Comments on: Patent Medicines in the UK: Entrepreneurs Remain the Same and Sometimes the Products Aren’t That Different

By: dvnutrix

dvnutrix — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:00:36 +0000

Exactly. Much of the shame belongs in the UK even if some of the most spectacular showmen have been from the US: see the splendid Senator Le Blanc and Hadacol.

By: MedsVsTherapy

MedsVsTherapy — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:26:04 +0000

There is some U.S. / U.K. tension here. The patent medicine tradition came out of England, before there was a U.S. You have your own tradition of hucksters and medicine shows to be ashamed of; no need to point to the U.S. as the purveyors of patent meds.

By: dvnutrix

dvnutrix — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:33:35 +0000

It’s on the “to read” list but if you recommend it, then I shall move it up.

By: dvnutrix

dvnutrix — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:32:50 +0000

True but Kellogg was an American and we were collecting british enterpreneurs for various reasons. However, Ben Goldacre had a good segment on Kellogg in his radio serial, The Rise of the Lifestyle Nutritionists (prog. 1, iirc). And yes, em, corn flakes were probably a delightful health food at the time but as for other properties, we couldn't possibly comment.

By: John H

John H — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:08:08 +0000

The life of Kellog is also pretty noteworthy in this respect.

He allowed his strange views on sexuality to overflow into his views on diet.

Whilst corn flakes were probably a fairly healthy food at the time he mainly saw them as a means of preventing masturbation. Doesn’t seem to work in boarding schools and the military where the two go hand in hand (so to speak) !

By: Marge

Marge — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:30:41 +0000

Roy Porter’s “Quacks: Fakers and Charlatans in Medicine” is also worth a read, concentrating on the early modern period.

By: dvnutrix

dvnutrix — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:13:33 +0000

Morison was credited with several phrases involving humbug in the OED.

I haven’t read any of Roy Porter’s work on patent medicines or secret remedies from the Middle Ages onwards but they are probably quite eye-opening.

By: tifosi246

tifosi246 — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:19:42 +0000

Thanks for this. Fascinating how Holford, McKeith and co are simply re-treads of Morison and others. Not that they’d know it, of course, because that would require some research and above interest in what other people might have done so that you a) don’t repeat their mistakes and b) don’t claim to have invented things like GI diets when the literature shows you beaten to it. Integrity, bah, humbug!

The efforts of the early patent medicine promoters clearly laid the groundwork for ready public acceptance of Holford’s bad science. With a debt like that, I’ll look out for a dedication to Morison in the next Holford opus.