Cardboard matchbook (still has all matches) advertising Bromo-Seltzer for headaches; outside: colour chromolithograph with a facsimile of a bottle of Emerson's Bromo-Seltzer on a background of yellow, "spotlight" of red, outlined in blue; inside: matches have burgundy heads.
Cardboard matchbook (still has all matches) advertising Bromo-Seltzer for headaches; outside: colour chromolithograph with a facsimile of a bottle of Emerson's Bromo-Seltzer on a background of yellow, "spotlight" of red, outlined in blue; inside: matches have burgundy heads.
Number Of Parts
1
Provenance
Purchased by Dr. M. Chiong for his patent medicine collection, before July 15, 1995.
Product - before 1900; still around in 1957, possibly around since 1830's (use of advertising wagon); matchbook after 1906 because ad does not claim to be a cure, just for headaches (Pure Food & Drug Act, 1906)
Material
paper: blue; red; yellow
Inscriptions
"BROMO- // SELTZER // For // HEADACHE // EMERSON'S // BROMO-SELTZER // KEEP IN A DRY PLACE WELL COVERED"
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010-G Chiong Trade Cards Binder A
Dimension Notes
Length: 5.6 cm. x Width: 4.0 cm. x Depth: 1.2 cm.
Condition Remarks
A few stains from the ink both inside and out, and a couple of others just above the bottle on one side and the top "frame" on the other, perhaps from the chemicals on the matches? Obvious creases and soft edges
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Book
Reference Comments
"Nostrums and Quackery", p. 363; "The Great American Fraud" by Samuel Hopkins Adams, pp. 35, 38, 125, 182; "The Medical Messiahs" by James Harvey Young, pp. 193-194; "Remedies and Rackets" by James Cook, pp. 51, 138; "The Promise and the Product" by Margolin, Brichta & Brichta, pp. 67 & 109; "The Snake-Oil Syndrome" by A. Walker Bingham, pp. 9, 128, 143
Research Facts
Contains potassium bromide, acetanilid and caffeine; dangerous and a poisoning (1906), impotence (1906), death by acetanilid poisoning (1906), and another death in 1910 because of the dangerous acetanilid mixture; acetanilid is heart-depressing and addictive; by 1912 changed acetanilid to acetphenetedin which was basically the same thing, but less publicly known; still having a dangerous mixture of bromide and acetanilid, yet not giving sensible dosage instructions and cautions against overuse, the FDA seized them; the company changed its formula; in 1957 it contained acetanilid, sodium bromide, caffeine and sodium bicarbonate (headache AND hangover remedy now), but contained warning "If rash, drowsiness in daytime, or any unusual symptoms occur, discontinue use at once. Not for use by those having kidney or other disease, unless advised by physicians. Do not exceed recommended dosage; overly frequent and continuous use may result in serious effects." Acetanilid taken over a long period of time could cause destruction of red blood corpuscles, blueness of skin, heart weakness and mental and physical debility (it is the analgesic in Bromo-Seltzer); also sold as "upset stomach remedy" c. 1957; in 1911 the BromoSeltzer building in Baltimore was crowned with a rotating blue bottle (its trademark) which lighted up at night; sold in 1911 at Hudson's Bay Co. for 40 c, 25 c, 50 c, or $1.00