date)	p. 163
Dirt	p. 164
Dogwood (1820 to date)	p. 166
Ephedrine (Ma Huang) (1898 to date)	p. 167
Epsom Salt (1753 to date)	p. 167
Ergot (1820-1947)	p. 168
Ether (1275 to date)	p. 168
Eucalyptus (1852 to date)	p. 169
Fennel (1820-1960)	p. 170
Figs (1820-1936)	p. 170
Flaxseed (2300 B.C. to date)	p. 171
Garlic (1820-1936)	p. 172
Gentian Root (1820 to date)	p. 172
Gentian Violet (1856 to date)	p. 173
Ginger (1100 A.D. to date)	p. 174
Gold (1595 to date)	p. 174
Goldenrod and Jimson Weed	p. 175
Hog Lard (1753-1960)	p. 176
Honeysuckle	p. 176
Horsetail	p. 177
Ichthammol	p. 177
Iodine	p. 178
Ipecac (1601 to date)	p. 178
Jalap (1753 to date)	p. 179
Juniper Tar (1753-1955)	p. 180
Kudzu	p. 180
Licorice-Glycyrrhiza (400 B.C. to date)	p. 180
Manure	p. 182
Mayapple (1820 to date)	p. 182
Mercury (3000 B.C. to date)	p. 183
Mesquite	p. 185
Milk	p. 186
Milk Thistle	p. 186
Nutgall (450 B.C. to 1955)	p. 186
Nux Vomica (1640-1989)	p. 187
Oak Bark (1753 to date)	p. 188
Olive Oil (1753 to date)	p. 188
Onion (1753 to date)	p. 188
Opium, Laudanum, Morphine, and Codeine	p. 188
Peppermint (400 B.C. to date)	p. 191
Persimmon	p. 191
Peruvian Bark (1753-1955)	p. 192
Pine (1753 to date)	p. 192
Pinkroot (1820-1926)	p. 193
Pokeweed (1820-1947)	p. 193
Pomegranate (1753-1936)	p. 194
Pond Lily	p. 194
Potash	p. 195
Prickly Pear Cactus	p. 195
Rock Candy	p. 197
Sage (1753-1950)	p. 198
Sarsaparilla (1500 to date)	p. 199
Sassafras (1512 to date)	p. 199
Senna (400 B.C. to date)	p. 200
Slippery Elm (1753 to date)	p. 200
Snakeroot (1753 to date)	p. 200
Stinging Nettle (1753 to date)	p. 201
Sulfur (1753 to date)	p. 201
Tickle Tongue (1820 to date)	p. 202
Tolu (1574 to date)	p. 203
Tulip Tree (1820-1882)	p. 203
Turpentine (1753-1968)	p. 204
Unicorn Horn (no dates--sorry)	p. 205
Urea	p. 205
Uva Ursi (1753 to date)	p. 206
Valerian (1753 to date)	p. 206
Witch Hazel	p. 207
Yucca	p. 207
Parting Doses	p. 208
Frontier Medical Dates and Other "Worthy of Note" Facts	p. 211
Old and Near-Forgotten Medical Terms	p. 217
References	p. 227
Index	p. 233
About the Author	p. 239
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