Mercurochrome

[Don Wheeler]

When I was a kid and had a sore throat (which was often), my mother would
swab my throat with mercurochrome. I don't know if it did any good, but I
still remember the nasty taste. We always had a bottle in the medicine
cabinet for cuts. It didn't sting like merthiolate, which we also had.

Now I understand that it has been banned from sale in the U.S. because it
contains mercury. I wonder if I would have turned out a little
smarter.......?? Oh well.

Does anyone else have memories of this stuff?

Don

[Daisy]

Don - As a small child, we used the substance
only externally for cuts and abrasions.
............
Daisy

[Gordon]

Post by Daisy
Don - As a small child, we used the substance
only externally for cuts and abrasions.
............
Daisy

I think that's the stuff we call Iodine.

We were never sure as kids that it cured our cuts and abrasions, or
whether the stinging sensation made us pretend we were ok for fear of
getting any more dabbed on!

[Daisy]

I think that's the stuff we call Iodine.
We were never sure as kids that it cured our cuts and abrasions, or
whether the stinging sensation made us pretend we were ok for fear of
getting any more dabbed on!
--
Gordon
************
I believe it was also called Iodine, and weren't
we glad when Bactine hit the markets, the
product that did the job so well, and painfree.
I was happy to see Iodine and Mercurochrome
go the way of Cod Liver Oil (!!) It was rough
being a little kid back in the old days. wry grin.
- - - - - - - -
Just a little news about my bus driver's oriental
wife and medicaments chinese-style at their
house.
I got a small splinter in palm of my hand and
curious driver asked about it. I told him I would
get it out later myself. He says anyone in his
household with a splinter dares not ask his
wife to help. She DIGS it out and no amount
of pleading stops her till she has it out.
Once, when she had a small infection, she went
all the way to San Francisco to a chinese
herbalist and spent $20 for a large bundle of herbs, etc to place on the
wound. I laughed and
asked why she didn't just use Bactine. He
seemed not to know about the wondrous
powers of Bactine and the wife was using
19th century cures in the 21st century....I was amazed.
................

[James Copeland]

No, no, no! It is NOT the same as iodine! Iodine, as used for medicinal
purposes, is what is called a "tincture" of iodine, which is essentially
iodine (a halogen element, I2) dissolved in alcohol. Elemental iodine is a
purplish-grey crystalline substance which sublimes away very quickly at room
temperature. When dissolved in alcohol, however, it yields a dark brownish
solution. Mercurochrome is a complex organic compound of mercury whose
empirical formula is: C20H8Br2HgNa2O6 (Hg is the mercury element symbol).
It's formal name is merbromin (merchrochrome was the trade name). It is
highly toxic, and should never have been used for other than external
applications. Believe me, I know. (I am a retired chemistry professor.)
Jim C.

Post by Gordon
I think that's the stuff we call Iodine.
We were never sure as kids that it cured our cuts and abrasions, or
whether the stinging sensation made us pretend we were ok for fear of
getting any more dabbed on!
--
Gordon
************
I believe it was also called Iodine, and weren't
we glad when Bactine hit the markets, the
product that did the job so well, and painfree.
I was happy to see Iodine and Mercurochrome
go the way of Cod Liver Oil (!!) It was rough
being a little kid back in the old days. wry grin.
- - - - - - - -
Just a little news about my bus driver's oriental
wife and medicaments chinese-style at their
house.
I got a small splinter in palm of my hand and
curious driver asked about it. I told him I would
get it out later myself. He says anyone in his
household with a splinter dares not ask his
wife to help. She DIGS it out and no amount
of pleading stops her till she has it out.
Once, when she had a small infection, she went
all the way to San Francisco to a chinese
herbalist and spent $20 for a large bundle of herbs, etc to place on the
wound. I laughed and
asked why she didn't just use Bactine. He
seemed not to know about the wondrous
powers of Bactine and the wife was using
19th century cures in the 21st century....I was amazed.
................

[Olly Mensch]

Gordon - there is a difference between merchurochrome and iodine.
Olly

[Gordon]

Post by Olly Mensch
Gordon - there is a difference between merchurochrome and iodine.
Olly

Yes, I gathered that from some of the other posts, but it sounded
similar, I thought maybe Iodine was a proprietary name of the stuff.
Apparently not. :-)

[e***@nospam.com]

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 22:53:35 -0500, Don Wheeler

Post by Don Wheeler
When I was a kid and had a sore throat (which was often), my mother would
swab my throat with mercurochrome. I don't know if it did any good, but I
still remember the nasty taste. We always had a bottle in the medicine
cabinet for cuts. It didn't sting like merthiolate, which we also had.
Now I understand that it has been banned from sale in the U.S. because it
contains mercury. I wonder if I would have turned out a little
smarter.......?? Oh well.
Does anyone else have memories of this stuff?
Don

Yes, I remember it, and iodine, too, both of which are now banned
here. In our family, if the problem was external, it got
mercurochrome or iodine; if internal, it was treated with
Alka-Seltzer.

