Wingate's "Sprucine" etc.

"The most reliable preparation yet introduced to the public..."









Ad in The Maritime Farmer and Co-operative Dairyman, Volume 13

Publisher R.D. Robinson Pub. Feb. 11 1908, p.203

Title A Social History of Medicines in the Twentieth Century: To Be Taken Three Times a Day

Authors John Crellin, Dennis B Worthen

Edition illustrated, reprint

Publisher CRC Press, 2004

ISBN 0789018454, 9780789018458

Length 340 pages, p.70



"Almanacs" were popular vehicles for drug companies to present their potions in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The information below was taken from p. 34 Wingate's 1903 Almanac as archived at Archive.org

In the absence of scientific data, consumers had to rely on word of mouth. Until 1906 drug companies were not required to list proportions of their ingredients--or even any ingredients at all! The only thing customers had to go on were "testimonials." Here are two for Sprucine from the same page as above: