This week's Sepia Saturday prompt showing two little smiling cutout figures is an advertisement for something called Wampole's Preparation, which I've never heard of. A few weeks ago, when I found my great aunt Flora Forbes mentioned as a prizewinner in an advertisement for Aulsebrooks Cocoa published in the Press of 30 April 1900, I also noticed on the same page the following advertisement for the wonderful Loasby's Wahoo, which appears to have been another weird concoction that was advertised as a cure for a wide variety of disorders. Here it is:
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| Loasby's Wahoo, Advertisement from The Press, 30 April 1900, per Paperspast web site |
Loasby's Wahoo - hardly what I would call a catchy name for a product - was produced by Loasby's "Wahoo" Manufacturing Co in Dunedin NZ. It was widely advertised in many New Zealand newspapers from the late 19th century onwards, often with glowing testimonials and recommendations from happy customers such as William Timms from Dunedin, Mr Morley of New Plymouth, Mr Chalk of Napier,or Mr Macansh of Murrumburrah NSW, as referred to in the following advertisements, just to select a few at random.
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| Clarence and Richmond Advertiser, 14 September 1897, per Trove web site |
This next item from the National Library of NZ shows some of the other "cure-all" type products made by Loasby's Wahoo Manufacturing Co. Ltd. The trademark snail at the top has the words "always at home" on its back, presumably signifying that the products are always available when you want them, because prescriptions can be dispensed at all hours day or night.
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| Cleveland, Francis Leslie, 1921-2014. Loasby's "Wahoo" Manufacturing Co., Ltd. :... Loasby's "Wahoo" embrocation is a sovereign remedy ... "Snail Brand" irish moss, quinine & steel wine, emulsion of cod liver oil ... ca 1895.. Ref: Eph-C-PHARMACY-1895-01. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/2283329 |
Of course it's possible that some of my New Zealand ancestors may have actually used Loasby's Wahoo or other products, in particular my Hickey family, who lived in Dunedin and were probably familiar with the premises there in King St where chemist Andrew Mcartney Loasby produced his range of medications, but I discovered a more precise family connection when I noticed the name of the wholesale agents in the third advertisement. My great grandfather Thomas Byles arrived in NZ in the late 1870s and was taken on as a young apprentice by Kempthorne Prosser NZ Drug Co Ltd in its Wellington warehouse. By the time he retired many years later he had worked himself up to the position of chief foreman.
Thomas Byles 1863-1951
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| Lambton Quay, Wellington, with the New Zealand Drug Company building. Tyree Studio :Negatives of Nelson and Marlborough districts. Ref: 10x8-0961-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23053417 |
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| An invoice from Kempthorne Prosser, such as Thomas Byles would have regularly handled in the course of his daily duties. Photo from Wikipedia, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kempthorne_Prosser#
The company has an interesting history, with its headquarters also being located in Dunedin. Considered to have been the largest drug and fertilizer manufacturer in NZ, it operated from 1869 until 1978. Hopefully the fertilizers were stored separately from the drugs. One of its original founders Evan Prosser established a branch in Sydney New South Wales but committed suicide on Sydney's North Shore in 1896 after attempting to murder his wife.
I found a photograph here on line of what a clean bottle of Loasby's Wahoo looked like and apparently it was about 5 inches high, with the words Loasby's Wahoo embossed down both edges. Some years ago when digging in the garden of our house named Wirreandah that was built in 1910, (see header photograph) we found this little bottle buried there. There's no longer any label, but perhaps it once contained some wonder preparation of a similar kind to Loasby's Wahoo, swallowed hopefully by a past occupant. The only embossed mark on the bottom of the bottle is P2. It's tiny really, only 60mm or less than 2.5 inches high, so whatever it was, not much was considered necessary to effect a cure. A little goes a long way?
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For more prompt relief from what ails you, just call in on Sepia Saturday #299 , Open all hours!
Postscript:
Mike Brubaker's comment prompted me to look for information on the meaning of Wahoo, which turns out to be a drug that has digestive properties, and appears to come from the bark of an American plant by the same name. Mr Loasby brought a court action against another chemist who had also called his rival product Wahoo. Loasby had to admit in court that in fact his product did not contain any Wahoo, whereas the defendant's product actually did. Consequently Loasby lost the case. It certainly makes me wonder about the veracity of all those testimonials.
Timaru Herald, 7 March 1898, per Paperspast web site.
17 comments:
I could certainly do with some Loasby's Wahoo - I wonder if the Wahoo Manufacturing Company (great name) still exists.
Andrew Loasby died in 1929, although he and his wife had 10 children and some of them may have followed their father into the business, but I don't believe it's still operating.
"A martyr to Piles and Constipation" - what a way to be remembered!
It's too bad that none of the old cure-alls were actually proven to work.
I had to look up 'embrocation' to see what it meant, and have resolved to use it in a sentence this week and watch the puzzled faces. Too long to be a useful Scrabble word unfortunately.
There'll be a few "Wahoos" shouted at the football final today in Melbourne.
And so if the medicine really treated and cured what it said it would, someone might cry out: "Wahoo!" ergo, the name? :)
This is so funny!! Imagine naming anything Wahoo today.
Wahoo.....What a wonderful post. I loved reading all the advertising claims in particular that the embrocation is a sovereign remedy. Very nice work threading everything together and the lovely ending with the little bottle of who knows what. Gives the imagination something to chew on.
I can't imagine anyone in the shape of the first person to testify being cured with one spoonful and forever cured by a bottle. They still sell pills for the same ailments. Seems the person would do better to change their diet.
Here in the US, patent medicines often used native American words in their names. Could Wahoo be a similar down under word? The claims for these magic elixirs are also a reflection on the poor state of medical knowledge in those days.
What a marvellous collection.. My mother placed great faith in Fluid Magnesia at the first sign of anything going wrong !
As I read all the submissions to Sepia Saturday this week and the various symptoms all the medicines claim to counter : I am feeling more and more ill. The worst are the adverts which start off "Are you feeling ...." because I find myself saying yes to all the things on the list. But reading your post was a tonic, so I can face another day.
I had a look for the meaning of Wahoo and found it explained in a court case lost by Mr Loasby - see postscript.
I wouldn't put a lot of faith in the restorative properties of Loasby's Wahoo I'm sorry to say, even if my ancestor Thomas Byles was involved in distribution of the product.
I grew up along the Atlantic coast where sport fishermen would report on taking Wahoo, which is a very fast and often long (up to 8 foot) mackerel-like fish. But I've just learned that there is also a shrub native to much of North American, called Wahoo. More info here: http://medicinalherbinfo.org/herbs/Wahoo.html
It's also called Indian Arrowwood or Spindle tree, among other common names that may indicate a use for the wood. The bark has a reputation as a diuretic drug used for "chest and lung congestion, indigestion, excellent laxative, used to treat malaria (better than quinine they say), dropsy, and fever." Here in the Appalachian mountains, the collection and trade of medicinal plants continues a long tradition started by the Cherokee Indians and other native peoples. Wild Ginseng is still illegally poached here and exported to Asia markets. Early druggists made most mixtures and compounds in their chemist shop using ingredients from around the world. The Eucalyptus tree oils were probably the equivalent plant product exported from Australia for making similar patent medicines.
Thanks again Mike! Distinctly odd that Mr Loasby's product didn't even contain any wahoo, especially as it could cure everything from indigestion to dandruff, according to your link. I've added a further article to my postscript, not that many people will see it of course.
Okay, you got me at WAHOO! As a kid I would have loved something called Wahoo. Even today it would bring a smile. And a fascinating post.
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