Small circular glass vial of Carter's Little Liver Pills with red paper label that surrounds the vial; the label contains the price, manufacturing information, title, amount, uses, and directions printed in black ink; inside the vial are two small, round cream-coloured pills; the vial is stoppered …
Small circular glass vial of Carter's Little Liver Pills with red paper label that surrounds the vial; the label contains the price, manufacturing information, title, amount, uses, and directions printed in black ink; inside the vial are two small, round cream-coloured pills; the vial is stoppered with a small cork at the neck end of the vial.
Date based on the year of the Proprietary or Patent Medicine Act (1908) and Carter's Little Liver Pills were renamed Carter's Little PIlls in 1959
Material
glass: clear
paper: tan
ink: red, black
cork: tan
pills: cream
Inscriptions
Printed on paper label: "No. 4490 PROPRIETARY // OR PATENT MEDICINE ACT // CARTER'S // LITTLE // LIVER // PILLS //. REGISTERED // TRADE MARK // FOR // HEADACHE // DIZZINESS // BAD BREATH // DUE TO // CONSTIPATION // Directions for Adults:- 1 to 2 Pills after each // meal and at bedtime. For Occassional Consti- // pation 2 to 4 Pills at bedtime. // Dose pour Adultes:- 1 a 2 Pilules apres chaque // repas et le soir au coucher. Pour Constipation // Passagere 2 a 4 Pilules le soir au coucher. // Price // 25 Cents // CARTER PRODUCTS, INC. // TORONTO, CANADA // 40 // PILLS // MADE IN CANADA".
Carter's Little Liver Pills were developed in 1868 by Samuel J. Carter from Erie, Pennsylvania.
In 1959, the United States Federal Trade Commission forced Carter's Little Liver Pills to undergo a name change after it was found around 1943 that the pills had nothing to do with the liver. After this, they became simply "Carter's Little Pills", and spawned a saying popular in the American South "He has more ___ than Carter has little pills" (the saying previously went "more than Carter has little liver pills").
Carter's Little Liver Pills were often advertised as a cure-all; a remedy for distress from dyspepsia, indigestion, and too hearty eating, and a remedy for dizziness, nausea, drowsiness, bad taste in the mouth, coated tongue, pain in the side; they regulate the bowels and prevent constipation and piles.
In 1911, the ingredients of Carter's Little Liver Pills were listed in the British Medical Journal as sugar, grain, aloes (Barbados), podophyllin, powdered licorice root, wheat starch.
Today, Carter's Little Pills still exist, and the ingredients are bisacodyl USP 5 mg, calcium phosphate, calcium sulfate, carnauba wax, cellulose, gelatin, kaolin, magnesium stearate, methacrylic acid copolymer, polyethylene glycol pregelatinized starch, silicon dioxide, sucrose, talc, titanium dioxide, and white wax.
Another mucilaginous herb that helps to soothe inflammation, licorice root is great for all sorts of coughs. Its mucilaginous properties make it great for dry irritated membranes, while it's also a natural expectorant, making it great for helping rid a wet productive cough of all the phlegm. Licorice root is also used in many syrups to help sweeten the flavor due to some of the bitter tasting herbs that many syrups contain.