General Chat

M.I.L used to swear by Dr colllis-Browns liquid medicine for tummy troubles. I think it had opium in it! .

Sharron,
I had to laugh about the orange tic tacs you gave instead of the fibogel.!!
Fibogel is a laxative, and you can get it currently in sachets which you add water to Comes in different flavours.. It is more natural than other laxatives, and does not interfere with other medications.
Also remember my dad using Sloans Linament and some green jelly like stuff for removing grease from hands from cars etc.,

Blimey just realised you must all be as old as me to remember all these remedies. lol

and how OLD are you then Carol? Its okay, you dont have to say.!!!
Just remembered the name of the green jelly. Swarfego. Not sure of spelling !!

Found via Google...from Times online site

For the last century of the British Empire, its rulers’ stomachs were soothed by Dr J. Collis Browne’s special mixture of chlorodyne. The standard chlorodyne mixture, composed of chloroform, a bit of ether, alcohol, a hefty dollop of morphia, treacle, peppermint and syrup, was still in use in the 1950s, and was equally effective whether prescribed to suppress a cough or to soothe and control a gut. Dr Collis Browne’s variant of the British pharmaceutical formula chlorodyne began to contain less and less morphia as government regulations grew tougher.

Gwyn

I wish somebody could find something about Dr White's Compo. A google search only brings up sanitary products.

Nope, I am wrong. Swarfega and Gunk are both green.

Indian Brandy is wrong, it is Indian Brandee.

Smelling Salts also used to be sold by Boots when I started work there in about 1968.
I think it was called Sal Volatalie, it smelt awful and would soon bring you round. Ladies long ago suffered from "the vapours" and I guess that was used then too.

I was going to add that the hand cleaner was Swarfega, think they still use it in Garages

Linda :o) XxX

No-one has mentioned Syrup of Figs which we used to get dosed up with as children!

I still buy cod liver oil of malt from Boots. Love it!
Loved Victory Vs too, and the smell of Germolene.

Still have a jar of Swarfega under the sink.

Sal Volatile was ammonia salts I think.

Syrup of Figs was to keep you "regular". Hmm. Loved it. Not so the Cod Liver Oil, though we now know it was probably very good for us.

Couldn't stand Victory Vs. The only throat tablets back then were Bradasol.

And I've still got a tin of Brasso.

Before swarfega there was DIRTYPAWS a pink smelly handwash jelly for Dad to clean up before dinner !

Before the days of sheer protective gloves we would use Rozalex barrier cream.

What about Zubes. We all had Zube tins in primary to keep our crayons in.

We used to be given Indian Brandee for monthly pains . it really seemed to work. I've since tried to find out what was in it but with no success. We used to buy it from the herbal shop.


Dad always took Carter's Little Liver Pills, said they kept him "regular"

I used to be given Calf's Foot Jelly ... I loved it, would have eaten the whole jar if I'd been allowed to!

Gripe Water contained a significant amount of alcohol ....... my daughter (born 1874) loved it as a baby. Now, she uses a herbal version, still called Gripe Water but bought from a naturpath.


I have Brasso and Silvo under the sink ......... now sold in plastic containers not metal.



When I had a cough, mum used to cut the top off a turnip, hollow it out, and put brown sugar in the hollow. She then left it for 24 hours, then would give me a teaspoonful of syrupy liquid that formed.

If Dad had a sore throat, cough or thought he was coming down with a cold, he would get the largest onion he could find, and eat it raw.


ah, memories!



We now have people bring us Rinstead Pastilles from England, the only things that I haven't found a substitute for over here.




sylvia

Good Morning All
Madmeg, please forgive the spelling of Indian Barndy, or, Indian Brandee. It was from a childhood memory. I just wish we could get it nowadays.
So, even as a child I had stomach problems, that still persist today, but in a more adult versions.
How I remember my mother dosing me with this, a teaspoon in warm water, and soon going off to sleep. On waking, the pain had gone. Nowadays, it takes Morphine, to gain something like the same effect.
Have a good day everyone
Julia in Derbyshire

Goodness Rita not that old !! Most of the names you mention I knew too and I hope that I'm not so old in remembering them.

Whose house always smelt of parrafin before the days of central heating ? It is something I remember of my grandmother. And being told never to go near as I would be burnt. Health and safety?????

Linda :o) XxX

I remember almost all things mentioned here! Threw out my last parrafin stove last year. I had cooked on it when in rooms and it was all I had apart from an electric ring.

You are right about there being Pink and Blue parrafin Rita. When I had a saturday job in a hairdressers one of my jobs was to go to the garage and buy the paraffin to heat the shop. Oh how I hated carrying that leathal can !!!! I had forgotten all about that until you reminded me.
I actually have a paraffin heater in my garage, it is one you can put a pot or kettle on the top of to heat through. We had it for the greenhouse in the winter, but we don't struggle to keep plants going now, just buy new each spring.

Linda :o) Xxx

Anyone remember Surprise Peas, dried peas in a packet which you just added water to.??!!!
And Vesta dried curries.?

Sue, hello, yes I remember both of these. I used to use the Surprise Peas.
Also, the Vesta Dried Curries, and their Paela. It used to be a Saturday night treat for us, after the kids had gone to bed, and we could not go out.
But then, there was something to watch on the Telly on a Saturday, if you stopped in.
Take Care
Julia in Derbyshire

Hi Sue and Julia
Surprise peas !!! Yes I remember them
As for Vesta meals I saw one on the shelf at Tesco just last week, it was the chow mein one. I had it for dinner when hubby was at work.................. wish I hadn't bothered it wasn't very nice. Especially compared to frozen or ready made meals we can get now. But it did take me back to when I was first married in the early 1970's.

Linda :o) XxX