Of Weeds, Cures and Big Pharma?

 

 

 If you guessed....                                  Butterfly Weed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assignee:        Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

 

Location: New Brunswick, NJ

No. of patents: 93

Patents..  

 

 

 

 

 

7265101     Butterfly weed...   (Pleurisy Root)

 

 

 

 

 

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Mary008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Mary008

Have you guessed the name of a weed type plant ?

 

 

 

hi... good guess..   Fletchers is a very old product.    and I recall  a saying ...  That child has more tales than Carter's has Liver Pills...

 

 

 

Product history

 

 

On May 12, 1868, the United States Patent Office granted a patent to Dr. Samuel Pitcher (1824-1907) of Barnstable, Massachusetts, for a cathartic composed of senna, sodium bicarbonate, essence of wintergreen, taraxicum, sugar and water.[1]

 

 

The remedy was initially sold under the name Pitcher's Castoria. Over time the product formula has changed.

 

 

 

In 1871, The Centaur Company was formed by Charles Henry Fletcher to purchase the rights to and manufacture Pitcher's Castoria. It was renamed Fletcher's Castoria.

Castoria was the subject of one of the most significant campaigns in early mass advertising.

 

 

Castoria ads from the 1870s through 1920s are still visible today (or at least were between the 1970s and 2005) on the buildings of New York. See [2] and [3] for photos. At the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, there were Castoria ads on virtually every blank wall in sight. They are quite visible in images of the opening of the bridge.[4]

 

 

 

There were two "Fletcher's Castoria" B-17 Flying Fortress bombers during World War II, both part of the 100th Bomber Group. The first was lost, but the crew survived. The second survived the war. Its pilot was William H. Fletcher (not a descendant of Charles Henry Fletcher), hence its name.

 

wikipedia

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Advert for Carter's Little Liver Pills...

 

 

The Late 1800s: Carter's Little Liver Pills

Carter-Wallace's roots can be traced back to the 1800s and a modest pill compounded by an Erie, Pennsylvania doctor for folks suffering from digestive distress. 'Carter's Little Liver Pills' first were advertised by a sign placed in Dr. John Samuel Carter's pharmacy window, but the pills' popularity soon spread beyond the capacity of the pharmacy's back room.

In its first year of business, the company spent a third of its revenues on advertising. Coupled with all the other start-up expenses, plus the move to New York, the first year ended in the red, but belief in the product remained strong.

 

 

 

 

Mary008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You are lucky...we only had to survive being coated with Vicks :)

 

 

and the answer to...

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a longer description of it's healing powers... from  as early as the...seventh century.

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Remedies across Arabia: Descriptions of petroleum's healing powers

 

date from 2000 years ago,

although its traditional medicinal use is probably much older.

Oil-and-water baths were supposed to strengthen the body.

 

Ointments of bitumen and other chemicals were often applied to sores or broken bones.

 

Other petroleum preparations acted as antidotes to poison, fumigants, disinfectants or
laxatives.

 

The Book of the Powers of Remedies, a medical text prepared by Masarjawah, a

 

prominent physician living in Basra, Iraq,

 

during the seventh century,

 

 

 

described the benefits of ingesting oil for fighting disease and infection.

Masarjawah wrote: "Warm naphtha, especially water-white naphtha, when ingested in
small doses, is excellent for suppressing cough, for asthma, bladder discomfort and
arthritis."

 

 

 

The All-Encompassing Dictionary states, "The best grade of naphtha is the water-white. It is a good solvent, a diluent and an expectorant. Taken internally, it relieves cramps and aches of the belly, and, when applied topically, it can soothe skin rashes and infections."

 

 

 

Vicks VapoRub, a nasal decongestant, cough suppressant and topical analgesic, contains petrolatum, and other salves, suppositories and cosmetic products also benefit from the consistency contributed by petrolatums.

 

 

Did you know?

Akkadian clay tablets from about 2200 BC referred to crude oil as naptu, from which derives the root of the Arabic naft.

Petroleum is used today in homeopathic medicine to treat motion sickness, eczema and

 

other skin problems, nausea and diarrhea.

 

 

 

source

 

 

 

 

 

Mary008

 I wonder what they were eating back then...

 

 

 

 

 

 

He Lived in a Mansion. 

 

(a popular Tonic)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kilmer's Swamp Root; unspecified roots found in swamps had remarkable effects on the kidneys, according to its literature.

Until the twentieth century alcohol was the most controversial ingredient; for it was widely recognised that the "medicines" could continue to be sold for their alleged curative properties even in prohibition states and counties. Many of the medicines were in fact liqueurs of various sorts, flavoured with herbs said to have medicinal properties. Peruna was a famous "Prohibition tonic," weighing in at around 18% grain alcohol.

 

 

 

 

This fellow Dr. S. Andral Kilmer was not a fictional character but a pretty smart character. 

 

His nephew,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Willis Sharpe Kilmer

(October 18, 1869 - July 12, 1940),

son of Jonas M. Kilmer and Julia E. Sharpe, was a marketing pioneer, newspaperman,
...he attended Cornell University for several years until 1880. Kilmer was perhaps best known for advertising and promoting his Uncle's Swamp Root formula

until it became a household name.

Dr. S. Andral Kilmer invented the formula

and invited his brother Jonas to run the business end of the company in 1881.

Jonas, operating out of the six story Kilmer building, at Chenango & Lewis Streets in Binghamton, NY, would later buy out his brother and bring in his son Willis to handle the marketing and advertising.

Swamp Root was never advertised as a cure all.

From the beginning it was sold as a specific tonic and advertised as

"The Great Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root Kidney, Liver, & Bladder Cure."

He was extensively involved in real estate, owning a family mansion in Binghamton, New York, the twelve story Press Building in downtown Binghamton, where he ran the The Binghamton Press Co., considered the official newspaper for the City of Binghamton, and three racing stables and estates: Sun Briar Court in Binghamton, Court Manor in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and Remlik, on the banks of Virginia's Rappahannock River. Kilmer's private yacht Remlik was purchased by the US Navy during World War I and converted into the USS Remlik, the name being Kilmer spelled backwards. Kilmer died in 1940 from pneumonia having amassed a fortune of some $15 million, mostly from the sale of the patent medicine Swamp Root tonic, which is still for sale today.

[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
wickipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting Bio and old photos

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Mary008