Posted 13 years ago
Lynzeed
(1 item)
Thought I'd like to share this- Really interesting stuff from the 1800's. 1820's-1840's- I think.
I understand Dr. John B. M'Munn was a Physician in New York and concocted this "elixir" of opium that supposedly was "de"-narcotized, so that it was "safe" for use- especially with children.
The wrapper states that "This is the essential extract from the native drug. It contains valuable quantities of opium without its deleterious and useless"-[?effects] and then goes on to state that "no elixir of opium is genuine unless signed by John B.M'Munn in his own handwriting".
This bottle is signed John B. M'Munn and also has another signature and below is E. Ferrett, Agt. 372 Pearl St. [?? Boston], Ma.
There are a few articles online if you type in "Elixir of opium" - which includes discussions about unfortunate children's deaths secondary to misuse/overdose when administering. I'm an RN and find this type of history fascinating!- hope you do as well!
This is so neat! Great find!
It's more like 1880 to 1900.
Actually Dr. M’Munn’s Elixir of Opium was in distribution from the late 1830’s. He also published a book about it in 1837. https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Dr_M_Munn_s_Elixir_of_Opium.html?id=QvthmgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
According to another publication about him, “ slinging cures of all kinds and verging into railroad engineering. McMunn famously invented his Elixir of Opium which claimed to have distilled the good qualities of opium from the "deleterious." Distributed by the Sands brothers after 1841, the compound became quite widely recognized.”
https://www.bonhams.com/fr/auction/26730/lot/164/mcmunns-medical-broadsides-dr-mmunns-elixir-of-opium-new-york-c1838/