Turpo

A salve made from turpentine? The same stuff you clean your paint brushes with? A wonder drug! And apparently, it cured colds, burns, and so much more!

You say you wish you could get your hands on some of this miraculous stuff? The Russians still make it! Follow the Amazon links below.

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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

Comments

Instead of ordering it from Russia, you could pick up a gallon of turpentine at Home Depot. And it's definitely cheaper than a gallon of aftershave!

Posted by Alex on 04/20/12 at 11:52 AM

Sniffing turpentine probably gives you enough of a buzz to forget you had a cold.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 04/20/12 at 12:48 PM

Having managed the paint locker on board my ship I can contest to the medicinal properties of turpentine which are much along the lines of what Patty expressed.

It is also useful for drying skin.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 04/20/12 at 01:51 PM

Wondering what I'm doing tonight.
I've been in the closet and feel all right

Ran out of Carbona,
Mom threw out the glue.
Ran out of paint and roach spray too.
It's TV's fault why I am this way

Mom and pop wanna put me away
From the early morning movie to the late late show
After it's over nowhere to go.
And I'm not sorry for the things I do

My brain is stuck from shooting glue.
I'm not sorry for the things I do

Carbona not glue.

Posted by KDP on 04/20/12 at 03:30 PM

Well KDP if you want something to do tonight go download one of this teacher ladies movies:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/pron-star-teacher-fired-7893412

(Change pron to your know what for the link as it's blacklisted to post/link)

She goes by the screen name of Tiffany Six .. I found several on usenet for free.

I'm gonna send one to Patty.

Where were these teachers when we were in school dangit ? !!!!

Posted by BrokeDad on 04/20/12 at 04:55 PM

Turpentine is made from pine tree resin. Putting this resin on a cut is supposed to aid healing??? If it does not kill germs, it may keep them out.

Posted by BMN on 04/20/12 at 08:14 PM

Having grown up in the piney woods of South Georgia, this one was not strange to me. My father was a physician and utilized turpentine all the time for these ailments simply because it was available to poor people just by tapping the pines in their yard. Wonder of nature, bet it's an ingredient in many of the various remedies expensively available today.

Posted by Patrick Edmondson on 04/21/12 at 12:51 AM

My Grandmother swore that 3 drops of turpentine on a spoonful of granulated sugar was a cure-all. My mother said she used to like it! 😖

Posted by Tamara Mitchell on 04/21/12 at 09:48 PM

My father was a pharmacist (graduated pharmacy school in 1928, sold heroin when it was legal), and I vaguely remember him talking about turpentine as a traditional medicine. Googling medicinal uses of turpentine shows lots of interesting stuff.

Posted by ges on 04/24/12 at 11:31 PM

Actually, I have a salve from Mexico which has turpentine and arnica in it. It's actually quite useful and the label (in spanish) basically describes it as a cure-all. I however use it for muscle aches, bruises and burns. A bruise today, is gone tomorrow.

Posted by shara on 05/08/12 at 12:45 PM

My Grandpa used turpentine on all our cuts, scrapes, and bruises. It was a great cure-all that worked on any and all ailments.

Posted by ETxHippie on 05/13/12 at 03:21 PM

what year is the turpo from. i just found a package in an old desk.

Posted by ed on 09/14/12 at 11:40 AM

Not sure of the extent of its entire lifetime, but it was around in the 1920s:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lxwbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qEkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3100,3698749&dq=turpo&hl=en

Posted by Paul on 09/14/12 at 12:22 PM

Even Vicks rub still contains turpentine. I think you confused real turpentine with the petroleum distillates sometimes referred to as "mineral t." or "t. replacement".

Posted by moopsen on 01/03/13 at 01:03 PM

Thank you for the information

Posted by putu on 01/21/13 at 10:02 PM

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