Zam-Buk: A healing antiseptic ointment

I thought that Zam-Buk might be boring.  I vaguely remember a tin of it at home when I was a child although I don’t remember it being used.   It was just there.  According to the script on the tin it is used “for cuts, bruises, scratches, burns, scalds, athlete’s foot, piles, ulcers, eczema, sores, sprains, pimples, chilblains, cold sores, chafed skin and insect bites.”  It probably works too.  There are several formulas for Zam-Buk but they all contain camphor, eucalyptus oil and thyme oil all of which are somewhat antimicrobial and both camphor and eucalyptus have analgesic properties. Most contain beeswax.  Some formulas contain rosin, petrolatum and sassafras.

The origins of Zam-Buk can be traced back to 1903. It first appeared on Rugby and Football fields in Australia and New Zealand. When a player would get injured first aid officers would race across the field to tend the injured player, they would quickly apply the zam buk to the injured area. Zam-Buk acted as an antiseptic thus cleansing the wound and eliminating the chances of the wound becoming infected.

The 'Zam-Buk' name found its way into rugby league, and other sports, by the St Johns ambulance-men who carried it in their kit-bags to treat players on the field and sidelines. The advertising cry of "Here Comes Zam-Buk" referred to the product, but within barely a few years of its introduction, 'Zam-Buk' came to mean the ambulance-men themselves.

There are all sorts of testimonials for Zam-buk on the Internet and several sources suggested the name came from the name of a South African town.  I couldn’t find this town in my atlas although I did find “Zambué in Mozambique.  I love the story of a soldier in India who was suffering from ‘prickly heat and ‘crutch’ rot”.  He got no relief from medications prescribed by the medicos but another soldier told him about Zam-Buk and that cleared it right up.

Our Zam-Buk tin has the same stylized product label that I saw in pictures on the Internet although some of the other decoration differed slightly.  Ours was manufactures by C. E. Fulford Ltd. Leeds 2. England.  I found a note that manufacturing there was discontinued in 1998.  It is available from several sources on the Internet.

Rose and Co. Apothecary in Leeds says that they use the original formula for Zam-Buk. This is, apparently, a relatively new enterprise specializing in Vintage cosmetics and Victorian packaging. Mother and daughter, Patrician and Caroline Rose bought an old druggists shop, became fascinated with everything vintage and started producing their own Rose Petal Salve.  They branched out to other products plus dainty lingerie.

I love the juxtaposition of tough, sweaty footballers with delicate, feminine ladies both slathering on the Zam-Buk!

Leonard Ear Oil

Leonard Ear Oil is the first patent medicine in the collection that I found that was condemned as useless by a medical authority.

 In 1925, DR. ARTHUR J. CRAMP (Director of the Bureau of Investigation, American Medical Association) condemned Leonard Ear Oil and eardrum as useless quackery and commented, “The fact that manufacturers of such useless products succeed in a financial way is an interesting commentary on the low level of human intelligence that exists in certain classes of our population.” 

The insert in the box with the oil states, “while not claim is made that every case will be helped, it has been successful in bringing relief to many troubled with conditions of this kind”.  Conditions of this kind refer to “chronic catarrhal conditions…that interferes with the drainage and ventilation of the nasal passages, mucous accumulating and blocking the Eustachian tube”.

Directions for use involve putting a small amount of the oil (ear oil?) in the nostrils and rubbing it on the neck behind the ears.  I guess this makes sense because the ingredients are camphor, oil of eucalyptus, spirits of ammonia, (mixed with highest grade of mineral oil), all of which will certainly clear your sinuses.  The insert also suggests treating earache with heat and wax build-up with hydrogen peroxide not Leonard’s Ear Oil but says that the Ear oil could be tried for rheumatic or other pains by rubbing it into the affected part!

Leonard’s Invisible Ear Drum looks completely bogus. I am including the part of the insert that describes it.  Judge for yourself.

The A. O. Leonard Co. seems to have been somewhat successful for at least a couple of decades.  The box states that it had successful sales since 1907 and it was still advertising in 1929.  The company seems to have originated in New York but did have a Canadian distributor in Toronto—Maltby Brothers, Limited.  The company is no longer indexed on the Internet.

