The Wood Library-Museum

The term “patent medicines” refers to "over-the-counter" preparations that generally were not patented, but trademarked. One of the most infamous of these was "Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup."   In 1845, druggists Jeremiah Curtis and Benjamin A. Perkins, of Bangor, Maine, partnered to manufacture this remedy.  The story goes that Mrs. Charlotte N. Winslow, Curtis’ mother-in-law, created the formula while she was a nurse caring for infants.  Like many of the patent medicines available at the time, its makers claimed it was a cure for teething pain and a number of other ills experienced by infants. Visually their advertising was attractive and often presented idyllic domestic images of mother and child.

Because the two primary ingredients in Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup were morphine and alcohol it is not surprising that the syrup relieved pain and diarrhea (a common side effect of all opioids is constipation). In an 1868 court summary, Curtis reported selling more than 1.5 million bottles of the remedy annually. Throughout the 1800s ingredients did not have to be listed on labels, and consumers were often unaware of the contents of the remedies they purchased. "Mrs. Winslow's" was denounced by the American Medical Association in 1911, but continued to be sold as late as 1930.