Dr. H. A. Tucker’s Diaphoretic No 59 Compound, was made by Dr. H. A Tucker of Brooklyn, NY and advertised as early as 1878. It claimed to cure “colic cramps, spasmodic affections, cholera, dysentery & summer complaints, sudden colds, coughs, fevers, ague, asthma, dyspepsia, heartburn, headache, ague in the face, toothache, neuralgia, rheumatic affections, bruises, sprains, wounds of all kinds, cold feet, chilblains, corns, burns, frost bites, numbness, paralysis, white swelling, felons, boils. ringworms, old sores, poison by ivy, dogwood, stings of bees and bites of poisonous insects &c”. Quite a list! In 1906 the US Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, a precursor of the FDA, to curb false advertisement and the use of controlled substances. The Company was fined several times for false advertisement in the 1910 and 1920s. Description provided by Andrew I Spielman
Comments