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| 'One Thousand Secrets Revealed' rare find at museum |
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| Question: It seems that almost on a daily basis, new artifacts and things worthy of rememberance are added to the displays at the Boone County Heritage Museum. This past week was no exception, when one of our volunteers brought in a most unusual book to be added to the second floor Medical Room. |
| Answer: "One Thousand Secrets Revealed" by C. A. Bogardus, published in 1907, is a real eye-opener, and considering that Bogardus was not a doctor or even a pharmacist, it makes this book a real collectors item. He stated that mankind had two great duties: first, that of self-support and education, and second, that of governmental support and national enlightenment. So, one would gather that in promoting these "medicines," you could say he was trying to accomplish his duty of self-support. It is hard to imagine anyone using any of the formulas, or "cures," as listed below. |
| From the Bogardus Medical Department: |
| Diphtheria: Take a clean clay tobacco pipe; put a live coal in it; then put common tar on the fire and smoke it, inhaling and breathing back through the nostrils. |
| Magic Oil: One gallon Sweet Oil; two ounces Oil of Hemlock; two ounces Oil Organum; two ounces Chloroform; four ounces Spirits of Ammonia. Mix and let stand for 24 hours and it is ready to use. Dose, internally, one teaspoon for adults. Bathe the affected parts well. This is a great remedy for aches, pains, rheumatism, neuralgia, and all nervous and inflammatory diseases. |
| Cure for Sore Throat: Two ounces of Cayenne Pepper; one ounce Common Salt; one-half pint of Vinegar. Warm over a slow fire and gargle the throat and mouth every hour. Garlic and Onion poultice should be applied to the outside of the throat. |
| A Cure for Small Pox: A gentleman contributes to the Chicago News the following as a sure and never failing cure for small pox: One ounce Cream of Tartar dissolved in a pint of boiling water, to be drank at intervals, when cold. It can be taken at any time, and as a preventative as well as a curative. It is known to have cured in thousands of cases without a failure. |
| Corns: Extract of Cannabis Indicus, ten grains; Salicylic Acid, six grams; Collodion, one ounce. Mix and apply with a camel's hair pencil so as to form a thick covering over the corn for three or four nights. Take a hot foot bath and the corn can easily be removed with the aid of a knife. |
| A Certain Cure for Drunkenness: Sulphate of Iron, five grains; Magnesia, ten grains; Peppermint water, eleven drachms; Spirits of Nutmeg, one drachm; twice a day. This preparation acts as a tonic and stimulant, and so partially supplies the place of the accustomed liquor, and prevents that absolute physical and mental prostration that follows a sudden breaking off from the use of stimulating drinks. |
| Pain Killer: One quart proof alcohol, one drachm; Chloroform, one ounce; Oil Sassafras, one ounce; one Gum Camphor, one drachm; Spirit of Ammonia, two drachms; Oil of Cayenne. Mix well and let stand 24 hours before using. |
| It almost seems that most of these "cures" would be more likely to kill than cure. I can only imagine swallowing the cure for a sore throat. But just in case you should be tempted to try one of these recipes, I hope you cannot find the ingredients. |
| C. A. Bogardus was living in Springfield, Missouri at the time he published this 1907 booklet. He was known for his sharp shooting abilities, and his claims to fame were that in 1893 he had hit 1,000 wooden balls with a .22-caliber Marlin rifle in 17 ¼ minutes; and second, that when an object was thrown in the air, he could hit it 12 times before it struck the ground, using an automatic shotgun. Believe that or not. |
| His book continued on to tell how you could get rich raising hogs - including the statement that "there is more money made in growing hogs than any animal known in the world." Now hog farmers, take note - his "cure" for cholera was: throw a wagonload of sand where you feed your hogs; put one bushel of old slacked lime on sand; throw your feed on that for your hogs, and about every three months, replenish with the same sand and lime. |
| Bogardus also told how to make everlasting fence posts, kangaroo cement, imitation silver and gold, plus page after page of other "inventions." This rare old book will be on display in the Medical Room of the Heritage Museum. Stop by and spend an afternoon - you never know what surprises you may find. |
| Located on the corner of South Cherry and Central Avenue, the museum is open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission is only $2 for adults. |
| This column appears Fridays in the Harrison Daily Times. Mail questions to Boone County Heritage Museum, P. O. Box 1094, Harrison, AR 72601. Marilyn Smith can be contacted at bchm@alltel.net |
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