It is amazing today to go into a health food store and to see not only the varieties of foods they have for sale, but also the shelves and shelves of medicines and supplements which are available. Even our local pharmacies are like that, with more remedies than one could name for all kinds of ailments. I am a fan of our local KURM Radio, based in Rogers, and they frequently advertise for a medicine maker called Natural Solution Labs, based in Gravette. Natural Solutions makes arthritis pain relievers, such as Happy Joints and Happy Joints Ultra, also a product to support prostate health called Happy Prostate, a product called Glucose Health to promote good system mineral balance, and a product called Perfecal, a calcium supplement, to advance bone health and prevent osteoporosis. We are surrounded by remedies of all sorts, and I haven't even mentioned all the cures one can find on the Internet or by reading some of your SPAM emails.
Actually, though, it was not that different in the "old days." I think we have for long years had a multiplicity of cures available for "treating" almost any imaginable ailment. Of course some of the remedies were "quack remedies" back then, and that may not be too different today, especially if you look at the Internet-promoted "cures" for diabetes, cancer, bad eyesight, psoriasis, ED and so on, many of which claim to have the ultimate "cure" which the medical profession or the government supposedly doesn't want you to know about.
In the 1940s and 1950s, we had many traveling salesmen promoting various patent medicines and other products for the household. I remember the Raleigh man, selling products for the W.T. Raleigh Company, and the Watkins man, selling similar products for the J.R. Watkins Company. They had for sale various salves and creams and potions which were supposed to ease discomfort, heal cuts and bruises, and improve skin health, ease constipation and promote good digestion. They also sold several products for the kitchen, like vanilla extract, spices and other items to use in cooking. I don't recall just who sold Rosebud Salve, but that was a popular red salve with lots of uses in treating scratches, bites, bruises and irritations.
On the farm we had our own way of treating some of the common discomforts of life. We used coal oil to treat just about anything that hurt, or was bleeding, or just needed something to help it feel better. If we cut a finger or scraped a knee, we would go get the coal oil jug, and pour on some coal oil to clean the injury and ease the pain. If we accidentally hammered ourselves rather than hitting the nail on the head, or if we slammed the car door on our thumbnail, we went to the coal oil jug to soak the wound. Whether or not it helped speed the healing, at least it made us feel better about the whole situation.
I suppose that thousands of potions and tonics and purgatives have been invented to treat ailments like colds and flu and constipation. When I was growing up, we spend much of our time working outside, often in cold and wet weather, so we were always treating colds and respiratory congestion. We used lots of Vicks Salve and Ben Gay ointment. The odor from those seemed to help our breathing and made us feel some better. We rubbed Vicks all over our chests and throats, and put some in our nostrils so the camphor aroma would clear our breathing. At one time we even started rubbing Vicks on our feet, based on a theory that you catch a cold through your feet, so you need to treat it through your feet. I think we gave up on that idea after a while. I always liked to drink iced tea to ease a sore throat. We seemed always to have ExLax on hand for constipation, but we also used Phillips Milk of Magnesia, and other laxatives from time to time. Although we didn't use it ourselves, there used to be a popular product called Black Draught which was used as a purgative back in those earlier days of flushing out everybody's system. Even to this day my wife doesn't like Dr. Pepper because she says it tastes like that old Black Draught!
How many of us remember Hadacol and Geritol from the 1950s? Those were promoted as vitamin supplements. They also just happened to have about 12 percent alcohol, which considerably increased their popularity for a time. I think at least Geritol may still be available, but I am not hearing it advertised today.
We also had some good old wisdom sayings back in the day. One was, feed a cold and starve a fever. You probably wouldn't want to go too far with starving the fever. Another was, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." The problem was, we didn't always have apples. Also, these days you probably couldn't get the doctor to come to your house anyway. We read in the Bible to take a little wine for your stomach's sake; but we never kept anything alcoholic in the house, not even Hadacol. Take some chicken soup -- good for your digestion -- a good remedy for lots of ailments. Hot cocoa -- also good for almost any ailment. Eat a cracker and drink a bit of 7up for nausea. We didn't lack for remedies, way back then, although getting them to work didn't always work out just right.
•••
Editor's note: Jerry Nichols may be contacted by email at [email protected] or by phone at 479-621-1621.
Editorial on 04/27/2016