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Tar in a jar

(180 Posts)
vampirequeen Mon 30-Jan-23 09:35:01

DH and I were discussing the weird and wonderful treatments we were given as children. We remember cod liver oil (foul even when mixed with orange juice), Linctus, Beecham's Powders, my grandma gave me a drag of her cigarette if I had a cough to 'clear my chest', bicarbonate of soda, kaolin and morphine, warm lemonade when we'd vomited, and tar in a jar.

We've wracked our brains as to what tar in a jar really was. It was foul tasting and was, maybe, some type of tonic. We think it was some sort of malt mixture but aren't sure.

Does anyone remember it and/or know what it was?

Fernbergien Thu 02-Feb-23 16:09:25

Not directly connected but there was Gibbs toothpaste. A hard block in a round tin. I suspect everyone used same tin.
Also uncle had metal ear syringe. Put warm water in it. Don’t think it was ever sterilised.

MayBee70 Thu 02-Feb-23 16:30:55

Ali08

I've got one for you.
Indian Brandee.
Brown liquid. Drink it neat or watered down. Either way, but both were awful.
Mind you, it sorted out that dodgy stomach but you'd be glued to the loo until it had finished it's job!!
It worked much better than the Dioralyte that was given to my children!

We used to have that. And my mum used to rub Bay Rum into her her to make it grow ( bit it didn’t work).

Claudiaclaws Thu 02-Feb-23 18:03:46

Virol, I loved it, but I think it was quite expensive.

goldmist Thu 02-Feb-23 20:15:31

These do bring back memories. Virol...loved it, used it for my DC but they didn't like it. Camphorated oil for colds & coughs, milk of magnesia, junior aspirin, fennings powders. If my father had a cold he would boil 2 onions until soft, eat them & drink the liquid. Mum would make poultices from comfrey leaves for aches and pains- she suffered with arthritic joints. My grandmother always had a tot of brandy every day, purely for medicinal purposes , of course.

granto3 Fri 03-Feb-23 09:40:52

I used to get gruel as a child. I loved it, but now I can't remember how my mum made it sad Any ideas?

biglouis Fri 03-Feb-23 10:56:14

I can remember cod liver oil and malt. Our mother made my sis and I take a spoonful each day. I loved the taste but my sister hated it.

Sparklefizz Fri 03-Feb-23 11:25:30

I remember the pharmacist making up his own treatments in bottles and tiny cardboard pots - his nappy rash cream worked better than anything else on the market.

My lovely Mother in law recommended egg white for nappy rash and it worked a treat. Had to let it dry on baby's skin which didn't take long.

Supernana1 Fri 03-Feb-23 12:38:31

My mother used to send me down the street to the chemist with two empty brown glass bottles for 6d worth of Syrup of Figs and 6th worth of Hippo Wine & Squills.

I loved the taste of both so would drink about 1/4 of each bottle then fill them up with water. Don't think Mam ever noticed the difference.

When I had my first job at 15 I used to buy little glass tubes of aspirin with a cork stopper for 3d and eat them as sweets. I'd buy two or three every week.

It's a wonder I didn't kill myself!

PinkCosmos Fri 03-Feb-23 12:54:02

I remember Golden Eye ointment. The tube was tiny.

Also Lion ointment used for drawing out boils. It was thick yellow gunky stuff - the ointment I mean

You can still get gripe water in the supermarket.

What happened to Camay soap?

GrandmaCornwall Fri 03-Feb-23 21:06:15

As a nursery school child I remember sitting on small wooden chairs in a row holding a white mug of warm milk and not being able to drink it until the nursery nurse had come along giving each child a spoonful of cod liver oil🤢. I am sure she used the same spoon for each child too !
At home my mum used to give us Virol or haliboringe tablets and we used to help ourselves to an extra one from time to time. Mum also used to make rose hip syrup which contained an enormous amount of sugar. We had orange juice from the baby clinic too until that was withdrawn for containing too much sugar.

