Rawleigh's Liniment Internal
When I was getting my grandparent's home ready to sell several years ago, I found so many interesting items. I want to start sharing some of my finds with you through my blog posts. I will be calling this series "Grandma's Attic Finds".
I remember Grandpa and Grandma Burnette always talking about using liniment for everything. Many was the time that I heard them say that it was shame that you couldn't buy it anymore. I think that after you read the ingredients label, you may see why it was no longer available!
Wow, let's look at the list of active ingredients: 48% ALCOHOL! Wooo-WEE! Take a dose of this and no wonder your aches would go away! And just look at the dosage: 1/2 to 1 TEASPOON. What a tiny amount! I wonder if that dosage was always followed?
Look at the other ingredients: Capsicum, Camphor, Sassafras Oil, Hemlock Oil, & Spearmint Oil.
Capsicum: oh yeah, this is what gives hot peppers their fire! It is a circulatory stimulant and analgesic.
Camphor: It has a very strong odor. This is where Vicks Vap-o-Rub gets it smell. Also believed to suppress coughs, and repel snakes.
Sassafras Oil--sassafras has been used to make a tea. The extract was used as a flavoring in root beer. The FDA now frowns on sassafras since it has been linked to various cancers.
Hemlock Oil--good for coughs and tightness in the chest.
Spearmint Oil--used as a flavoring in food, chewing gum, and toothpaste and it has some anti-fungal abilities. Also used to treat stomachaches and gas.
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| I just love that it is good "For Man or Beast"! |
I can see where this would probably feel really great if massaged into achy muscles and sore joints. I have used modern day medicines that contain some of these same ingredients.
I would NOT be as enthusiastic about taking this internally!
Do you need a dose today?
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Thanks to information from Dave & Doris, I have found that the Rawleigh Company is still in business! Visit their website. They have everything from liniment to salve to cooking extracts and spices! They even sell pie filling and gravy mix!
Copyright 2012--All Rights Reserved--The Wheel & Distaff by Kimberly Burnette-Dean.
I thought the typeface on the label looked interesting, perhaps 1930's so I Googled the company to see when they went out of business. Surprise, they are still in business and still sell the internal liniment but not in Canada or the U.S. The concoction was formulated in 1889. The products are distributed from West Palm Beach, FL.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting that they are still in business! I didn't even think about looking to see if they were still around. I wonder where they sell the most at today?
DeleteI like the "for beast" part! Wonder how my kitty would react to it! Zowee! By the way, when I was a little kid in Vermont many, many moons ago the Rawleigh salesman would make visits to our house.I still remember a big round tin of Vicks-like rub that we used when we had a cold, some sort of menthol ointment. Funny, back in that era we had several company reps come to the door regularly. I think a childhood in Vermont was similar to a childhood in the hills of Virginia. And that is good.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was growing up that there was always someone knocking at the door trying to sell something! We used to hide from the salesmen! :)
DeleteHa! For us these salesmen were like part of the family ... they came regularly and we knew their names. Social calls. (Sheltered life up there in Vermont!)
DeleteWhere can I get this
ReplyDeleteI have the exact bottle pictured that belonged to my grandmother. I get a bang out of showing it to my friends. I remember taking it myself when I was a kid at her house. Love the "for man or beast" . Jerry in Oklahoma
ReplyDelete