CRUDE MEDICINES OF PAST ARE BASIS OF TODAY'S SOFT DRINKS - GO FIGURE

 MEDICINES ARE MERCHANDISE FOR  YOUR SICKNESS & THEIR     PROFITS - BEWARE

Our gullible society is always obsessed with their health. In the 1700 many smart pharmacists thrived on this need of the people. In the past people, eminent and otherwise often suffered from poor digestion. Sanitation practices were hit and miss even in the best kitchens. Fresh fruits and vegetables were unavailable in the off seasons. Well off people could eat vegetables preserved in salt and sugar, poor people did without. As for stress, work hours were long and usually physical. A typical workday was 12 hours and the work week was 6 days with only day of rest being Sunday. Many concoctions and pills were originally created as medicines.

In 1767 an English clergyman invented carbonated water and marketed it as man made natural mineral water. He falsely claimed that it was beneficial to drink for one’s health, and you can now see through his gimmick. 

In 1791 Johann Jacob Schweppes, a German watchmaker turned soft drink entrepreneur, began mixing carbonated water laced with quinine. This tonic water when mixed with Gin became a very popular drink throughout the British Empire. It helped solve the Malaria problem unknowingly.                          

In 1870 Dr. Thomas introduced Eclectric oil patent medicine. It could be used internally and externally. The secret concoction included spirits of turpentine, camphor, oil of tar, red thyme and fish oil. It claimed to cure tooth ache in 2 minutes, ear aches in 5 minutes and deafness in 3 days.                                 

In 1885 the first patent medicine was put on the market for our gullible public, who can be found in every part of the world at any point of timeline. It was Lydia Pinkham’s vegetable compound laced with alcohol which made it the subject of an efficacious drinking song, the ballad of Lydia Pinkham. Patent is actually a misnomer. To obtain an official government patent the manufacturer had to list ingredients on the bottle. Instead most patent medicine formulas were jealously guarded secrets, sometimes for good reason. It was another version of natural mineral waters considered to be beneficial to drink for one’s health. Millions of people were curious to find it out for themselves so they all tried it and many got hooked on to it for life and future generations.

In 1889 another trained pharmacist invented a sticky sweet beverage and sold it from Hood’s Drug stores in Lowell Mass. His mesmerizing slogan was “For that tired feeling take Hood’s.”  He also advertized in Globe and Mail a second slogan “Hood’s Sarsaparilla the surest way to have good blood.”

In 1890 a young enterprising George Taylor Fulford bought a patent medicine formula from a local doctor William Jackson for $50 and made it into a multi million dollar empire. The secret formula was mostly iron oxide and Epsom salts. These ingredients addressed two most common ailments of the time, anemia and constipation, but the advertisements claimed to cure everything. “Pink pills for pale people.” Fulford sold 40 pink pills for 50 cents a box. He thrived because he was lucky be in the days of reliable postal system and mass media of numerous dailies.

In 1900 many pharmacists created interesting concoctions initially marketed as medicines, and latter on became commodities of mass consumption.

In 1902 perhaps the greatest patent medicine turned soft drink success story is the tonic invented by John Pemberton. He was an ex-confederate soldier turned pharmacist who wanted to find a cure for the shattered nerves of ex-soldiers experiencing combat stress. Pemberton like many Civil War veterans had become addicted to morphine after being wounded in the battle. In Europe, a French chemist by the name of Angelo Mariani fortified Bordeaux wine with cocaine from cocoa leaves and marketed it under the name of Vin Mariani. Queen Victoria, Roman popes, and Thomas Edison were known fans of Mariani’s tonic, which of course inspired many imitators.  Pemberton supercharged Mariani’s formula by adding a strong dose of caffeine from coca pods and called his elixir Pemberton’s French Wine Coca. Although the cocaine was soon dropped from the formula, one of Pemberton’s business partners came up with a fresh and catchy brand name COCA-COLA. When this medicinal elixir failed to break through, Pemberton sold the formula to Asa Griggs Candler who switched his marketing slogan to target the young healthy urbanities, and rest is history.     

