"Girlhood vigor" is equated with a healthy stomach in this 1912 advertisement for a medicine called Psychine, from the Toronto Telegram.At the bottom of the ad (which is too dark to see here) it reads "Psychine regulates and strengthens the stomach and is an unfailing remedy for all disorders of the throat, lungs and chest. All druggists and stores, 50c."
Psychine was also billed as an appetite stimulant and general cure for being run-down: "There is Life in Every Dose." Nature may indeed say "Stop" but perhaps nature really meant for women to take a few breaks now and then - not another medicine.
Having said that, the lady in the ad does seem to have at least one maid, so I am not sure why she is quite so run-down.
Psychine was manufactured by a Dr. T.A. Slocum, and had been around at least since the 1880s. Samuel Hopkins Adams wrote in 1906, in The Great American Fraud, that Psychine was 16% alcohol, with a bit of strychnine (!) "so that the patient would get his money's worth; and it was colored red with cochineal.
Adams noted that Slocum had a $5 package deal wherein you could get Psychine and several other of his medicines. Adams notes that though the medicines were supposed to "snatch you from the jaws of death," it was no use to charge Slocum with fraud because Slocum himself was dead.
SOURCES
The Medical World (vol. 3, Roy Jackson pub., 1885), p. 252 [A letter to the editor asks for the formula for Psychine; the editor said he didn't know, but would be glad to publish any "reliable information" if he got it.]
Another letter to the editor of Medical Brief (1888, p. 363) asks for the formula for Psychine - and also for the instructions for making "soda foam" and "Milk Shake" (I can only imagine what sort of concoction they were going to make!)
Adams, Samuel Hopkins. The Great American Fraud (New York, 1906), pp. 49-50. See link here for excerpts, re Psychine. This book is available at Internet Archive, too.
Another ad for Psychine here at The Olden Times.
A Psychine bottle for sale on EBay, with the uplifting motto "Hope is the Anchor of the Soul."
14 comments:
Strychnine??? Oh my goodness...would surely be a shame should you overdose on Dr. Feelgood's medicinal "pick me up".
Chin up, wheelchair lady. You ain't got nothin' a little alkyhol, poison and squershed up bugs can't fix!
Psychine? Who was coming up with these dreadful names?
Gee, I wonder if it was the Psychine killed Dr. Slocum?
Can you imagine the poison people used to drink for their health? Unreal. I put you in this week's Sunday Silliness.
Judy - Yes, I can't imagine it could be any good for anyone.
Heather - That's right! No wonder she looks so pleased.
Frogs in my Formula - I kind of like the name Psychine, it sounds psychedelic...
Me-Me - I wondered that too, I think old Sam was implying that.
ettarose - Oh, yes, there were all kinds of awful medicines... And thank you, I will go check out the Sunday Silliness right now.
Lordy! You gotta love the old "remedies". I'm an occasional collector of old medicinal tins nad bottles and I have some great ones but nothing as great as Psychine!
What a great find! Thanks for sharing! :o)
Lol! I meant "and" NOT "nad". I think it was the Psychine fumes!
Tara - I love the old tins and bottles too, but only have a couple (no medicinal ones though)...ANd I just found an amazing book on Internet Archive from the 1870s, full of info about bizarre patent medicines. So more to come! :)
Got a great book on Aussie "kills or cures" quackery, I should hunt it out and see how much nonsense travelled the globe LOL.
Perhaps it was the maid who took the Psychine, the better to be able to push the lady around. She'd need the vigor of girlhood for that.
Jayne - That sounds like a very cool book!
A. - That is an excellent point! The maid definitely needs her strength, from the look of things.
Here's an ad I found for Psychine, where the user claims it gave him "the luckiest day of my life." - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbcurio/3379382021/
Jamie - Thank you, that is a gem! I am going to write you a little e mail asking to use it...
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