Tag: Historical remedies

In 1931, the U.S. government issued a judgment of condemnation against San Cura ointment, declaring the product to be misbranded and ordering its destruction. This historical event reveals that San Cura was not a reliable treatment, contrary to its advertisements that promised cures for numerous ailments.

Before antibiotics revolutionized medicine, a minor cut or a common infection like pneumonia could easily be fatal. What did humans do before antibiotics to combat illness? The answer lies in a combination of folk wisdom, herbal remedies, and medical practices that, in retrospect, were a mix of the helpful and the outright dangerous.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, millions of doses of an old black liquid medicine were consumed across America and Europe. The most famous version was Black Draught, a patent medicine used primarily as a potent laxative.