OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

214091 James Thompson <jdthompsonca@s...> 2011‑02‑23 Re: RE: cleaning oilstones
Modern medicines have transformed the world. In my lifetime I have
seen vaccines, antibiotics, and anesthetics, among other things,
invented or discovered. When I was a child, ether was the anesthetic
available, and penicillin the only antibiotic. So patent medicines
were pretty much your only choices. If you got better, then the
medicine must have worked. If you didn't get better, you must have
taken the wrong medicine.

Coal oil (kerosene) was a very popular remedy for a lot of ailments,
both internal and external.

Since vaccines were unheard of except for smallpox, children under 6
were taken to visit with other children who had contagious diseases so
they could catch the disease and develop immunity to those diseases,
mumps, measles, etc. If you got all the childhood diseases before you
started school, then you wouldn't have to miss school because of these
diseases. It made perfect sense back then. I had them all. I don't
recall anybody dying of the childhood diseases, but now everyone is
convinced that these are deadly. Maybe they are.

On Feb 23, 2011, at 12:12 PM, Mike Siemsen wrote:

> Sleep is a potent healer. The drugs killed the pain or coughing or
> whatever so you could get a decent nights sleep. It wasn't that long
> ago that codeine was in over the counter cough medicine. Many of them
> contain alcohol. My old man gave us blackberry brandy for it's
> curative powers, and he could have some too! Mike
>> On 02/23/2011 12:11 PM, scott grandstaff wrote: OK, old patent
>> medicines,... just get me started !!!!
>>>>  The three most popular ingredients in nearly all of them,
>>>>  including
>> The Great - Dr Kilmers - Kidney Liver and Bladder Cure - Specific!!
>>>> (one dollar a bottle, folks, just one dollar for the perfect
>>>> preparation of secretly guarded ingredients guaranteed to cure
>>>> ......) Were alcohol, opium and laxative.
>> Notably senna or calomel. About 4 hours in the outhouse worth.
>>>>>> Mrs Winslows Soothing Syrup for Teething Infants.......
>> was loaded with alcohol and opium (also known as laudanum)
>>>> The thing was, people didn't really have all that much that
>>>> actually worked to a strong effect.
>>  Aspirin and quinine didn't come along until the 1880's. So old time
>>  herbs and spices, not very effective but old time trusted, and the
>>  big three, made up almost all of them.
>>>> They wouldn't really cure you of anything, but they seldom killed
>>>> you either, and when you drank them?
>>  something definitely did happen.
>>>> Happy tonight, busy tomorrow yours Scott
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Recent Bios FAQ