Our family doctor treated sore throats by swabbing them with silver
nitrate, followed by a Rx for penicillin lozenges. I imagine
mercurochrome worked about as well.

There was another product which I discovered in early adulthood that
is no longer available, although I don't know why -- butesin picrate
with metaphen. It was a yellow ointment for burns and worked like a
charm. It took away the pain almost immediately and the burns healed
far more quickly than with anything else I've ever found.

Emily

[Jeanette S.]

Emily wrote: There was another product which I discovered in early
adulthood that is no longer available, although I don't know why --
butesin picrate with metaphen. It was a yellow ointment for burns and
worked like a charm. It took away the pain almost immediately and the
burns healed far more quickly than with anything else I've ever found.
**********************************************
Yes, true but isn't it lw ys like th t? Somehing good goes in the bin
in fvor of RX drug by he big drug co. (My keybrd isn't working
properly, so will peek in when it gets better or I get new one)

[e***@nospam.com]

Post by Jeanette S.
Emily wrote: There was another product which I discovered in early
adulthood that is no longer available, although I don't know why --
butesin picrate with metaphen. It was a yellow ointment for burns and
worked like a charm. It took away the pain almost immediately and the
burns healed far more quickly than with anything else I've ever found.
**********************************************
Yes, true but isn't it lw ys like th t? Somehing good goes in the bin
in fvor of RX drug by he big drug co. (My keybrd isn't working
properly, so will peek in when it gets better or I get new one)

I see your "a" key has died. That's what happened the only time I
ever had a keyboard go out on me, but fortunately, replacing the
keyboard is the least expensive computer repair I know of. I got a
Memorex keyboard at Best Buy for around $20. It has a number of
little buttons for instantly starting programs and controlling the
sound -- even a mute button which comes in very handy.

And nothing could be simpler to replace -- just be sure to turn your
computer off before unplugging the old one and plugging in a new one.

Emily

[Daisy]

Emily: Your post about an old-time medicine
reminded me of another that I discovered in
the mid-fifties called Revlon Medicated Silicare.
I had a job toting mail in a small cart and in
winter my hands would crack and bleed they
were so cold - even wearing gloves. The
Revlon product healed my hands in a matter
of days. Soon, it disappeared from the shelves with no explanation.

[e***@nospam.com]

Post by Daisy
Emily: Your post about an old-time medicine
reminded me of another that I discovered in
the mid-fifties called Revlon Medicated Silicare.
I had a job toting mail in a small cart and in
winter my hands would crack and bleed they
were so cold - even wearing gloves. The
Revlon product healed my hands in a matter
of days. Soon, it disappeared from the shelves with no explanation.

Wouldn't it be nice if they announced in advance that they were taking
these good things off the market so we could lay in a lifetime supply?
I got a small cut on my hand last week and found that my last bottle
of iodine had dried up completely -- so completely that the top of the
bottle broke when I tried to remove the cap. The last of the
mercurochrome went years ago.

Emily

[Joan F (MI)]

Iodine:

http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/cvs/gateway/detail?prodid=550756

http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jhtml?id=prod385321&CATID=100951&skuid=sku385322&V=G&ext=frgl_506987

https://www.strictlynatural.com/ProductsAtoZ.asp?C=CAD&C=USD&letter=I&CN=185323

In news:***@4ax.com,
***@nospam.com <***@nospam.com> stated
|
| Wouldn't it be nice if they announced in advance that they were taking
| these good things off the market so we could lay in a lifetime supply?
| I got a small cut on my hand last week and found that my last bottle
| of iodine had dried up completely -- so completely that the top of the
| bottle broke when I tried to remove the cap. The last of the
| mercurochrome went years ago.
|
| Emily

[e***@nospam.com]

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 16:57:55 GMT, "Joan F \(MI\)"
<***@removethisameritech.net> wrote:

Joan,

Thanks for the links. The first two are actually Betadine, that
brownish-yellow stuff they scrub surgical sites with, or used to. The
third one is an internal medication. But a search on the Walgreens
site did turn up 2% tincture of iodine. I guess I'll have to order it
since I don't know of a Walgreens anywhere in this area.

