Dr. Grove’s anodyne was manufactured by Dr. M.F. Groves Son&Co., of Philadelphia, PA. It claimed, “to soothe and quit suffering babies, allaying pain and appeasing fretfulness when teething and in colic.” It contained 1/7 grain of morphine sulfate/ fl.oz. The labelk states “no narcotics”but that was not necessarily true. The bottle is unopened and contains a dark brown fluid. In addition to morphine, has 1% alcohol, carminatives, aromatics and antacids. Similar to Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, Grove’s Anodyne for Infants was a “patent medicine” sold via almanacs. According to a critic, “The ever-present patent medicine almanac in the local toilet served two purposes, one of which was advertising”. In 1917 the government charged the company that the “product was misbranded …falsely and fraudulently represented to be effective… to remove nervous irritation in children..”. In 1920 they fined the company $200. Description by Andrew Spielman.
Comments