Mosby's Tonic—Medicine for Internal Use

Wow, This one is really interesting!  Right on the box it says "Each maximum dose contains .0008 grs. Strychnine".  One the other side it says "Medicinal extracts from Natures' roots, herbs, leaves and barks are blended with other efficacious ingredients in compounding Mosby's Tonic to make up a valuable stomachic, carminative, laxative-tonic, mild diuretic and cholagogue.  A medicine for the entire family"  I learned some new words with this one.
From Wikipedia, the following definitions:

A stomachic medicine is one that serves to tone the stomach, improving its function and increasing appetite. While many herbal remedies claim stomachic effects, modern pharmacology does not have an equivalent term for this type of action.A carminative, also known as carminativum (plural carminativa), is an herb or preparation that either prevents formation of gas in the gastrointestinal tract, or facilitates the expulsion of said gas, thereby combating flatulence.

And from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Cholagogues+and+choleretics

cholagogue /chol·a·gogue/ (ko´lah-gog) an agent that stimulates gallbladder contraction to promote bile flow.cholagog´ic.

I also looked up Strychnine to check for lethal quantities and found this, also on Wikipedia.

Although it is best known as a poison, small doses of strychnine were once used in medications as a stimulant, as a laxative, and as a treatment for other stomach ailments. A 1934 drug guide for nurses described it as "among the most valuable and widely prescribed drugs".[2] Strychnine's stimulant effects also led to its use historically for enhancing performance in sports.[3] Because of its high toxicity and tendency to cause convulsions, the use of strychnine in medicine was eventually abandoned once safer alternatives became available.

A lethal dose was cited as 1/2 a grain (32 mg), but people have been known to die from as little as 5 mg of strychnine."

The "Important Directions" included within the box say that adults should take one tablespoonful three times a day, a short time after each meal...also after the first 8 or 10 days, some people reduce the daily amount to two doses per day, one taken in the morning after breakfast and the other at night before retiring....If after 8 or 10 days, you reduce the daily amount to two doses per day and begin to feel that you are not deriving the same benefit as before, THEN RETURN AT ONCE TO THREE DOSES PER DAY."  It is recommended that children age 8 to 10 years of age, one teaspoon,  three times a day is recommended.  Every dose should be followed with about two-thirds of a glass of pure, cold water.

I guess!  According to the literature it is the bitterest substance known.

Don't fret that you can no longer buy this product.  The insert goes on to spell out a few simple health rules

"Eat simple, nourishing food. Drink plenty of good, pure water, six to eight glasses a day.  Sleep eight or nine hours a night in a well-ventilated room.  Keep bowels open, the feet dry and warm and the head cool.  If you are past 60, try to walk a mile a day in the open air; or, if you are in the early fifties or the forties or younger, walk three or four miles a day if you can.  Just follow the simple rules of health and perhaps you will not need Mosby's tonic again, but of course, if your precautions fail, as they sometimes may, and you feel that you are getting in need of the medicine again, then start taking it in time and you may only to to take it a short period."

I wanted to know if Mosby Medicine Company of Windsor Canada was still in business and I didn't find any record of that.  On a genealogical site I found the following note:

From:√ genforum.genealogy.com/mosby

The bottles of medicine both have purchased are not related to C. V. Mosby of MO. The Mosby Medicine Company was founded by my great uncle, Gilbert Haun Mosby. Gilbert Haun got very rich off his questionable elixers, and was later gunned down on the steps of the Cincinnatti Police Station in what my father believes was mob related. 

If you are interested you can see the Patent Medicine exhibit on our web site.

Go to ; navigate to the Virtual Tour and click on #4.  That will give you the best view.  Mosby's Tonic is near the top of the exhibit.  It is in a locked case, by the way.

Patent Medicines

I think that I have found an interesting topic. Glen, a retired chemistry teacher, was cataloguing our patent medicine collection. Glen is thorough—picky even. He read each inclusion within the packaging of each medication and he was blown away with some of the ingredients in these things. At the recent B.C.M.A. convention (in Osoyoos) in the display design workshop, we used this exhibit as the basis for designing a really flashy exhibit complete with "snake-oil salesman" voice over and projected flashing ingredient labels. I know that this fantasy exhibit (we called it 'Not to be Taken Internally') is never going to happen but I thought that some of these inclusions might be interesting to share. Blogging about them is just about the only way that I can do this because they are inside cardboard boxes which are in a static display inside a locked glass case. So, next week, when I am back at the museum, I will get started.