I suppose it was cruising down memory lane in my tin bath that eventually brought me round to this topic. In my early childhood I was at various times 'dozed' with such delights as Fennings Fever Cure (which I rather liked), raspberry vinegar, Parrish's chemical food, Beecham's Powders, as well as being tortured by being made to wear Thermogene (a cross between a hair shirt and the poisonous, fiery shirt that poor old Hercules died in); I remember it got up your nose and made you sneeze violently, and non-stop, for hours on end. And then there was brimstone and treacle, and goose grease rubbed on your chest, though thankfully this horror never came my way, but Vick's vapour rub certainly did, rubbed just about everywhere and even stuffed up your nose!

When my dad came back from the War he 'invented' his own remedy for colds, a mixture of liquorice (Black Spanish I think we called it) and peppermint boiled up in a pan then poured into a variety of 'pop' bottles - and it was christened 'Popalol'. I don't think it cured many colds but it was quite a pleasant concoction...

I'm sure there were many other remedies and quack medicines that didn't come my way - Does anyone else remember being subjected to them?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

Current location (optional) Cottingham, East Yorkshire

Certainly remember Popalol! Every kid made it when I was at primary school. Your dad invented it? Respect!

Yes we all made 'Popalol' usually in an old medicine bottle with a cork.
Sloans Liniment is another old remedy for muscular problems. My Dad played Rugby League and I guess we had it because of that. We also were given Fennings if we had a temperature, it tasted awful !
I suppose as babies we were given 'Nurse Harveys' to make us burp.
Oh , and Camphorated Oil rubbed on our chests for congestion.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Such memories.
IF ONLY today's NHS clients would try some of these earthy remedies before besieging their GPs and A&E departments with petty injuries which we learnt how to treat in the Scouts and with soppy symptoms which were taken in hand by our parents using the remedies Doug describes !

A poster I recently saw on a health centre notice board read "A and E means Accident and Emergency not Anything and Everything".

My Mam administered Fennings Fever Cure for anything that made you out of sorts - and then off to bed. Taking a spoonful would set your teeth on edge and invisibly and uncomfortably coat your teeth. I read on the label that its main ingredient was Aqua Fortis. I was comfortable with this with my second year knowledge of Latin - it was "strong water". Not to be confused with aquae sulis (bath water). But Chemmy with Stoker in the third year raised my reluctance to take any more when we learnt that aqua fortis is HNO3!! I seem to remember Fenning's Powders - retailed in a single piece of folded paper which bore the dosage details etc. And there were Carter's (?) Little Lung Healers. Goodness knows what they were for. They were small pilules, not much larger in circumference that a bluebottle's dropping.

My Dad through the winter would drink Mather's Black Beer, mixed with hot,boiled water. Sometimes he would drink it with lemonade which mixture was then known as Sheffield Stout. On cold mornings before work he would take a raw egg with (I think) some spirit added.

Upset stomachs (either end) were doctored with Indian Brandee, an effective remedy when taken with hot water and sweetened. In my later years a preference for brandy and port wine has taken its place.

The currency of many of these remedies was owing to promotion by the local selling-out shop proprietor - along with Radio Luxemburg (remember Crook's Halibut Oil?) The doctor was reserved for more persistent symptoms not the first reddening of the gills.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Nirvana

My mother always had in the cupboard a small black waxy stick, wrapped in a waxy paper, which she used on splinters in the finger or other places, or boils etc. She would peel back the paper and heat the wax with a taper before applying it to the wound and then covering with a plaster. When the plaster came off in a couple of days, the wound was clean with the splinter, puss etc all gone and back to normal. Just amazing stuff and I have wished I had some of that stuff many times over the years. I'm fairly sure that she bought it from Vernon Daley, our local barber in Cross Roads but I haven't a clue as to it's name. Does it sound familiar to anyone on here?
Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1947-51

Current location (optional) Auckland,NZ

To avoid any risk of duplication check the "Cures, remedies and placebos" thread.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

