A striking peculiarity of the first three decades of this century was that some illnesses continued to baffle both doctors and politicians. Of the first kind, the newspapers continually advertised the doctor’s puzzlement. The conditions of 1910 were represented in these advertisements:
Three Doctors Attended Her
Dr. Woods’ Norway Pine Syrup Cured Her.
The accompanying testimonial from the sick and one proved it:
“and after taking ten bottles I was completely cured.”
2) “Then there is a large class of disorders which arise from a weakness of the nerves of an organ or part such as weak lungs, heart, stomach, kidney, bladder, eyes.
‘Nervine’ soothes the irritated nerves, and assists the nerve cells to generate nerve force.”
Nerve Force! It was mere co-incidence that the same issue of the Journal carried a dispatch from Tacoma, Washington to the effect that a pretty Tacoma girl, contemplating the state of matrimony, made it known that she would welcome applications for her suit, each application to be accompanied by one dollar! Fortunately for a county doctor, such patients were rare.
Bertha A Craig of Almonte, Ontario was married to Robert Blackburn
Morphine, opium, cocaine, laudanum, heroin, chloroform, ether, aspirin and cannabis were all purchasable, without any form of medical supervision, and for a very few pence.
As a result, addiction to these medicines was all too common. Although people sometimes fell ill and even died from these addictions, addiction was not recorded as a cause of death at the time. Thus, anyone, even children, reported to have “wasted away”, “died in his sleep” or perished from a “brain fever” may have suffered from a drug overdose.
Being so potent, the medicines would have an obvious and immediate impact and at least give the taker the impression that they were taking some effective action to treat themselves. With so much alcohol in common medicines, the Inland Revenue investigators suggested that druggists should require a liquor license to sell them. They existed from 1910-1920 and dropped from the face of the earth basically after the Spanish Flu.
So what do we have today to replace it without the heroin and cocaine?
Natural Remedies > A.Vogel Santasapina® – Soothing cough syru
Each teaspoon (5 mL) contains:
Medicinal ingredients:
Extract of fresh wild Norway Spruce
(Picea abies, shoots) (ratio 14:1)…106.67 mg,
equivalent to 1.49 g of fresh shoots;
Essential oil of Norway Spruce
(Picea abies)…0.80 mg.
Non-medicinal ingredients:
Unrefined cane sugar, honey, concentrated Pear juice.
Medicine for Weak Women — Hokum Era
lindaseccaspina 
I have a old empty bottle at Valleyfield , Québec
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neat!!
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