Frese's Hamburg Tea

I don't have an insertion for this because the box is still sealed and I was reluctant to open it. The product is supposed to be a 'True Herbal Medicine' for disorders of the Digestive System.  Regulates the bowels for constipation, headache, Indigestion, Dyspepsia, Biliousness, Blood and Skin Ailments. There are directions for use on the bottom of the box:

"Take one tablespoon full of Tea, pour on two or three cups full of boiling water, cover the vessel, and put it in a warm place to draw for about two or three hours, then pour it through a sieve or a piece of screen and give to a full grown person a cup full each in the morning and evening, children less in proportion.  Should this dose not prove sufficient to produce an opening of the bowels two or more time, augment the dose, according to circumstances and repeat every two hours until it has the desired effect.

NB—No tin or metal vessel should be used."

The Frese family is listed in the genealogy of San Francisco as druggists and herbalists and Frese’s Hamburg Tea was manufactured in San Francisco first by Redington & Co and then by Coffin Redington. Co. 

In 1877, the company won a suit in U.S Circuit Court against a defendant over the use of the name, Frese’s Hamburg Tea.  The box prominently displays the words TRADE MARK and “Not genuine without Facsimile Signature [Emil frese superimposed over Redington tea].

There is a heritage building in San Francisco built by this company and subsequently converted into residential lofts.

The “tea” was offered for sale in Germany and as a result of that we have from The Handbook of Secret Medicines by Wittstein, 1871, an analysis of the contents. Hamburg Tea contains 8 parts Senna, 3 parts Manna and 1 part Coriander.

Senna: 

The sennas, is a large genus of around 250 species of flowering plants. This diverse genus is native throughout the tropics, with a small number of species reaching into temperate regions. Sennas act as purgatives and are similar to Aloe and Rhubarb.

Manna:

Manna is often used to refer to the secretions of various plants, especially of certain shrubs, particularly the sugars obtained by evaporating the sap of the Manna Ash.  The Manna Ash, native to southern Europe and southwest Asia, produces a blue-green sap with has medicinal value as a mild laxative, demulcent, and a weak expectorant.

Coriander:

Coriander is an annual herb also known as Chinese parsley or cilantro. Coriander has been used as a folk medicine for the relief of anxiety and insomnia in Iran. Coriander seeds are used in traditional Indian medicine as a diuretic.  In holistic and traditional medicine, it is used as a carminative [combats flatulence] and as a digestive aid.

I didn’t find anything in the tea to directly affect blood or skin but perhaps once your digestive troubles are cleared up, the other symptoms disappear.

CATARRHOZONE:  This patent medicine is very different from the last one—Uricones.  That one had no insertion; this one has a 32-page booklet! I could find nothing on the company—the box lists Laurentian Agencies Reg’d, Montreal—nor anything about what is in this medication.  On the French side of the box Chlorbutol .63% is listed.  I found that is also known as Chlorbutanol and it is used as a preservative.

Chlorobutanol is a widely used, very effective preservative in many pharmaceuticals and cosmetic products, e.g. injections, ointments, products for eyes, ears and nose, dental preparations, etc. It has antibacterial and antifungal properties. Chlorobutanol is typically used at a concentration of 0.5 % where it lends long term stability to multi-ingredient formulation.

This medication is ‘Used to assist in Overcoming’ sneezing colds, coughs, simple sore throat, hoarseness, bronchitis, la grippe, catarrh, catarrhal deafness, asthma and hay fever.  The medication itself is a liquid and the box contains a bakelite inhaler although there are instructions on how to make a temporary inhaler from your handkerchief.

So, no list of ingredients but a little research reveals that

Catarrh (pronounced /kəˈtɑr/) is a thick exudate of mucus and white blood cells caused by the swelling of the mucous membranes in the head in response to an infection. It is a symptom usually associated with the common cold and chesty coughs, but can also be found in patients with infections of the adenoids, middle ear, sinus or tonsils. The catarrh may either discharge or cause a blockage which may become chronic.

I wonder if the ozone part is just a catchy title because in one spot it is written a ‘catarrh-o-zone.  Certainly ozone cannot be part of this because

 Most people can detect about 0.01 ppm of ozone in air where it has a very specific sharp odor somewhat resembling chlorine bleach. Exposure of 0.1 to 1 ppm produces headaches, burning eyes, and irritation to the respiratory passages.[6] Even low concentrations of ozone in air are very destructive to organic materials such as latex, plastics, and lungs.

To get back to the 32-page booklet, this has lots of illustrations on how to charge the inhaler and how use it.  It also has a great long list entitled “Dreams and what they mean”.  This is not an attempt to unscramble the meaning of dreams in a person’s life but to foretell the future.  Examples:

Abbey —This denotes future comfort, piece of mind, freedom from anxiety

Abuse—To dream that you are abused, denotes that a dispute will arise between you and the someone with whom you do business, or with your lover.

Bald—To dream of baldness portends approaching sickness. For a young woman to dream that her lover is bald, foretells that he will not live to marry her.  To dream that she is bald herself, implies she will be very poor, and die an old maid.

Divorce—If a married person dreams of sueing or a divorce, it is a sign of the fidelity of his or her partner.

The last one is

Dress—Buying a dress, denotes advancement, and that you will obtain your wishes. 