After Christmas we were rubbed with goose grease and a piece of newspaper between vest and chest. I thought I was the only one so treated until we were told to stand up at school and there was a great rustling of newspaper in the room. Kaolin poultice for supperating wounds. Ipecac? My granny used to make cinder tea for indigestion , dropping a glowing cinder into a pot of water.My dad impaled himself on railings leaving a graveyard and went to his mum who slapped a handful of pig's lard on the wound in his stomach and wrapped his stomach with bed sheet. He was proud of his wound scar.
Our shop had a whole range of Parkinson's cures including senna leaves. I watched the movie ' The Mummy " with Karloff and watched as the high priest brewed some leaves and fed them to the mummy when it then woke. I went home and took out the senna leaves and made a brew and swallowed it. I knew then what moved the mummy.

After all, Arthur, it was a motion picture.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

Oh, by the way, ipecac was a formulation of ipecacuana. See at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipecac

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958-65

Current location (optional) Leeds

How about a spoonful of Vaseline to cure constipation?

Yes you have read this correctly, because as a child I (unbelievably)was encouraged to do this.

Current location (optional) Shipley

Terry, it was Carter's Little Liver Pills...

Doug

KW you mean orally or anally !

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

You're surely not suggesting it should be dug out with a greasy spoon?

Can you still buy "Andrews' Liver Salts"?

I also remember full size posters declaring the efficacy of "Beechams' Powders/Pills" and things called "Bile Beans", though I doubt they'd be targeted at kids.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958 - 65

Nobody has mentioned cod liver oil and malt, or for that matter, cod liver oil on its own.

I used to enjoy Andrews Liver SAlts as a fizzy drink!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958 - 61

Current location (optional) Blue Mountains, Australia via Haworth

I loved cod liver oil and malt. For me it was a dessert. I can close my eyes now and taste it.

Definitely orally Brian - I can still taste it after all these years!

Current location (optional) Shipley

This item had Mary and I digging out the potions from our childhood.Odd ones are still in use today such as Vick Vapour Rub which Mary swears by and I swear at !
Milk of Magnesia to clear your blood , a horrible glutinous white compound took a lot of getting down as did Syrup of Figs which was for constipation . That was foul stuff... For earache a sliced onion against the ear was all we had . I regularly had Goose Grease applied to my chest when I had a bad cough . It was pretty harmless. Usually the first stuff to be put on was Eucalyptus and Camphorated Oil rubbed on the chest and covered with a piece of flannel . For boils and stubborn splints there was the Antiphlogistine Poultice put on hot ,very painful.
As we had no antibiotics at the first sign of anything wrong we were packed off to bed and a fire was lit in the bedroom . I never ever went to a doctors surgery , not till I moved away to a village in Leicestershire at 16. throughout my childhood the doctors always came to the house and would come twice a day if they were worried about the patient . If we had a temperature we were starved for a few days and then allowed a boiled egg and bread and butter.
The Dentist was pretty brutal . once I had 13 teeth out in one go he used Gas for anaesthetic [Nitrous Oxide] I came round during the proceedings as he was whipping the last few out and the teeth were pinging against the window . I can see the room now .
The chief thing we had to avoid as kids was Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria and we were warned on going out to play to keep clear of the drains
When you read this you wonder how we ever survived .

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 43-46

Current location (optional) Tasmania

My mother used to make soap and sugar poultices for boils and splinters. They worked a charm for splinters, the next day, take it off and the splinter would fair fly out!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1958 - 61

Current location (optional) Blue Mountains, Australia via Haworth

Liquid Paraffin. Zubes. 69um

Yes Arthur, I forgot about the Liquid Paraffin. Mary however remembered,as they do! Flowers of Sulphur was also given to cleanse the blood .
Not a medicinal matter but how about the toothpaste of the time,Gibbs Dentifice , in a round flat tin with no sides . Sort of a communa.l thing and we shared it with the rest of the family ,rubbing a wet toothbrush in untill the stuff stuck to the bristles. Real hygienic stuff.

Current location (optional) Tasmania.