Tar in a jar

#Sparklefizz…I remember that awful
Minadex and also the Wrights coal tar vaporiser gadgets…in fact I used those in the mid 1970s when my firstborn had bad croup. Our home seemed to smell of it for years as I had three children quite quickly and croup was a frequent visitor to our house. I used to hate fiddling with the wretched stone that you had to use to place the evil liquid! Ended up with the stuff on my fingers and had to wash it off fast in case I rubbed my eyes. In the end I kind of grew to like the smell…or maybe it just reminded me of my little ones growing up. I don’t think they are still sold are they, those tin contraptions with the stone inserts? Gosh … memory lane here I come!

I remember lots of these things. Other things we had in our medicine cabinet included, Golden Eye Ointment, Fullers Earth Cream, Orange flavour Junior Aspirin & Buttercup Syrup cough mixture. My Grandma used to have a tin of something called Slippery Elm, I always thought that sounded truly awful.

It was malt, i loved it, all that twirling round the spoon mmmm

Mum always gave me a spoonful of bicarbonate of soda if I was feeling sick, which I guess is what’s in Alka Seltzer.

And on Amazon in all different flavours

Cod liver oil and Malt is available at Holland and Barratt.

My Nana always allowed me to have a very small glass of Andrews liver salts, they were so lovely. If we were ill we were give Fergusade which was the Scottish version of Lucozade.

There was also Blackstrap Molasses used as an iron tonic which I actually like.

My mum had a medicine cupboard in the kitchen which was huge. Some of the stuff in there was so old, you could hardly read the labels. You’ve mentioned most of the things I can remember. There seemed to be a variety of things to be taken daily. I was given cod liver oil and malt (yuk), Fenning’s Little Healers, powder in a similar paper wrapper called Little something, laxative chocolate, calamine lotion, Slippery Elm Food and various foul herbal doses which had to be forced down.

I went through a stage of being a sickly child with no appetite so my mum made me drink Benger’s which did the job of building me up satisfactorily. Thanks Mum, I might have been nice and slim but for that!

There was also some lemon coloured sweet type tablets (in a lemon and green packet) which I sucked in spring which stopped me getting itchy rashes? I loved them but can’t remember the name, anyone else? My dad had a burn on his chest which had been caused by a hot poultice when he was a child, obviously too keenly put on him, bless!

Thanks for all those lovely remedy memories!
Anyone remember Snowfire healing tablet?...a solid greasy block which my Mum put on any dry skin, graze, spot, rash or sore lips (mostly)

my 3 children were all brought up on virol, and my nan had a cat who would lick it off a spoon. when i was little it was a kaolin poultice to draw splinters out

My Mam was concerned I was a peaky child . Every time I looked a bit pale she fed me a tonic called " Minadex " . It was nice and I liked it.
Unfortunately, every time she put me on a course of the stuff ,I seemed to grow inches ( which was probably why I looked a bit thin and peaky )
I ended up over 6 foot tall !
Thanks , Mam .....and Minadex !

missdeke

Nellietheelephant

Oh - the wonderful smell of Germoline. Is it still available I wonder.

\you can still buy germolene at the chemists, my daughter uses it but I prefer savlon.

It comes in tubes now, it's better than Savlon because it relieves itching to a certain extent.

Oddly enough, I just ordered several items online from Boots - they sell lots of lovely stuff but not Germolene!
I'm sure it's sold in the shops.

I was a child in the1920s and 30s. I was given Parrishes Food a liquid because I was anaemic. Also cod liver and malt. Still available from Holland Barrett. Syrup of figs. Galloway cough mixture. Something called Collis Brown. Pills came in little round boxes not these things that are hard to get out.
To rub on sore hands there was a tablet called Melrose. Needed because there were no detergents, washing up was in hot soda water, clothes scrubbed with soap on a wash board
No toothpaste, teeth cleaned with Dentifrice a powder which came in a flat tin. No shampoo. Used soap.
I remember getting Virol and rosehip syrup from the clinic when my son(now 73) was a baby.
It was then that washing up liquid and Ariel powder and Lux soap flakes came in. Before that we managed with bar soap, soda and a tin of Vim scouring powder

Nellietheelephant

Oh - the wonderful smell of Germoline. Is it still available I wonder.

\you can still buy germolene at the chemists, my daughter uses it but I prefer savlon.

Camphorated oil… warmed on the fender above the open fire and rubbed on our chests..

We were given a teaspoonful of malt extra every morning in the winter and we loved it. But there definitely was not cod liver oil in ours, as Daddy never prescribed cod liver oil for his patients and would certainly never give his own children it.

He banned all laxitives, as a general rule, except if some very few cases, as he said they did more harm than good. If we were slightly constipated, which we rarely were, we were given a plateful of stewed prunes, or stewed prunes and apples, or told to drink two large glasses of water.

Nellietheelephant

Oh - the wonderful smell of Germoline. Is it still available I wonder.

Germoloids for haemorrhoids smell of Germolene…

Oh - the wonderful smell of Germoline. Is it still available I wonder.

When I was at (boarding) school we were given a desert spoonful of Malt and a codliver oil capsule every morning - along with some vile smelling concoction for cleaning the front our uniforms if needed (mine did!). The best fun was taking the codliver oil capsules and squeezing them in the window catch so that they broke and squirted everywhere! Those were the days, eh? (not).

I remember the Radiant malt. We were also given Adexolene to take as a tonic, it was vile. I also remember being given Owbridges cough medicine and Zambuk and Germolene ointment.
My mother used to give us "apple juice" for toothache. I found out later that it was actually neat whiskey that was sprinkled on some cotton wool for us to put on the offending tooth.

We always had a little tin of Indian Cerate to be applied to any and every skin abrasion, spot or cut.

Oh, how I hated Malt! I have to say that when I read that your grandma gave you a drag of her cigarette if you had a cough to 'clear your chest' I almost spat out my coffee! 😂

The first thing that comes to my mind (without reading the entire 5 pg stream)…could it be something akin to what flavors Jäegermeister? (A licorice flavored liquor that’s extracted from tree bark, or something like that?)

You either love(d) it or hated the flavor. Personally, I love Jäegermeister!
Cheers!
USA Gundy

We were given vinegar, butter and sugar to sip from a teaspoon for coughs.