Who remembers tincture of merthiolate?

[Iggy]

Used Bactine for mosquito and deer fly bites.

Winter of 79 I had the softest hands in the country.. I was spreading bag balm on the teats of 101 range cows with snow-burned bags morning and afternoon.

Put the cow in a squeeze chute, wipe the bag balm off before allowing hungry calf at the cow. Bag Balm don't taste good.

Then keeping her from kicking off calf off because they were sore.

Then wipe the slobber off and treat her again.

 

[soFlaNative]

Anyone remember Atomic Balm?
;My wife slopped some on the small of my back like she was whitewashing a wall.
The excess went south and I did a headstand in the shower.

 

[kthom]

I grew up during the years most all of this stuff was in use and being administered. Can still see the small pox scar on my upper left arm. The Bag Balm was a standby around our place. We operated a dry land farm and a dairy, very small by today's standards but fairly good sized for the time. The dairy made us a living when it didn't rain. We used it regularly in the milk barn and in the house as well. It contains Lanolin which is why it works so well. But it didn't rub in and go away anytime soon either ... it left your hands or skin a bit greasy. I usually applied it at bedtime and by morning things were much softer. I, for one, am glad this stuff is still available. It's good stuff. I guess all the rest was good too. If nothing else, it probably increased our natural immunity and resistance to lots of the things we are "protected" from today by big brother. Glad some of that stuff is not available today. How I ever survived the creosote dip that we sprayed in the roost in the chicken house to keep the bug critters at bay is a wonder!! The fumes from that stuff would take the hide off your face, and no telling what it did to the tissue in your airway and lungs!!

 

[mtgianni]

Any one from that time remember washing up for dinner with Phisohex? That stuff was so bad it got yanked off the market back in the 60's...

It was actually reserved for hospital use. Cleaned so deep it happened to have some ingredients that the do gooders hated. Tough to find something that really cleanses a wound today for home use.

 

[rwsmith]

I was on the cusp.....

Born in 1955, had Merthiolate when small but I think we switched to Mercurochrome. I really liked it because touching the scrape with the glass rod thingy hurt more than the Mercurochrome did.

Now they tell you not put anything on cuts and abrasions. Just clean it and keep it covered for a few days.

If you get in a fight and your face beat up in an Ernest Hemingway book, merthiolate was the way to go for real men. Nobody ever used 'Mercurochrome'. That was for sissies. However, Harry felt that he should have put either one on the scratch on his leg, because he got gangrene and died.

Merthiolate is the same thing as thiomersal, the preservative they put in vaccines that parents go nuts about because it's made from mercury. It used to be in everything, but now it's only in certain vaccines. The reason they started using it was because back in the 1920 a bunch of kids died from staph after they were injected with a vaccine during a test trial.

Part of the reason the stuff burned was because the 'tincture' was dissolved in alcohol. Might as well have been lemon juice.

 

[wbraswell]

I remember it just like that. The merthiolate and mercurochrome, BFI and Bactine. I have the scar on my arm and remember taking the sugar cube. But, of course back then, we didn't have vaccines for measles, mumps and chicken pox. Went through them in my grade school days. Had my tonsils taken out when I was 5. It was a cold cruel world back then. When I was 3-5 years old, and I was in the car, I stood up in the front seat between my parents. I wish I could find a product like BFI now. Since I take Plavix, if I knick myself shaving, it bleeds for an hour and a half.

 

[Jim R]

Anyone remember Atomic Balm?
;My wife slopped some on the small of my back like she was whitewashing a wall.
The excess went south and I did a headstand in the shower.

Had some stuff call "Heat" it was in a bottle with a swab on a wire stem (sort of like liquid Ben Gay). Had some poured on my back (no need to brush it on) it was very cold a first and I jerked up just enough to get it to run down my back and way to far south. I scooted around like a dog with worms for an hour. No amount of anything would cool it off.

 

[red14]

I remember when I was a little kid back in the day, probably my biggest fear was the first aid treatment of childhood wounds i.e., cuts, scrapes, concrete rash, etc. The popular remedy in my house was the dreaded tincture of merthiolate, and when my dad uttered those words, in my mind he was sending me to the electric chair. That stuff burned like acid, and the resulting red badge of honor it left behind would be on my skin for days.
Thank God Mercurichrome came along----same red badge of honor, but no burn.
I know many of you remember this stuff!!

Ray

Mom used it on my Athlete's foot. WOW! That really burned.

 

[e3mrk]

We had a great Family Doctor,He loved to use Iodine on just about everything.
He once told My Mother when I had the Measles to put My Brothers in the same Room with Me so We would all be sick at the same time and get it over with.Gotta love the Old School Doctors.

