The elixir of death rather than life

Press, 12 February 1986, Page 23

The elixir of death rather than life

From the Royal N.Z. College of General Practitioners.

The first episode of the television drama, “Hanlon,” brought to mind a small medicine bottle found in the nineteenth century rubbish dump at Skippers, Central Otago. The bottle was embossed with the words “Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup.”

A week or two after the “Hanlon” episode, we were in Dunedin Public Library looking up the arrival of ancestors when the following advertisement in the “Otago Witness” of September 16, 1897 caught the eye.— "ADVICE TO MOTHERS! — Are you broken in your rest by a sick child suffering with the pain of cutting teeth? Go at once to a chemist and get a bottle of MRS WINSLOW’S SOOTHING SYRUP. It will relieve the poor sufferer immediately. It is perfectly harmless and pleasant to the taste; it produces natural quite sleep, by relieving the child from pain; and the little cherub awakes “as bright as a button.” It sooths the child, it softens the gums, allays all pain, relieves wind, regulates the bowels, and is the best known remedy for dysentery and diarrhoea whether arising from teething or other causes. MRS WINSLOW’S SOOTHING SYRUP is sold by

DOCTOR’S ADVICE

medicine-dealers everywhere at Is per bottle. What a bargain it must have been. Why, my patients keep asking me, don’t we have one medicine that will do practically everything, like we used to have when we were young? The history of over-the-counter medicines is not illustrious. By the 1870 s there were more than 40,000 such products for sale in the United States and a good number of them found their way to New Zealand, if the collections of antique bottle enthusiasts can be regarded as representative. But all too many of them contained opium derivatives, like laudanum, and caused the addiction of farmers and miners trying to cure ingrowing toenails and gout.

Medicine shows boosted sales of many nostrums. The lone touring “doctor,” with his wagon of elixir bottles gave way to such extravaganzas as the Kickapoo Indian Show, owned and operated by the Kickapoo Medicine Company, which bottled so-called secret tribal and herbal remedies, and achieved such world-wide popularity that they even toured Australasia.

The fame of many of the “cures” spread: among many, the Perry Davis pain killer contained 52 per cent alcohol.

It was in June, 1895, that the case of Regina v. Dean was tried in the Lower Court in Invercargill.

Morphine had been found in the body of one of the babies, and it was admitted that Minnie Dean had obtained a supply of laudanum. A Mr Froggatt, a chemist, of Bluff, gave evidence that Mrs Dean had asked for sixpence worth of laudanum, and Froggatt had guessed the quantity and bottled it on the spot.

A. C. Hanlon argued that an overdose had been accidentally administered —- and a Dr McLeod admitted that he .knew of laudanum being used to stop crying in children, and to induce sleep. Mrs Winslow’s elixir

was manufactured by the Anglo-American Drug Company. It contained a lot of laudanum, so it was small wonder that it could cure diarrhoea and cause the little cherubs to sleep so well.

In fact some slept too well. A number of infant deaths in the United States after administration of the syrup triggered a clamour for reform, and the United States Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1897 forced quack doctors into drastic control of opium and alcohol content of their medicines, and forced many into bankruptcy. Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup was responsible for the deaths of babies, yet it was also responsible for enlightened legislation that has lead to the strict control of the safety of drugs and medicines that we enjoy today.

Wool record A pastoral house, Primac, has negotiated a world record wool price at the Sydney wool sales. The buyer, Mr John Devereux, of J. B. Devereux and Company, Ltd, Sydney, paid 17,650 c a kilo for one bale of Super E wool from a Primac client, A. S. and P. Hundy, of Windradeen, Pyramul, near Mudgee. Mr Devereux said that it was the choicest wool bale ever produced in the world. Approval Bendon Industries, Ltd, has received the approval of the Examiner of Commercial Practices to acquire 100 per cent of another listed clothing manufacturer, John Webster, Ltd. Consent The Examiner of Commercial Practices has given a Wellington-based investor, Charter Corp, Ltd, consent to acquire 100 per cent of Fleur Group, Ltd, shareholding.