See Dr. Grace Feder Thompson's letter
appealing for patients, Dr. Pierce's
medical empire and Lydia
E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
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"Home
Treatment for Women,"
(aka "CARDUI Home
Treatment of Female Diseases"),
before 1920?
Chattanooga Medicine Company,
U.S.A.
Complete booklet, 64 pages plus
covers
Wikipedia says this about Black
Draught:
A black draught [draft,
meaning a gulp of liquid] was a
saline aperient [laxative]
mixture used, along with a blue
pill, as a purgative in the 19th
century and well into the early
part of the 20th century, with veterinarians
prescribing these to
constipated cattle and horses
[added emphasis in red
throughout].
Mrs.
Beeton's Book of Household
Management has this
recipe for a black draught:
2587. The Common Black
Draught.-- Infusion of senna 10
drachms; epsom salts 10 drachms;
tincture of senna, compound
tincture of cardamums, compound
spirit of lavender, of each 1
drachm. Families who make black
draught in quantity, and wish to
preserve it for some time
without spoiling, should add
about 2 drachms of spirits of
hartshorn to each pint of the
strained mixture, the use of
this drug being to prevent its
becoming mouldy or decomposed. A
simpler and equally efficacious
form of black draught is made by
infusing 1/2 oz. of Alexandrian
senna, 3 oz. of Epsom salts, and
2 drachms of bruised ginger and
coriander-seeds, for several
hours in a pint of boiling
water, straining the liquor, and
adding either 2 drachms of
sal-volatile or spirits of
hartshorn to the whole, and
giving 3 tablespoonfuls for a
dose to an adult.
'Black Draught' is also the
name of a once-common commercial
liquid syrup laxative, sold
since the late 1800's, a
cathartic medicine composed of a
blend of senna and magnesia.
Much like other castor oil, it
was a commonly used folk remedy
for many ailments.
A musical jingle for the
product was sung by a very young
Dolly
Parton: Smile from the
inside out smile from the inside
out Black Drought makes you
smile from the inside out.
(from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_draught)
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Below:
Pp. 32-33. Besides the Black
Draught - no, this is not about
drafting blacks into the army -
read the
interesting page about menopause
(at right), eskimos, and age at menarche.
Vegetable
compounds were popular in
this era, most especially Lydia E.
Pinkham's.
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Below:
Enlargement of the drawing, above:
I suspect we're seeing a drawing
of Lookout
Mountain,
a famous site near Chattanooga,
Tennessee, where the company had
its base.
Read an 1891 court
case about this medicine.
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