Lexisgranny Sat 04-Feb-23 15:38:41

Liquafruita - I think that’s the correct spelling! Having been brought up on solid British cuisine I did don’t realise that the disgusting taste appeared to rely on one ingredient. When I was a student in London and travelling on the tube, I was amazed that so many people seemed have coughs and be devotees of this medicine. What I could smell was garlic! Now I actually love garlic, but then it was a shock to my system.

Rosina Sat 04-Feb-23 16:04:52

I was also given Liquafruita - I didn't object, but my poor Father found the smell absolutely nauseating, and even though I had cleaned my teeth he had difficulty kissing me goodnight as a child because the aroma was so repugnant to him.

hollysteers Sat 04-Feb-23 18:12:04

Fiery Jack for bad backs (watch where you put it!)
I remember the Wrights Coal Tar burner and my DM would often get the chemist to make up a bottle of tonic. No idea what was in it.
And the iodine violet stuff for cuts.

Supergranuation Tue 07-Feb-23 19:14:57

I remember Dr Williams Pink Pills for Pale People!!! Was anyone else given those? I haven't got a clue what was in them but I think it may have been iron?

M0nica Tue 07-Feb-23 22:00:05

I loved cod liver oil and also malt. My dear younger sister hated cod liver oil and when given it as a toddler, would roll it round her mouth and then blow it out as a spray. My mother perservered for a while, but soon reached the stage where all her clothes smelt of it. At which point I stepped in and offered to have my DS's cod liver oil as well as my own.

I also loved the orange extract that you got given in the baby clinic.

Apart from that I remember little, my mother, was not given to buying what we now call 'over the counter' medicaments in the chemist, although I do remember calamine lotion for soothing the skin if i had a rash and Milk of Magnesia.

Sparklefizz Wed 08-Feb-23 09:53:10

Supergranuation

I remember Dr Williams Pink Pills for Pale People!!! Was anyone else given those? I haven't got a clue what was in them but I think it may have been iron?

Wow! Never heard of those but love the name! grin

Supergranuation Wed 08-Feb-23 17:40:03

Sparklefizz I found them! Just did a Google search and there they were! ☺️ They were iron tablets amongst other things, probably made me constipated so I was given something weird for that as well!! 😂

Dickens Wed 08-Feb-23 17:44:26

Poppyred

It was called VIROL, loved it!

... me, too!

Grammaretto Wed 08-Feb-23 18:23:01

I was thinking of zinc and ichthimmol Riverwalk. I was advised by my local Doctor's wife, who herself had 7 children, to treat nappy rash with it. It stained the nappies but cured the rash.

Callistemon21 Wed 08-Feb-23 20:09:44

Zinc and castor oil cream for nappy rash!

Callistemon21 Wed 08-Feb-23 20:10:59

I was fed on Sister Laura's Infant Food.

Marmight Wed 08-Feb-23 20:43:45

My Mum had a Wrights coal tar burner when I was young. I used used one for my children too. It seemed to help. I only disposed of it when I recently moved. It was a bit rusty. My MiL apparently used to take DH to the roadworks when he had a cold to breathe in the fumes from the burning tar! hmm. Parrish’s Food was mentioned. It was disgusting🤮. On the other hand thecontentrated orange juice was delish. It came in a small bottle with a turquoise cap. I wonder why I remember that so clearly

Grammaretto Wed 08-Feb-23 21:30:02

I'd forgotten about the national orange juice. I was given it when my first DS was a baby and probably cod liver oil as well.
It was delicious, the orange with a taste all of its own.
I had a Wright's inhaler burner. Maybe I still have it somewhere. DD was blocked up for her first 3 months so it was either the burner or a steaming kettle to help her breathing.

Wright's coal tar soap too.

twiglet77 Wed 08-Feb-23 22:31:25

My mother made me have Minadex and a Haliborange tablet each morning, and a square of Ex-Lax every night.

twiglet77 Wed 08-Feb-23 22:32:33

Oh, Delrosa was a treat, and Parrish’s Food was bearable.