Patent Medicine Evolution: No Beer? ‘Let Them Drink Sarsaparilla’

Criminalia

Shondaland Audio and iHeartPodcasts

True Crime, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many patent medicines may have done more harm than good -- or at the very least, nothing at all -- and we’ve been talking about a good many of them so far this season. Ingredients in patent medicines were unregulated and manufacturers weren’t required to list ingredients on the label. Most didn’t help your problem, but there were several products that originated in that era that we still use to this day, believe it or not, although these modern versions typically don’t include exactly the same ingredients as their predecessors – which is often a good thing – and many are no longer claim to be cure-alls – which, too, is a good thing. Let’s talk about a few of those patent medicine products that have persisted over the years.

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0:29.2	Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with I Heart Radio. Many patent medicines may have done more harm than good or at the very least nothing at all
0:50.8	and we've been talking about a good many of them so far this season.
0:55.0	Ingredients in patent medicines were unregulated, and manufacturers weren't required to list ingredients on their labels.
1:04.0	Products could contain anything from deadly arsenic to narcotics and alcohol
1:09.0	or things as benign as vegetables and water. Most patent medicines didn't help your problem, but there were several
1:17.0	products that originated in that era that we still use to this day, believe it or not, although these modern versions typically don't include
1:25.8	exactly the same ingredients as their predecessors, which is often a good thing.
1:31.3	And many no longer claim to be cure-alls, which, too, is a good thing.
1:37.0	Let's talk about a few of those patent medicine products that have persisted over the years.
1:42.0	Welcome to Criminalea.
1:43.7	I'm Maria Tremarki.
1:45.5	And I'm Holly Fry.
1:47.1	Let's take, for instance, J Maurice Treener,
1:50.4	head chemist at the Dr. Miles Medical Company in Elkhart, Indiana.
	...

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