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Patent Medicine:

The words "patent medicine" refer to products that were marketed, mostly in the 19th century, as medicines that would cure a host of diseases. Many of the diseases which these medicines were supposed to cure are still not curable today -cancer and diabetes, for example.

They were called "patent" medicines because in mid- 18th century England, some producers of medical preparations applied for, and obtained, Royal Patents for their products. The patents protected the owners' rights to the products and gave some prestige to the medicines. Robert Turlington was one of the very first to receive a Royal Patent for his "Balsam of Life". Later on, the term patent medicine was applied to any of this type of product, whether patented or not.

Why did people buy these products? They promised health in a bottle to a population desperate for cures. This is simplified, obviously - but, going to your general store and purchasing a prepared medicine was a lot easier and a lot more pleasant than going to a doctor and having him perform bloodletting!

M any of the patent medicines contained alcohol (many of them were almost entirely alcoholic) and narcotics (such as morphine, cocaine and opium). These products certainly made the patient feel better for a time, but ran quite a bit short of their claims of being wonder cures for diseases ranging from the common cold to tuberculosis.

The federal legislation of the early 20th century, both in the US and Canada, in which manufacturers could not make false promises about their products, and had to list the ingredients in their bottles and pill boxes, served to bring about the near death of the entire industry. Some products did, however, continue to be sold well into the 1950s and beyond. Some of them are still available today, but in greatly altered form.

To learn more about two specific patent medicines, click on Vegetable Wars or Halls Catarrh Cure now.
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