More than often in the last few weeks I came across images of interesting remedies of back in the day. I thought to share a few below. These psychoactive medicines and other products were widely available during the late-19th century through the mid-20th century. I guess in those times, if it is legal and can do the job, why not!

A bottle of Bayer’s ‘Heroin’

The German drug company Bayer named its new over the counter drug “Heroin” in 1895. It was most importantly developed as a morphine substitute for cough suppressants, that did not have morphine’s addictive side-effects.

Vin Mariani (Coca Wine)

As the name goes, Coca Wine was an alcoholic beverage that is wine and cocaine combined. Mariani wine (1875) was the most famous Coca Wine of its time. Apparently Pope Leo XIII used to carry one bottle with him all the time and he awarded Angelo Mariani (the producer) with a Vatican gold medal.

Metcalf’s Coca Wine

Metcalf’s Coca Wine was another cocaine-containing wine available on the market. All claimed medicinal effects, although they were undoubtedly consumed for their sociable value as well.

Maltine with Coca Wine

This coca wine was made by the Maltine Manufacturing Company (New York). The dosage indicated on the back of the bottle reads: “A wine glass full with, or immediately after, meals. Children in proportion.” The malt extract was taken for its health-promoting effects and alcohol, as considered by many, for its medicinal effects.

Cocaine Tablets

Cocaine-containing throat lozenges, “indispensable for singers, teachers, and public speakers“. This box of lozenges is from a Belgium pharmacy (c. 1900). Local pharmacies often bought their drugs in bulk and packaged them for consumers under their own labels. Sure thing for maximum performance!

Cocaine Toothache Drops

The design of the packaging, from around 1885, indicates that it was not just popular with adults, but kids was the target market too. They required no prescription and was indeed “For sale by all druggists”.

A paper weight

This paperweight is an advertisement for C.F. Boehringer & Soehne (Mannheim, Germany); largest makers in the world of quinine and cocaine. This chemical manufacturer was proud of its leading position in the world’s cocaine market.

Opium for Asthma

The National Vaporizer Vapor-OL (opium) Treatment no. 6 was a cure for asthma. The liquid went into a small metal dish on a kerosene lamp that is heated. It was basically a way of smoking opium.

Stickney and Poor’s Pure Paregoric

Stickney & Poor Spice Company’s main trade was mustard. But they also had other items on their list, for example Paregoric syrup. It consist of camphorated 46% alcohol with 1.8 grains opium (117 mg) per fluid ounce (equivalent to around 11.7 mg morphine). Doses for infants, children and adults are given on the back of the bottle. Perfect recipe to knock anyone out that has trouble sleeping!

Interesting how we moved from all of that to Herbal Remedies…

After reading David Airey’s blog post about his URL ABC, I decided to make a list of my own. I typed a letter in my browser’s address bar and made a list of the first URL of the typed letter that appears.

A: allrecipes.co.uk At this website, just list the ingredients that you have in your kitchen and you get a few recipes!

B: bronzeage.co.uk This is the static version of the website – I am still working on the final version to go live soon!

C: culturepicture.com My colleague’s MA final project at St Martins in London.

D: downloadfestival.co.uk I am a big fan of this annual festival in the UK – I try to stay on top of the news and line up…

E: ebay.co.uk One of those things…

F: facebook.com Also one of those things…

G: gumtree.co.uk Received a message from @cyberdees to have a look at the new design – very nice indeed!

H: hsbc.co.uk Need to keep an eye on things.

I: istockphoto.com To buy reasonable priced royalty-free stock photography, vector illustrations, stock video footage, audio tracks and Flash files.

J: justincline.com Graphic and web designer from Denver, Colorado. I really like his website and his work.

K: kreestal.fr I have always wanted to speak French, but for now I just look at the illustrations.

L: linkedin.com My Linkedin profile.

M: michaelkelleyphotos.com A photographer from Los Angeles with a great website and photograpy with a twist.

N: national.co.uk I had to get a tyre sorted out. A website with a lot of useful information.

O: o2.co.uk My mobile service provider. Up till recently they were the only company in the UK where you can get an iPhone.

P: paypal.com Things are so much easier with PayPal.

Q: qualityxhtml.com I do have a Q.

R: raileasy.co.uk Booked a train ticket to go visit my brother in Basingstoke, UK.

S: semblance.co.za That would be me.

T: twitter.com Before I follow someone I like to have a look at their Twitter page first.

U: usabilitypost.com Interesting articles about good design practices.

V: very.co.uk An online department store – I now and again find a gem here.

W: wordpress.org Probably the most popular blogging and CMS platform.

X: xe.com My favourite universal currency converter (they have a nifty iPhone application too!).

Y: youthedesigner.com I was reading the blog post: 30 Clever Coaster Designs.

Z: zeldman.com Jeffrey Zeldman’s blog, focusing on web design news.

This was a nice recap of the pages I have been browsing lately.
Perhaps I should start a round of graphic design tennis…