Circus Liniment

3D Model

Circus Liniment was a typical Patent Medication sold without any regulation at the end of the 19th and early 20th century. Claimed to releive pain from rheumatism to chilblains, from burns to ringworms, in a word, everything. This bottle is 16 cm (5.5”) x 2 cm (3/4”) and was produced by J.H. LaPearl’s of the Williams Chemical Co. of Chicago. No composition is given on its label, but many contained (now) controlled subtances such as morphine or cocaine, dissolved in some organic solvent. By 1905 the AMA had enough. It convinced Congress to regulate such products. In 1906, Congress enacted The Pure Food and Drug Act and reinforced it with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, to stop unsubstantiated medicinal claims and control the use of addictive and dangerous substances. The modern-day use of social media to advertise quack medicine is in some ways even more brazen than selling patent medicine a century ago. Description provided by Andrew I Spielman.