In 1906 the American congress passed the pure food and drug act requiring all drug manufacturers to be truthful in their advertising and to list all addictive ingredients on their labels. Ironically, Coco-Cola ran afoul of the new US law for not having cocaine in its drink as implied. The case was dismissed and Coke was allowed to remain cocaine free, but the caffeine is still there.

Now for some frightening concoctions that the gullible public has been a target of; Pesqui’s Uranium Wine was marketed to the public as a guaranteed cure for diabetes. The secret formula was Bordeaux wine and uranium nitrate. Dr. Batty’s cigarettes were marketed to people suffering from asthma, bad breath, and bronchial irritation. How paradoxical is this claim and no one saw through it. Then there was the Microbe killer that consisted of tap water, red wine, and trace amounts of sulphuric acid. This too was a success with the public.

In 1914 The Loyd manufacturing company of Albany, N.Y. advertised Cocaine Toothache Drops as an “instantaneous cure” for the teething children. It was sold over the counter drug.

In 1920 Seven Up was created as a hangover cure even during the height of prohibition. Seven Up’s slogan was “Take the outch out of the grouch.” It contained lithium citrate, a known mood stabilizing drug. The trend continues unabated with Red Bulls, Gatorades, and Vitamin waters. Today the health freaks and their industry are worth $ 50 billion a year for weight loss products and services alone because they have gullible customers to satisfy and deceive.

GARLIC & ONION ARE POTENT MEDICINES

We have been consuming these powerful items by using them as primary starting points in our daily cooking. It is much worse than consuming coke cola or any of the above drinks based upon crude medicines. Garlic cures many acute & chronic ailments, so why do we take it as food on a regular basis. The answer is ancient stone age beliefs handed down by our ignorant fore fathers. What we eat becomes a part of us, therefore why do we want toxic Garlic to be a part of us as toxicity. A large part of our population like Jains, Brahma Kumaris, Radhaswamis, & other learned people do not consume these foolish medicines, ever. Think before you eat it next time...

TOTAL CONFUSION & YOU ARE A PART OF THE DRAMA

In 2018 learned doctors are more of machines & pretty much confused. Lets us take up your scenario. If you were to fall sick suddenly & whisked to a hospital with just ONE malady to start with & where will you end is a different story. As soon as they finish examining you up, they will prescribe at least three medicines. Each one them has five side effects, therefore by the time you reach home you will be suffering from 15 side effects and the original malady, 16 in all. After four days you go to your learned doctor for your follow up exam. The doctor looks you up and now finds utterly confused which is the original malady out of the 16 effects, that your body is throwing up to him. Beware of the next set of medicines dear Ginny pig.  You are buying yourself into sickness, then you wonder what went wrong.

 MEDICAL WISDOM, HOSPITAL LITERATE

The human body is an island of billions and billions of bacteria, living together in harmony, multiplying, dying, and cooperating with each other. Sometimes fighting jointly against the intruders to kill and devour them, just to keep us alive a little longer.              

A cruise ship is also a floating island, moving slowly from point A to point B. Many times this ship gets infected by one sick person and the whole ship is contaminated with a particular kind of virus. Now, it has to be quarantined for long periods and fumigated to get rid of that virus.

PICK ONE: INFECTED SHIP OR INFESTED HOSPITAL!

I am asking you a simple question? Would you visit such an infected ship for just a short tour? I will additionally pay you $200 to go on this tour. Your answer would be a big NO!  Why may I ask? Obviously you are afraid of picking up the virus for yourself. You are a healthy person; your immune system is in good condition, disease free, and still not willing to take this risk. Subsequent question arises.  In sickness, why would you ever visit a hospital or a clinic, which has for sure hundreds of viruses and diseases? To top it all, you are not very healthy at that moment, and your internal immune system is down. Yet, you visit the hospital and many times get admitted into the hospital for some kind of treatment. What is your logic to visit a hospital in such a precarious condition? 

You surely catch a couple of germs and viruses and get further infected, instead of getting treated by the doctor. You are bound to die eventually. Of course we have statistics that prove this point. Innumerable deaths because of hospital related infections and errors on part of the staff and equipment's.

 


Rohit Khanna - IN-HUMAN