Speer’s Sambuci Wine

What is this miraculous "sambuci wine?" I'm glad you asked.

Preparation.—Take of elder bark, parsley root, each, in coarse powder, 1 ounce; sherry wine, 1 pint, or a sufficient quantity. Form into a medicated wine by maceration or percolation, as explained under Vina Medicata, and make one pint of the preparation.

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—Wine of elder is useful in dropsical diseases, especially ascites, and dropsy supervening upon scarlatina or other exanthematous diseases. Dose, 2 fluid ounces, 3 or 4 times a day.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 10, 2014
Category: Advertising | Natural Wonders | Nineteenth Century | Alcohol

Comments

My mom was surprised when I told her she'd been giving me codeine cough syrup throughout my childhood. She knew it was effective, and it had about enough sugar in it to crystallize if you left the bottle open, so I liked the taste, but it made me feel a lot, um, better. My dad was a pharmaceutical executive, and the company had a free pharmacy on site, back before everyone's sphincter had puckered up about these things, so we got some good stuff.

Posted by Mr Evilwrench on 07/14/14 at 02:38 AM

I had to look it up to make sure but Nixon's the one that started the latest round of ~~money grubbing~~ drug prohibition in 1971.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 07/14/14 at 03:54 AM

Just one more thing he f-ed up.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 07/14/14 at 07:48 AM

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