A Deep Dive into the Deadly World of Victorian Patent Medicine

In the Victorian era, a deadly and unorganized medical system bred an even more deadly and unregulated world of patent medicines filled with high proof alcohol, dangerous narcotics, and more. So why were these medicines so popular, and why did they run wild? Come learn with me!

I'm on TikTok @ kazrowe

Filmed using:
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Sources

The Influence of Victorian ‘Patent Medicines’ on the Development of Early 20th Century Medical Practice by F. Charles Tring

The Patent Medicines Industry in Georgian England: Constructing the Market by the Potency of Print by Alan Mackintosh

The Pharmacology of Nineteenth-Century Patent Medicines by J. Worth Estes

Nervous Women and Noble Savages: The Romanticized “Other” in Nineteenth-Century US Patent Medicine Advertising by JANE MARCELLUS

The Commodity Culture of Victorian England: Advertising and Spectacle, 1851-1914 by Thomas Richards

The Mighty Healer: Thomas Holloway's Victorian Patent Medicine Empire by Verity Holloway

British Patent Medicines: “Injurious Rubbish”? By Lori Loeb

From Cure-alls to Calcium Tablets: A Comparative Semiotic Analysis of Advertisements for 19th and 20th Century Patent Medicines and Contemporary Dietary Supplements by Karin A. Albrecht

Patent medicines and the public's health. By J Parascandola

Secret remedies : what they cost and what they contain by British Medical Association

Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones: The American Medicine Show By Ann Anderson

The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris

[squeakybb]

I love how Victorian medicine is the equivalent of a kid making a potion in their bathroom sink with random bathroom products. Except instead of toothpaste and body wash its heroin and alcohol 😂

[jenniferedwards]

I'm an archaeologist in Illinois. A few years back we found a patent medicine bottle on a late 19th century site that still had some left in it. We had it chemically analyzed. The results were... interesting. Lots of alcohol, cannabis, a bit of opium, and laudanum.

[jons]

Remember, if you wouldn’t fall for a scam, it’s because you are not their target. Too many cruel and privileged people scoff at victims of scams for being “dumb”, when in reality they are desperate. And preying on the desperate is evil.

[Crowski]

Sad that this view on women hasn’t changed much in the medical world.
Women’s pain and concerns are often brushed off at “anxiety” or “menstrual pains.”

many times I’ve had male doctors tell me I’m fine and it’s in my head just to find out later something actually was wrong.

[joseybryant]

"Female weakness" is one of the most 19th century terms I've read in quite a while.

[TheHunterGracchus]

Fun fact: my great-grandmother Lydia Pinkham Grant was related to Lydia Pinkham, the patent medicine entrepreneur and one of the first fabulously wealthy women in American history. Unfortunately, the relation was not close enough for any of that patent medicine money to come down to my family. Nonetheless, I remain eternally grateful for the piece of Portland glass that Lydia Pinkham Grant owned and came to me as a wedding present.

[bayleypair]

I have a chronic illness and the doctors haven’t helped much at all, so my parents signed up for an MLM claiming to essentially be a “cure all”. They want me to sell it and are upset that I refuse to. Patent medicines are def still a thing, just with a new name. 😢 be safe out there folks❤

[censusgary]

What used to be called patent medicines are now marketed as “herbal supplements.” Through a loophole in FDA regulations, “dietary supplements” are not regulated as drugs, even though medicinal claims are typically made for them.

[Morbos]

I really appreciated you setting the stage in the beginning by telling us about the state of "legitimate" medicine at the time. I knew it was awful back then but I never directly connected it to the proliferation of quack medicine and patent medicine. Makes total sense why an average person would try snake oil, but I never thought about it before!

