ABSTRACT
That 1911 issue of the bmj also described Mrs Green’s Wonderful Ointment, advertised like that of Mr Port as not requiring surgery ‘Amputation avoided. No cutting or burning’ and stating that it ‘Also cures poor animals’. If her claims were to be believed, then the medical profession would have been put out of business since Mrs Green categorically stated that she could cure all kinds of diseases with her ointment and listed the following under the caption ‘Miracles Will Never Cease’.
Diseases of the skin, Old wounds of long standing and deemed incurable, (Ladies suffering from Bad Breasts), Old Ulcers, Abscesses, Cancers of all descriptions, Tumours, Polypus, Piles (blind or bleeding), Fistulas, Scrofula, Gun-shot wounds, Bad legs, Arms, Whitlows, Boils, Burns, Scalds, (King’s Evil), Scurvy, all kinds of Poisoned Wounds, (will draw out Splinters, Needles, or Broken or Diseased Bones), Erysipelas, Stings, Venomous Bites, Scurf, Itch, Ringworms, Chilblains, Chapped Hands, Cracked Lips, Cuts, Gathering in the Ears, Deafness, Inflamed Eyes, Sore Throats, Eczema, Mumps, Bruises, Neuralgia, Rheumatism, Gout, Stiffness and Swelling of the Joints, Paralysis (Limbs drawn up, Crippled), Sprains, Lumbago, Pains in the Leg and Back, (Hip Diseases), Salt Rheum, Corns, and etc.
These claims were typical of many other quack medicines, and in addition, the advertisers often used to state who should never be without their wonderful ointment, which in the case of Mrs Green was ‘Homes, Nurseries, Travellers, Mechanics, Horse Owners, Stables, Horse Keepers and Farmers’.