"Patent" Medications Were Often Laced with Alcohol

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and before the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in the United States in 1906, many drugs were sold directly to consumers with no controls or information about their content. They were so-called patent medicines (which often were not patented, confusingly) and often they were heavily laced with alcohol. For example, Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound was 20 percent alcohol (40 proof), as was Hall's Tonic. In addition, syrups administered to sick or even teething children often contained alcohol or morphine (unbeknownst to the parents), and they were extremely dangerous and sometimes fatal for sick children. Manufacturers had no requirement to reveal any of the ingredients of their products, so if the product contained anything that might be objectionable to anyone (such as alcohol or narcotics), that information was not provided on the label or anywhere in advertisements.

Many women, including some members of the strident, anti-alcohol Woman's Christian Temperance Union, consumed Lydia Pinkham's remedy for just about any ailment they had. According to author John Parascandola, in 1904 the editor of the Ladies' Home Journal wrote to 50 Woman's Christian Temperance Union members to find out if any of them used any patent medicines. He discovered that 75 percent of them used patent medicines with an alcohol content ranging from 1/8 to 1/2. They were not hypocrites; they really did not know what was in their "medicine."

Parascandola says that alcohol was a common key ingredient in patent medicines that were called "bitters." For example, Hostetter's bitters included about 40 percent alcohol (80 proof) as well as some herbs. Ironically, Mr. Hostetter was allegedly a temperance supporter, but he rationalized that he needed to include alcohol as both a solvent and preservative.

Another popular potion, the Balm of Gilead, was 70 percent alcohol, and it was a remedy endorsed by some members of the clergy. (Again, it is highly unlikely that they were aware of the high alcohol content of the drug.)

The term "patent medicine" is associated with drug compounds in the 18th and 19th centuries, sold with colorful names and bogus claims of curing a universe of ailments.

In ancient times, such medicines were called nostrum remedium, "our remedy" in Latin, hence the name "nostrum." Also known as proprietary medicines,
these concoctions were, for the most part, trademarked medicines but not patented.

Patent medicines originally referred to medications whose ingredients had been granted government protection. But actually, the recipes of most 19th
century patent medicines were not patented. Most producers used ingredients quite similar to their competitors—vegetable extracts laced with ample
doses of alcohol. These proprietary, or "quack" medicines could be deadly, since there was no regulation on their ingredients. They were medicines withquestionable effectiveness whose contents were kept secret.