The Smith Sherlock Company Store- A Full Service Pharmacy?

 

 

Yesterday, while digitizing invoices to the Smith Sherlock Company Store, I came across this beauty. It provides a great look into early 1900s "over the counter" medicines.

About half of the items on this invoice are so-called “patent” medicines. Despite the name, most were not actually patented and many were of dubious medicinal value. They were proprietary remedies marketed under protected brand names, often directly to the public. Their ingredients and effectiveness varied widely and their advertising claims were frequently much more impressive than the medicines themselves. In many ways, the industry resembles today’s supplement market. 

Among the patent medicines on the invoice were Sanford Liver Invigorator, King’s New Discovery, King’s New Life Pills, DeWitt’s Kidney Pills, Doan’s Kidney Pills, and Dodd’s Kidney Pills. These were offered as remedies for coughs, colds, constipation, “biliousness,” sluggish livers, troublesome kidneys, and pretty much whatever else ailed you. 

“Biliousness” was a particularly interesting symptom. It obviously refers to bile and the liver and was a vague catch-all diagnosis that could include nausea, indigestion, constipation, headache, abdominal discomfort, poor appetite, and a general feeling of unwellness or irritability. These symptoms were commonly attributed to too much bile or a “sluggish” liver.

Looking at the range of symptoms these medicines claimed to address, including several that are commonly associated with hangovers, or so I am told, I was surprised that none claimed to be effective for treating that condition. I suppose that advertising and selling, or purchasing, a treatment for biliousness was more acceptable, especially given the growing temperance movement of the early twentieth century.

The invoice also lists strychnine in both 1-oz and 1/8th-oz bottles. This is too is interesting. Strychnine was commonly used by ranchers to kill coyotes and wolves; trappers added strychnine to their baits, and strychnine was used around homes and other buildings to control rodents. At very low doses, however, strychnine was also used by physicians as a stimulant, or tonic, and they prescribed it for a wide range of conditions. 

Used as a medicine, strychnine was given in extremely small doses, measured in fractions of a grain. A typical medicinal dose was about 1/40 of a grain, therefore, a single ounce of strychnine represented about 17,500 doses. This was enough to give several doses to every person in South Pass City and the surrounding area. The invoice includes a total of three ounces of strychnine. Given this amount, it seems likely that most, if not all, of the strychnine was intended for pest and predator control rather than human medicine.

Because strychnine acted as a stimulant, it was sometimes used as a performance-enhancing drug. In the 1904 Olympics, runner Thomas Hicks was given small doses of strychnine, along with egg white and brandy, by his handlers to ward off exhaustion. Hicks was the eventual winner of the marathon, although Fred Lorz had crossed the finish line before him. Lorz reportedly had abandoned the race, ridden some 11 miles in an automobile, and, after the car broke down, continued on foot toward the finish. He later maintained that he had done this as a joke and not as a serious attempt to steal the victory. Olympic officials failed to see the humor and disqualified him, giving the victory to Hicks. At the time, strychnine use was not considered doping and, thus, was not prohibited.