What were patent medicines?
The 19th century saw the rise of a major industry in the United States: patent medicines. Often containing alcohol and any number of other ingredients including opium, cocaine or morphine, patent medicines were rarely patented or trademarked. They were, however, frequently dangerous. Their narcotic content was higher than was safe and they were promoted even for infants and children. (1) People often resorted to patent medicines because they were cheap and they were unable to afford regular medicine, or because they did not trust traditional medicines or doctors. (2)
Patent medicine promotional materials became ubiquitous in the late 1800s, when advertisements for them were found in newspapers, almanacs, trading cards, billboards, horoscopes and weather forecasts. They were promoted as entertainment at traveling medicine shows. (1, 2) The patent medicine industry was a “multimillion dollar enterprise... using the general public’s fears, hopes, prejudices and other emotions and needs.” (3)
Starting in 1905, muckraking journalist Samuel Hopkins Collins produced 12 articles for Collier’s National Weekly magazine exposing the patent medicine industry in a series titled “The Great American Fraud.” (2) The following year another muckraker, Upton Sinclair, published his expose of the meat industry, The Jungle.
At the same time, Harvey Wiley, chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry, joined forces with pure food activist Alice Lakey to organize women’s clubs to support legislation to control patent medicines. (4, 5) In 1906, after a quarter century of attempts by WIley and others to regulate the food and drug industries, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drug Act. (6)
Patent medicine promotional materials became ubiquitous in the late 1800s, when advertisements for them were found in newspapers, almanacs, trading cards, billboards, horoscopes and weather forecasts. They were promoted as entertainment at traveling medicine shows. (1, 2) The patent medicine industry was a “multimillion dollar enterprise... using the general public’s fears, hopes, prejudices and other emotions and needs.” (3)
Starting in 1905, muckraking journalist Samuel Hopkins Collins produced 12 articles for Collier’s National Weekly magazine exposing the patent medicine industry in a series titled “The Great American Fraud.” (2) The following year another muckraker, Upton Sinclair, published his expose of the meat industry, The Jungle.
At the same time, Harvey Wiley, chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Chemistry, joined forces with pure food activist Alice Lakey to organize women’s clubs to support legislation to control patent medicines. (4, 5) In 1906, after a quarter century of attempts by WIley and others to regulate the food and drug industries, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Pure Food and Drug Act. (6)
Sources:
1.History of Patent Medicine. (n.d) Hagley Museum and Library. Retrieved from https://www.hagley.org/research/digital-exhibits/history-patent-medicine
2. Balm of America: Patent Medicine Collection. (n.d.) National Museum of American History. Retrieved from https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/balm-of-america-patent-medicine-collection/history
3. James Harvey Young. (1961). The Toadstool Millionaires: A Social History of Patent Medicines in America before Federal Regulation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
4. Ben Panko. (2017, Feb. 8). Where Did the FDA Come From, And What Does It Do? Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/origins-FDA-what-does-it-do-180962054
5. “Miss Alice Lakey Dead in Cranford.” (1935, June 19). New York Times. Retrieved from https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/06/19/95081679.html?pageNumber=19
6. When and Why was FDA formed? (n.d) Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-basics/when-and-why-was-fda-formed
2. Balm of America: Patent Medicine Collection. (n.d.) National Museum of American History. Retrieved from https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/balm-of-america-patent-medicine-collection/history
3. James Harvey Young. (1961). The Toadstool Millionaires: A Social History of Patent Medicines in America before Federal Regulation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
4. Ben Panko. (2017, Feb. 8). Where Did the FDA Come From, And What Does It Do? Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/origins-FDA-what-does-it-do-180962054
5. “Miss Alice Lakey Dead in Cranford.” (1935, June 19). New York Times. Retrieved from https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/06/19/95081679.html?pageNumber=19
6. When and Why was FDA formed? (n.d) Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-basics/when-and-why-was-fda-formed