Who remembers tincture of merthiolate?

Remember it - - - - I STILL have a few bottles from the 50's laying around! They still sell it on Amazon I believe.

If I close my eyes I can still remember it burning when my mother applied it to a cut. YEOWWW!!!
 
I was a "very active" child and had the dreaded merthiolate/merchurichrome used on me many times. Still have a pain twinge thinking about it.
 
DRAWING SALVE

Was a coal tar based ointment used to draw out "stuff" for boils etc. It worked well as does most stuff with coal tar in it (dandruff shampoos mostly today). We used it as a main ingredient back in the day when pharmacies would make their own creams/ointments etc. it's called compounding & although still done today, it's not anywhere near as common. Not sure if it is still taught in Pharmacy school, any students/interns? I did high bar in school gymnastics & skin tears on your hands were common & could stop a practice. The best fix was tincture of merthiolate (the red fire) after the burn the skin would be dry enough to sand down the rough edges & do it again in app 24 hrs, or so.
 
We're talking the 1950s, aren't we, not the 1750s? Really odd, so many 20th Century advances in medicine: antibiotics, X-rays, and yet the treatments for everyday injuries when we were kids were so primeval.

BTW, anyone remember the polio scare and inoculation campaign of the 1950s? Absolutely terrifying, those pictures of people in iron lungs.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
 
They pulled all that mercury based stuff..but not too soon. That stuff was brutal.

Years ago, I had a co-worker pass out after getting the treatment to treat a deep, ugly cut on his finger. Man that was funny (to us, not to him)...mister tuff guy started gasping and rolling his eyes...down he went! Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.:D
Took him to the emergency too.

Even funnier...his gigantic comb over came undone during the episode. :eek::D:eek::D:D:D Oh man!!! (I'm crying with laughter) He looked like a 60's bombshell with a half a hairdo.
Well, that stuff had a double purpose that day!
 
arjay said:
I remember taking a vaccine on a sugar cube
Click to expand...

Sugar cube!!?? Not in my neck of the woods. Back then, the needles were so big they would do a dinosaur proud. I remember how thrilled we were when the Sabin vaccine came out: a little paper cup with a cherry flavored liquid. 'Bye Dr. Salk, it's been real!

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

P.S. Carter's Little Liver Pills, anyone?
 
I learned to apply merthiolate and a bandaid to my own little wounds about the time I graduated kindergarten. Yeah, it stung a little, but that was nothing compared to getting a shot of penicillin with the thick, dull hypodermic needles of the day.
 
I remember all the red death stuff. Most of the summer and fall I had red fingers knees and elbows. If we had a wound that might be infected we got to soak in salts water and then black salve and a bandage. that salve would soak thru and look gross.

Anyone remember Red Rose Salve, pink and sweet smelling, good for any first aid need.

My dad used tobacco juice and dirt to draw out bee stingers.
 
I think I remember getting the polio vaccine three times,,,
I am positive at least twice.

The first was a needle,,, after that, thankfully,,, the sugar cube.

It was almost like an annual event,,, :confused:

All the kids went to a public Pittsburgh High School,,, (I was about 6,, IIRC)
We lived in the county,, our parents took us to the city for the vaccine.

Could you imagine getting parents to ALL do this on one Saturday,,, today??

Oh, yea,,, My Ma used a LOT of that red stuff,,, the rusty stuff I played with,,, Hmmmm,,
it is probably the only reason I am alive today,,,
 
My mom used iodine in the early 60's and in the late 60's neosporine. And then butterfly stiches made with surgical tape on the deep wounds.Then we where back off to the yard to play.
 
My mom's parents lived in the hills, everything was back to basics. If you had a cut you got raw turpentine poured in or on it, that was the real deal turpentine distilled from raw pine...which by the way is where the term "cracker" comes from. For scrapes and such after the turpentine you might get a gob of bag balm rubbed into it, it was used to help a cow's udders that were gettin chapped. If you had a sore throat you got to gargle with warm water and a little dose of horse liniment in it. If you was draggin around and not feelin like goin outside to play you needed a physic, which was a double dose of castor oil which would clean you out like a white tornado. I can remember draggin around grandmas place, she said "go outside and play", I said "I don't feel like going outside grandma.", grandma said "OH, I guess you need a physic." To which I responded while headin for the door "No thanks grandma I feel much better already." When we was home mom had access to all the modern remedies like methiolate, I do remember it stingin but it didn't hold a candle to raw turpentine. I jammed a sliced willow staub through my foot after grandpa told me not to run in the crick bottom without my shoes on account of the road crews cutting willow sticks to mark the road in winter while plowin. I walked home with my shoes on blood coming out the shoes, grandpa said "running in the crick without them shoes I see." I said "Yessir." Grandpa takes me out on the porch with grandma and says "Mom you hold him down while I pour this turpentine in the hole in his foot." I can remember it like yesterday, he'd pour that liquid fire through the hole then work it a little, pour a little more, work it through until he was satisfied. For bandades all they did was wrap a piece of old bed sheet over the wound.
My favorite was when you had a fever, grandma would wrap you all up in blankets and sit you by the wood stove, then she would get a little china cup and put some honey in it, some butter, a dose of whisky and some hot water that was always in the kettle on the stove, then you would sip the magic elixer of life, fall asleep and wake up soaked in your own sweat, if you weren't up to snuff you got a repeat but most times you was ready for a good fight.
 
Most anyone who grew up in the 1940s and 1950s knew about Merthiolate. I haven't seen it for a long time, probably considered lethal to human life today. My mother's favorite "wonder drug" was Bag Balm, which is still available. She used it on any and all wounds, rashes, and burns. It was a salve similar to Vaseline that dairy farmers used on sore cow and goat udders. It came in a cube-shaped steel can.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

the ringo kid
  • Locked
Here's the scoop getting you LTC in Texas.
2 3 4
Replies
61
Views
7K
Tinhack
Tinhack
geoff40
The man who didn't speak, a true story.
2
Replies
27
Views
1K
tomf52
T
500 Magnum Nut
  • Locked
  • Sticky
FAQ
Replies
0
Views
24K
500 Magnum Nut
500 Magnum Nut
W
To be a kid again
2
Replies
24
Views
999
TIMETRIPPER
T
BlackAgnes
Remembering Bob...
Replies
6
Views
1K
Old Seabee
O

Latest posts

Back
Top