Uricones

Uricones is the latest medication that I have investigated. I was disappointed that there was no inclusion in the box but I did find an ad on line, dated about 1939 for this stuff.
"RHEUMATIC ACHES have been curbed by URIC ONES
Sufferers who have taken a few doses of "Uricones" have been gratified by the relief secured. Rheumatic Aches, Arthritis, Lumbago, Gout, Sciatica, Neuritis, Fibrositis and similar complaints—all have been helped by "Uricones", a reliable remedy for Rheumatic suffering in the pain zones indicated in the diagram [no diagram]. Excess acid in the system is very frequently the cause of suffering. "Uricones" help to free the blood-stream of these pain-causing excess acids, working to rectify a condition that is so frequently the cause of rheumatic aches and pains."

The "excess acid" in this ad refers to 'gout' and indeed the package suggests that gout is treated by this medication as well as rheumatism, lumbago, arthritis, neuritis sciatica, etc.
The symptom that all of these diseases, and some of them are symptoms rather than diseases, is pain. Uricones might very well help. Each capsule contains 1.9 gr. of acetylsalictic acid, more commonly known as Aspirin. The name Aspirin is the property of the Bayer Company founded in Germany in 1863. By 1899 it had registered the name Aspirin world wide.

The package shows "a human barameter"—a man wearing a bowler hat, bent over and using a cane. He is carrying or has attached to him a barometer-like instrument. I guess this refers to the idea that sufferers from arthritis, lumbago etc can fortell the weather. I found the following explanation for that:
"Rheumatism" and weather
There has long been said to be a link between "rheumatic" pain and the weather. There appears to be no firm evidence in favour or against; a 1995 questionnaire given to 557 people by A. Naser and others at the Brigham and Women's Hospital's Pain Management Center concludes that "changes in barometric pressure are the main link between weather and pain. Low pressure is generally associated with cold, wet weather and an increase in pain. Clear, dry conditions signal high pressure and a decrease in pain".

Japanese Collection

Dan Bruce, our museum's curator, announced yesterday at the Board of Directors meeting that he was intending to increase the museum's collection of all things Japanese.  Since the early 20th century, we have had a significant population of Japanese immigrants who first worked in orchards for other people and then bought land and worked their own orchards and businesses.  They and their descendants have contributed to this community and it is reasonable that aspects of their culture and experiences be acknowledged in Lake Country Museum.  Artifacts and archival material will be gratefully received.

The Board has also approved the seeking of a suitable person to work as a part-time manager of the museum.  We will be advertising shortly.  We'll keep you posted!

What is Imperial Granum?  Granum is Latin for seed.  In modern medical jargon it is a “stack of thylakoids in the chloroplast, containing the light harvesting system and the enzymes responsible for the light dependent reactions of photosynthesis”. A diluent is a substance used to dilute or cut another substance.  In the case of Imperial Granum (I don’t know where the Imperial comes from), it is basically a wheat and milk gruel and the insert recommends it for nursing mothers, babies and invalids. For babies, it is first dissolved in their formula (if they are not nursing) and after the child is six months old, it is fed as a cereal.  Nursing moms are to take it three times a day, 3 tablespoons cooked in a cup of water and a cup of milk.  She can add cocoa or some other flavouring, if she likes.  The box says: “This original and world renowned dietetic preparation is a substance of unrivaled purity and nutritive worth derived by a new process from very superior growth of wheat—nothing more.”  The box also says that it is the invention of an eminent French chemist although gruel of various grains has been known and used for centuries.  The Greeks had it, the Maya and the Aztecs and they certainly used it in Medieval Europe.

I tried to find out something about the company that sold it with indifferent success.  It was made by John Carle & Sons, Inc. from New York City.  This company was established in 1817.  Imperial Granum was manufactured in New Haven Connecticut and registered June 5, 1877.  It was still going strong in 1915 when L. E. La Fétra, M.D. a visiting physician to the children’s ward at Bellevue Hospital in New York, wrote a paper on it’s value in treating premature infants.  Both Robert Benchley and Mark Twain mentioned in their writing as if it were common in households.

I did find that trading cards and advertising for Imperial Granum are considered collectibles and are selling on eBay. I also discovered that there is a well-known heritage building in New Haven, the Imperial Granum-Joseph Parker Building(s).  They are joined by a ‘party wall’ and are believed to have been designed by the architectural firm of Henry Austin.  The Imperial Granum Building has the city’s only cast-iron façade. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalregister/3671988387/in/photostream/]

Just on spec, I checked out “Pablum” which is the gruel that I am familiar with.

According to Wikipedia, Pablum Mixed Cereal was made from a mixture of ground and precooked wheat (farina), oatmeal, yellow corn meal, bone meal, dried brewer's yeast, and powdered alfalfa leaf, fortified with reduced iron — providing an assortment of minerals and vitamins A, B₁, B₂, D, and E. Pablum was developed by Canadian pediatricians Frederick Tisdall, Theodore Drake, and Alan Brown,[1] in collaboration with nutrition laboratory technician Ruth Herbert (all of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto), along with Mead Johnson chemist Harry H. Engel.[2] The cereal marked a breakthrough in nutritional science: it helped prevent rickets, a crippling childhood disease, by ensuring that children had sufficient vitamin D in their diet.

Apparently there are cultures and cuisines that prize some form of gruel as a delicacy. In Korea, they have Jat-juk, or Pine Nut Gruel -- finely ground rice swimming with pine nuts to make a nutritious (protein, iron and vitamin B) and delicious soup.