Emily

Post by Joan F (MI)
http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/cvs/gateway/detail?prodid=550756
http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jhtml?id=prod385321&CATID=100951&skuid=sku385322&V=G&ext=frgl_506987
https://www.strictlynatural.com/ProductsAtoZ.asp?C=CAD&C=USD&letter=I&CN=185323
|
| Wouldn't it be nice if they announced in advance that they were taking
| these good things off the market so we could lay in a lifetime supply?
| I got a small cut on my hand last week and found that my last bottle
| of iodine had dried up completely -- so completely that the top of the
| bottle broke when I tried to remove the cap. The last of the
| mercurochrome went years ago.
|
| Emily

[Gordon]

Post by Daisy
Emily: Your post about an old-time medicine
reminded me of another that I discovered in
the mid-fifties called Revlon Medicated Silicare.
I had a job toting mail in a small cart and in
winter my hands would crack and bleed they
were so cold - even wearing gloves. The
Revlon product healed my hands in a matter
of days. Soon, it disappeared from the shelves with no explanation.

That reminds me of some stuff, a stick of it really, called Wintergreen.
It served a similar purpose.

An old friend we visited today mentioned a type of glue we used to used
called Tenacitine. I just remembered another called Secotine.

[Daisy]

That reminds me of some stuff, a stick of it really, called Wintergreen.
It served a similar purpose.
An old friend we visited today mentioned a type of glue we used to used
called Tenacitine. =A0 I just remembered another called Secotine.
--
Gordon
***************
Sorry to get so far off-track, but there are a
bunch of things that used to be better in the
old days...for instance --7-UP. Mom used to
give that to us when we were ailing. Today,
it seems not to be nearly as good, or is it
these old taste buds?
..............
Daisy

[Allview]

Has anyone ever heard of Green Mountain Salve? Great for boils and I don't
know what else.

Marilyn

[cramer]

Post by Allview
Has anyone ever heard of Green Mountain Salve? Great for boils and I don't
know what else.
<snip>

Going back a bit - real tough guys used to pour whisky on all
injuries - well John Wayne ( or was it Frank Sinatra) did - I saw it
on a fillum . I think you had to sterilize your bowie knife with a
flame - to cut out arrows and things.
It was all a bit technical.

[Gordon]

b-m01.aol.com>...

Post by Allview
Has anyone ever heard of Green Mountain Salve? Great for boils and I don't
know what else.
<snip>

Going back a bit - real tough guys used to pour whisky on all
injuries - well John Wayne ( or was it Frank Sinatra) did - I saw it
on a fillum . I think you had to sterilize your bowie knife with a
flame - to cut out arrows and things.
It was all a bit technical.

Yes, I remember those movies, and it was always a full-breasted female
who had to dig out the bullet and then cauterise the wound with a red
hot iron.

[Daisy]

Group: soc.senior.issues Date: Fri, Jul 23, 2004, 4:46pm From:
***@yahoo.com (cramer)
***@aol.com (Allview) wrote in message news:<***@mb-m01.aol.com>...
Has anyone ever heard of Green Mountain Salve? Great for boils and I
don't know what else.
<snip>
Cramer wrote:
************************=A0=A0
Going back a bit - real tough guys used to pour whisky on all injuries -
well John Wayne ( or was it Frank Sinatra) did - I saw it on a fillum .
I think you had to sterilize your bowie knife with a flame - to cut out
arrows and things.
It was all a bit technical
***************************************
Did Frank ever portray a cowboy? I can't
recall. Would he have wasted a splash of
whiskey on a cut, mebbe. What about a
snake bite. I think cowboys used to love it
when someone got a snake bite as they
had to suck the venom out by mouth, first
making sure their mouth was 'clean' by
rinsing it out with a big gulp of whiskey.
Did John Wayne or Roy Rogers ever get boils from saddle sores? Could be.
What about
bunions, corns and such?

An interesting item - if you pee while taking a shower, you won't have
athletes foot - so
says one of those late, late night talk show
hosts who can't comb his own hair or tuck
in his shirt.
............
Daisy

[Gordon]

Post by Daisy
Did Frank ever portray a cowboy? I can't
recall. Would he have wasted a splash of
whiskey on a cut, mebbe. What about a
snake bite. I think cowboys used to love it
when someone got a snake bite as they
had to suck the venom out by mouth, first
making sure their mouth was 'clean' by
rinsing it out with a big gulp of whiskey.
Did John Wayne or Roy Rogers ever get boils from saddle sores? Could be.
What about
bunions, corns and such?

