“The greatest nerve tonic of the age,” served hot at the fountain with optional whipped cream.
The greatest nerve tonic of the age. Draw 1 ounce of American Cherry Ferri in a hot soda cup, fill cup with hot water, add whipped cream if desired by customer. Just as fine hot or cold.
The American Soda Book of Receipts and Suggestions, 1905, 1905. Public domain; transcription unaltered.
The problem is that nobody at the counter knew what was in it. Proprietary iron and quinine “nerve tonics” of this era were sold on their claims rather than their labels, and some carried strychnine, arsenic or cocaine alongside the iron.
Iron itself is not a trivial ingredient. Acute iron overdose is one of the more common serious poisonings in children, and a fountain measure is not a dose.
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Read the original page →The antidote table's advice for opium and laudanum — emetic draught, vinegar and water, “dashing cold water on chest and face, walking up and down for two or three hours.”
The 20th Century Home Cook Book · 1906
Raw loin beaten in a marble mortar with sweet and bitter almonds and sugar, into a pulp with “a rosy hue, and a very agreeable taste.” Said to keep “even in summer.”
The Dixie Cook-Book · 1883
One grain of mercury chloride twice a day as an alterative, four to five as a laxative. The book calls it “a most dangerous medicine” and prints the doses anyway.
The 20th Century Home Cook Book · 1906