Your recently flu-bestricken Wombat totters as he arises from his fevered bed to offer this week's...well, I'm actually back at the office, not really tottering, but still, you know, not really feeling, you know, the full marsupial. In any event, if this week's fact-ina fails to amuse, blame it on Big Pharma. I have tried, however, to choose a thematically related topic:
Dr. Leslie Enraught Keeley of the village of Dwight, Illinois, attained a brief period of fame in the 1890s as thousands flocked to the village to receive his series of curative injections. Given by his assistants in large hypodermics, the sought-after solution was red, white, and blue in color, and was sometimes called "the barber pole." The injections left a large yellow blemish on the skin. Keeley's remedy (which he also marketed in oral doses) which had apparently euphoric and quasi-amnesiac side effects, was famously based on a particular ingredient, which lent the "cure" it's best-known name.
What condition did Keeley's solution claim to alleviate? For a bonus point, what substance in its makeup lent it its popular moniker ("The [Blank] Cure")
NOTE: This one comes from Erik Larson's book The Devil in the White City, so those who've recently perused that informative volume should probably sit this one out and get me a cup of hot tea.
First correct answer posted to comments wins a challenged vote of their choice in either southern Florida or Cuyahoga County, Ohio. No Googling or logging onto QuackeryToday.com. One guess per comment, please, but you may comment as often as you like.
Posted by BT at October 29, 2004 10:38 AMGiven that it was Chicago, i'd reckon the people'd need some relief from the boredom.
Posted by: The Lady B. Yogurt on October 29, 2004 10:40 AMthe heartbreak of psoriasis
Posted by: teenidol on October 29, 2004 10:50 AMconsumption
Posted by: teenidol on October 29, 2004 10:52 AMAh contraire, LBY, those were exciting times!
Nothing yet.
Posted by: BT on October 29, 2004 11:06 AMPerhaps it was the Spanish flu
(thus that red white and blue)
the "stumbling" cure, for after all
it was stinkin' with alky-hol
[pedant grammar alert]
"...which lent the "cure" it's best-known name."
Tsk, tsk, wombat.
[/pedant grammar alert]
Lady B. Yogurt wouldn't know a good time if it accidentally mixed various meat-cutter's body parts in with the meats they were cutting. 1890's Chicago was a PARTY, I tell you!
Um, I'll guess it claimed to alleviate the common cold.
And it was called the formaldehyde cure.
Posted by: boxjam on October 29, 2004 11:46 AMThe doctor's serum was not aimed
At influenza-- whether named
As Spanish, Danish, French or Hessian --
I'll have to ask that ye keep guessin'
By the way, the pedantic grammar was about your spelling of "it's" (sic), but the bolding and italicizing I put in came out in the wash. Pretend the "sic" is italicized.
Since I'm posting again, I'll guess it cured bedevilment - demonic possession.
Posted by: boxjam on October 29, 2004 11:50 AMthe cure for anxiety, via opiates (still used today)
Posted by: teenidol on October 29, 2004 11:59 AMThere once was a cure for the rickets
That brought the ILL-anoisy-ans out of the thickets
The cure was called munchies
The cured needed crunchies
Doc added Mary Jane when he mixt it
More of punctuation error than a grammar one, Mr. ALMOST-Pedant.
It wasn't the common cold; and the well-known ingredient was not formaldehyde. I should note: the ingredient in question is in no legitimate medical way connected to what the injections supposedly cured. But it did help to boost the fascination and glamor associated with the cure.
In this wombat trip to the obscure
A fix for depression wasn't sure
To back of the pain
Doc added cocaine
The called it the jittery cure
curing gout with clove oil
Posted by: teenidol on October 29, 2004 12:19 PMAn unlicensed quack in Chicago
Is the star of today's Wombat blog. Oh,
his cure was a topper!
All shiny with copper,
he vanquished the scourge of lumbago.
(Okay, it's a soft rhyme. Tender.)
Posted by: Scraps on October 29, 2004 12:44 PMThe sparkling cure for arthritis
Was so ill-conceived as to fright us
To bring folks to the fold
The doctor used gold
But it left in the veins some detritus
A little behind-hand here, but....
A Brooklynite (Scraps is his name)
Has increased his percentage of fame:
With his guess, to wit, "Drinkin'"
He proves he's been thinkin'
And triumphs again at this game
The cure was, indeed, for alcoholism. As for the bonus:
The Titan of Tacoma's Park
Takes a deft bonus shot in the dark
Though his main answer's cold
He still lands in the gold
Because Au is right on the mark
I sat on the sidelines awatchin'
Afeared of the answer me botchin'
But delighted in limericks
Sippin' icy cold gin ricks
While another week's Wombat quiz scotchin'
The cure wasn't gold, no, not really -
But tippling would let you see Keeley.
He was kind, though insane -
He'd inject in your vein
Enough coke to render you silly.
i'm about halfway through the book mentioned, erik larson's "the devil in the white city." anyone looking for a good read should pick this up. the chicago exposition of l893 and a serial killer preying on those drawn to the city.
Posted by: rufus mulefoots on June 7, 2005 03:27 PM