[queerengineer]

I just realized the commonality between someone shouting from the back of a crowd like “yes I used that it works!” And everyone believing them to an influencer posting a video going “yes I used it it works!” To everyone and them believing it lmao

[NopeScope]

I work in a nursing home; a lot of our ladies are 100, 101, and were born in the 1920's era. The amount of information dawning on me right now is fabulous and insane. To think that their parents and grandparents going through the majority of all the craziness-

[adrienne]

It’s so rough hearing all this horrible misogyny around “female trouble” but at the same time I am in the process of getting a hysterectomy because my periods are so bad that I will indeed fall to the ground insensate, half conscious, with a scream of agony when it’s that time of the month 😂

[cosmiccod]

The ending bit of this still existing today hits hard for me tbh. My maternal grandma desperately needs knee surgery, it’s something everyone has noticed: her ex-husband, her current husband, my paternal grandma, cousins, etc

But she’s so distrustful of the medical system that she refuses to seek any medical help, only seeking “natural remedies” As a disabled person myself, it’s hard for me to blame her, the medical system is messed up. But she desperately needs it and all of us have been trying to support and convince her to take that step

It’s such a complicated and messy issue and makes me all the more angry that it still happens, especially when you see someone you really care about get stuck in the rabbit hole. So the compassion side of this and how it’s still prevalent today is something I appreciate and was very glad you brought up

[whitalleys]

When I was a kid my grandma fell for the order on TV herbal remedies scams. She ended up very sick from taking what amounted to vitamins and herbs and ended up in immune system failure. Luckily she was able to be treated at University of Michigan Hospital and lived, but her chances were very low.
When Kaz says “although natural, not innocuous” it’s so very true.

[That_One_Xatu]

One of my favorite media depictions of patent medicine is in RDR: Undead Nightmare, when you meet this snakeoil salesman (who's also in the main game) who's selling what he calls a "zombie repellent" miracle elixer. It actually attracts zombies instead.

[RSBurgener]

My grandmother told me a story about how her father passed away from a "wooden" tooth implant that replaced one of his front teeth. This was in the midwest in the late 20's. That story never made much sense to me. But with this context, that story is absolutely understandable. He probably fell victim to a quack dentist.

[taylorslade]

These medicine shows didn't end, their form has just evolved. Where we once had a traveling circus type of setup, we now have The Dr's and Dr Oz, syndicated across the country.

[maladypond]

Another great and informative look into the past!

Also, "Dr K Rowe's Magic And Not Poisonous Healing Oil" would be great as a water bottle!

[shwarmi]

i really liked this video!! as a disabled person with disabled friends, there are also a ton of able-bodied loved ones around us who become the victims of these quacks in attempts to cure us-- even if we already have life-sustaining medication perscribed to us. one of the things i really loved about "The Owl House" was how it addressed the topic, but also didn't at all villainize or fully victimize Eda and Lilith's mother who had been similarly conned (the "didn't fully victimize" is an important wording since their mother took away the girls' medicine (without telling them or asking for consent!) that helped mitigate the symptoms of their magic-chronic-illness. BUT the episode also didn't make her the villain since she too had been conned into thinking this act had been the right thing to do, and instead had the quack of a con-man be the episode's real villain), since disabled people's problems are often over-looked and the media usually brands us as tragic "I'd be better off dead" characters (im still so glad to this day a friend warned me about "Be Before You" ending in the disabled romantic-lead comitting suicide as part of the plot) or as inspiration porn but only as inspiration for able-bodied people specifically. The Owl House was really refreshing in that sense! (i would like to shout out that the youtuber Oakwyrm has some great analysis of that episode and others' about using allegory for disability representation, the goods, bads, and Joanne Rowling *ugly shudder*)

what you talked about here is a problem that's been rampant on tiktok (such as the infamous pink sauce, I think MatPat made an episode about it on his food theory channel) in addition to pre-existing with disabled people. it was really wise of you to bring up the parallels in history repeating itself from then and now! im extremely impressed and definitely going to leave a Like. thank you so much for such a well-polished and eloquent essay ♡

[blanket]

Kaz-
I think you would deeply enjoy looking into the history of cocktails, something you touched on breifly in this video. It’s an insane rabbit hole that combines Victorian medicine and New Orleanian counter culture of the time, as that was where they began. It’s super fascinating because they were considered medicine, it’s like imagining what if in an alternate universe it was normalized to order codiene or benedryl with your dinner, but instead it was cocktails that caught on. It’s super interesting stuff. During prohibition, restaurants would pose as part time pharmacies to continue creating them.