I reckon the John Wayne walk was due to those riding boots, which were
just agony to walk in. If you imagine your shoes are pinching badly,
and walk accordingly, you'll do a good Wayne impression.

Post by Daisy
An interesting item - if you pee while taking a shower, you won't have
athletes foot - so
says one of those late, late night talk show
hosts who can't comb his own hair or tuck
in his shirt.

I don't have athlete's foot, so no comment. ;-)

A plumber who came to repair a toilet which had leaked told us that the
installer had done a 'cowboy' job, having used copper instead of lead in
a certain place.
He told us that urine will eat it's way through copper, given time.
So if you do pee in the shower, be sure to swill plenty of water down
after if you have copper outlet pipes!

Actually, they should be lead or plastic.....

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by Gordon
That reminds me of some stuff, a stick of it really, called Wintergreen.
It served a similar purpose.
An old friend we visited today mentioned a type of glue we used to used
called Tenacitine.   I just remembered another called Secotine.
--
Gordon
***************
Sorry to get so far off-track, but there are a
bunch of things that used to be better in the
old days...for instance --7-UP. Mom used to
give that to us when we were ailing. Today,
it seems not to be nearly as good, or is it
these old taste buds?
..............
Daisy

My Dad used "Tenacitine" glue for all sorts of mending jobs,I think that`s how he learned to swear.....it was crap.
Anybody got an old image of the tube or box it came in ?

[Joan F (MI)]

We used that when I was a child, for cuts and scrapes as well as burns.

In news:***@4ax.com,
***@nospam.com <***@nospam.com> stated

| There was another product which I discovered in early adulthood that
| is no longer available, although I don't know why -- butesin picrate
| with metaphen. It was a yellow ointment for burns and worked like a
| charm. It took away the pain almost immediately and the burns healed
| far more quickly than with anything else I've ever found.
|
| Emily

[Olly Mensch]

Positively - I remember well!! that was the standard preventive to put
on cuts - and,as far as I am concerned, it worked!!
Compared to the many changes and improvements in medicine, it is a
miracle that any of us (oldsters) survived.
Olly

[john williamson]

The mercrochrome we used was in a small bottle with a glass rod with a
round tip at the end which was attached to the cap. Dipping the glass
rod into the bottle would give you a drop to put n the scrap. We always
wanted it than the Iodine as it "burned."

We ran around without shoes all Summer and usually got several cuts a
year. Any big cuts called for "Coal Oil," generally known as
"kerosene."

John

[Graybyrd]

Post by john williamson
The mercrochrome we used was in a small bottle with a glass rod with a
round tip at the end which was attached to the cap. Dipping the glass
rod into the bottle would give you a drop to put n the scrap. We always
wanted it than the Iodine as it "burned."
We ran around without shoes all Summer and usually got several cuts a
year. Any big cuts called for "Coal Oil," generally known as
"kerosene."
John

Yup .. that brings back a rash of memories, growing up as a boy during
the 40s and 50s .. i remember the little brown square-sided bottle with
the round black cap, and that glass rod 'dipper' for the flourescent
pink mercurochrome.

Us kids wore those 'strips and splotches' on our nicked and abraded arms
and legs like so much Indian war-paint .. 'battle scars' of the many
spills, bike wrecks, wagon rollovers, skating falls (old 4-wheel metal
wheel clamp-on skates) and scooter trip-ups (the kick-along two-wheel
skateboard thingie with the steering handle up front).

We never got doused with coal oil in our household. Mom was a big
believer in hydrogen peroxide .. if it was a big scrape, she'd douse the
area with it. I still see the froth of white bubbles erupting out of my
hide when she did that ... she said the bubble were a sign that germs
were being killed. Man, there must have been a jillion germs there <!>

Then cover it with a gauze dressing, and cinch it down with the old
fabric-backed adhesive tape .. white fabric tape with goopy adhesive
that would leave dirty, sticky patches on yer hide ... and would pull
off anything that grew on you: hair, scabs, fresh skin, and it would
hurt like hell when it all came loose ...

