Right before Gretel shoved the Wicked Witch in the oven so she and Hansel could escape from the Gingerbread House, the witch got even with all children of the last century.
She invented Mercurochrome and convinced parents of that era that when any child had an open wound, they should pour this red/orange colored fireball medicine directly on the wound and burn the hell out of their offspring. And it worked. It burned like a mother.
Kids back then would hide their cuts and scrapes, hoping parents wouldn’t find out and retrieve the dreaded bottle of Mercurochrome
Also, in the medicine cabinet – and equal partners in crime – were bottles of Iodine and
Merthiolate. They burned just as badly.
Mercurochrome was developed in the early 1900’s and employed mercury compounds to stop the spread of bacteria. It stopped it alright. Nothing could possibly live in the path of this witch-inspired medicine. Then, somewhere along the line, someone realized the potential of mercury poisoning and Mercurochrome was mercifully banned from use and removed from the marketplace. After successfully torturing small children with the BIG 3, milder medicines like Neosporin came along.
Another strange medicine of the past was Paregoric – basically an over-the-counter narcotic. It would knock the hell out of anybody who took a swig. It was available without a prescription at the local drug stores and was widely used by adults for stomach and gastrointestinal issues and given to babies for everything from stubborn coughs to teething pain. Finally, the drug people figured out that lots of people were getting hooked on this miracle drug and it, too, was removed from the OTC medicine list.
Mercurochrome, Iodine, Merthiolate, Paregoric, Cod Liver Oil, Milk of Magnesia and Ex- lax? It’s a wonder any of us survived.
