Some Remarks upon a Publication by the Philadelphia Medical Society concerning Swaim’s Panacea.

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Controversial patent medicine inventor and manufacturer William Swaim’s reply to a critique of his mercury-based concoction, Swaim’s Panacea, by the Philadelphia Medical Society. Swaim’s 21-page defense of his Panacea is followed by a lengthy appendix comprising over 30 “Certificates” to the effectiveness and safety of the patent medicine, including a few case studies, by various physicians, mostly in New York and Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Medical Society issued its report condemning the quack medicine in late 1827, specifically citing physiological symptoms indicative of mercurial poisoning. Herein, Swaim remained defiant against the medical establishment.

By one account, and of humorous note, Swaim’s entry into the world of quackery began when he was a New York bookbinder and became ill and consulted a physician named Quackinboss. Cured by the latter’s nostrums he prevailed upon his deliverer to reveal the recipe of its curative powers. (see James Harvey Young’s The Toadstool Millionaires: Chapter 5 accessed online.)

Price: $125.00