 

[Kinman]

I remember growing up with kids that had full blown crippling polio. One buddy of mine that had it hauled himself around on two crutches with his legs in braces. You never wanted Johnny to get ahold of you or within range of them crutches, he was wicked strong and tough as nails, played right along with us in the school yard, he was a killer marbles shooter. We got the sugar cube vaccine back in the mid to late 50's as I recall, somewhere between 3rd and 5th grade. I think I remember watching a film about it before we all lined up, it was a big deal and I agree that Dr. Salk deserves more praise than he was given. The Jr. high down the block from me is named after him.

 

[rwsmith]

You are more than right one that...

I remember growing up with kids that had full blown crippling polio. One buddy of mine that had it hauled himself around on two crutches with his legs in braces. You never wanted Johnny to get ahold of you or within range of them crutches, he was wicked strong and tough as nails, played right along with us in the school yard, he was a killer marbles shooter. We got the sugar cube vaccine back in the mid to late 50's as I recall, somewhere between 3rd and 5th grade. I think I remember watching a film about it before we all lined up, it was a big deal and I agree that Dr. Salk deserves more praise than he was given. The Jr. high down the block from me is named after him.

I think the only thing that competed with Dr. Salk's glory was that Sabin came out with the oral vaccine a few years later which proved effective and easy to take. (sugar cube). Polio was a terror disease. You just hoped and prayed your kid didn't get it. Remember how many people were in those BIG iron lungs because they couldn't breathe on their own? My best friend is just a little older than I am and the Salk shots were becoming more widespread when he got polio. His legs and hips are completely undeveloped.

The story about Salk and Sabin is a fascinating one, and even more fascinating is the story of the discovery of insulin. A guy that was so cocky he didn't take notes discovered how to purify insulin, BUT HE COULDN'T REMEMBER HOW HE DID IT. It had to be 'rediscovered' at a later time.

PS. My friend Steve (crutches and braces) was a good tennis player, used one crutch to get around on the court. Played basketball and football (the rule was that when he caught it he could drop the ball and run. We even rigged up a way for him to ride a bike, because he had a tiny bit of strength in one leg. We weighted the opposite pedal so he could just push down with one leg. We went for a couple miles over flat terrain and when we got back to his house he had to 'crash land' on the lawn. Today, he's still my best friend and we are in close contact. (He plays a mean game of chess). Oh, since I was on the track team we did sprints with him starting on the 50 yard line and me on the 100. With those odds I had to push like anything to catch and I'd usually win by about one inch.

 

[rspells]

When I was young ( 60 or so years ago ) I had many boils or risings that always seemed to respond to the application of the miracle drawing salve . Also remember xlax, finamint, and turpentine as well as the best of all methiliate . Once saw someone apply Blistsol to a bad case of jock itch , my advice is to never try that best I could tell it was probably more painful than methiliate !

 

[calmex]

Yes, sir. They can usually be found in the "Hispanic" medication section of your local drug store - at least in areas with a large Hispanic population. We called it monkey blood, too. Another home remedy I remember from when I was a kid was Percy Medicine. That was some nasty stuff for upset stomach. It is still available, too. Whenever we had diarrhea Mom would pick up some Infantol Pink. It was like Pepto Bismol, but it contained Opium. It is no longer available (for obvious reasons).

You are precisely correct. The stuff is absolutely "top end" down here. Every Drug Store carries it, everybody seems to have some. I keep a spray bottle of it on my desk.

When Civil Protection comes (yes, idiot bureaucracy is coming to Mexico) and asks as he reviews his checklist for your annual business permit (and again, yes, idiot bureaucracy is coming to Mexico):

1. Got a Fire Extinguisher? (So you show them.)
2. Is the prinicpal fire escape marked? (So you show them.)
3. Do you have "What to do" Earthquake and Fire warnings? (So you show them.)
4. Do you have all electrical boxes marked as High Voltage? (Again, you show them.)
5. Are all gas lines marked? (You explain you have no gas lines here.)
6. Do you have a complete First Aid Kit? ("Uh," you stammer, caught off-guard, "actually no, but I have this here bottle of spray Merthiaolate."

The inspector's eyes widen, and a smile creases his face.

You pass!!!

 

[DWalt]

The local Wal-Mart sells merthiolate. Label on the bottle says it does not contain Mercury, so it must be something different from the merthiolate that I grew up with.

 

[BearBio]

Remember powdered alum for shaving nicks?

My wife's (step)brother is about 10 or 12 years younger, so she basically grew up in an all-girl household (widowed mom and three sisters). I grew up in a household of three boys, all two or three years apart. The first time they met, my wife heard the classic cry of The Mom: "Get out of the living room and into the kitchen. You're bleeding on the carpet. Get in on the linoleum==it's easier to clean up!"