Gray

[cramer]

Post by Graybyrd

Post by john williamson
The mercrochrome we used was in a small bottle with a glass rod with a
round tip at the end which was attached to the cap. Dipping the glass
rod into the bottle would give you a drop to put n the scrap. We always
wanted it than the Iodine as it "burned."
We ran around without shoes all Summer and usually got several cuts a
year. Any big cuts called for "Coal Oil," generally known as
"kerosene."
John

Yup .. that brings back a rash of memories, growing up as a boy during
the 40s and 50s .. i remember the little brown square-sided bottle with
the round black cap, and that glass rod 'dipper' for the flourescent
pink mercurochrome.
Us kids wore those 'strips and splotches' on our nicked and abraded arms
and legs like so much Indian war-paint .. 'battle scars' of the many
spills, bike wrecks, wagon rollovers, skating falls (old 4-wheel metal
wheel clamp-on skates) and scooter trip-ups (the kick-along two-wheel
skateboard thingie with the steering handle up front).
<snip>
My children slowly graduated from a fondness of being painted with mercurochrome to wanting to be covered in bandaids.

Of course when they were very young the super cure all - 'mother's spit'
( real spit - tut tut - a UK/ australian remedy I believe) was used.
Or so I am told.

[Allview]

I remember a medicine that I actually liked. It was called niter or that could
be nitre. I couldn't spell at that age. My aunt and uncle gave it to me by
the spoonful and I never got it at home.

One that I still hate to this day was milk of magnesia. Yuk.

Marilyn

[James Copeland]

Marilyn, I don't know why anyone would have given you niter for medicinal
purposes. If it was, as you say, indeed "niter" ("nitre" is also an
acceptable spelling) then it was potassium nitrate (KNO3) which is a
colorless crystalline compound with a somewhat salty taste. It is an
extremely powerful oxidizing agent used in explosives, pyrotechnics, etc.
(As such, it could be a powerful germicide under appropriate conditions.) It
used to be used as an anaphrodisiac under the (perhaps) mythical supposition
that it suppressed sexual desires! (I don't know if it really does or not.)
It is also known commercially as "saltpeter." Here's an old joke (please
forgive the off-color): Doctors at a clinic told a young nymphomaniac woman
that they would give her saltpeter. She asked: "Is that as good as a fresh
one?" ;-)
No offense intended.
Jim C.

Post by Allview
I remember a medicine that I actually liked. It was called niter or that could
be nitre. I couldn't spell at that age. My aunt and uncle gave it to me by
the spoonful and I never got it at home.
One that I still hate to this day was milk of magnesia. Yuk.
Marilyn

[Precept]

Post by James Copeland
Marilyn, I don't know why anyone would have given you niter for medicinal
purposes. If it was, as you say, indeed "niter" ("nitre" is also an
acceptable spelling) then it was potassium nitrate (KNO3) which is a
colorless crystalline compound with a somewhat salty taste. It is an
extremely powerful oxidizing agent used in explosives, pyrotechnics, etc.

The medicinal preparation, often used to treat fever, was sweet spirits of
nitre. I don't know the chemistry, but I know it is not the same as
potassium nitrate.

P.

[e***@gmail.com]

Post by Don Wheeler
When I was a kid and had a sore throat (which was often), my mother would
swab my throat with mercurochrome. I don't know if it did any good, but I
still remember the nasty taste. We always had a bottle in the medicine
cabinet for cuts. It didn't sting like merthiolate, which we also had.
Now I understand that it has been banned from sale in the U.S. because it
contains mercury. I wonder if I would have turned out a little
smarter.......?? Oh well.
Does anyone else have memories of this stuff?
Don

Don...yes, mom did the same to me...nasty stuff...I wonder if that "cure" was just a local "grandma's remedy"??...or was it known widely around the country?...my family was from Kentucky...so, I always called it "hillbilly medicine"....

[a***@gmail.com]

Post by Don Wheeler
When I was a kid and had a sore throat (which was often), my mother would
swab my throat with mercurochrome. I don't know if it did any good, but I
still remember the nasty taste. We always had a bottle in the medicine
cabinet for cuts. It didn't sting like merthiolate, which we also had.
Now I understand that it has been banned from sale in the U.S. because it
contains mercury. I wonder if I would have turned out a little
smarter.......?? Oh well.
Does anyone else have memories of this stuff?
Don

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[a***@gmail.com]

Post by Don Wheeler
When I was a kid and had a sore throat (which was often), my mother would
swab my throat with mercurochrome. I don't know if it did any good, but I
still remember the nasty taste. We always had a bottle in the medicine
cabinet for cuts. It didn't sting like merthiolate, which we also had.
Now I understand that it has been banned from sale in the U.S. because it
contains mercury. I wonder if I would have turned out a little
smarter.......?? Oh well.
Does anyone else have memories of this stuff?
Don

https://groups.google.com/d/topic/alt.society.liberalism/kiJCPhdSXQg
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