Tincture of Merthiolate

[Tyghress]

Oh yes. . .all of the above 'cures'. Merthiolate, mercurochrome (same thing maybe?) and iodine.

My father wanted to stuff Vick's up my nose, but I was quite serious about running away if he did, and he finally gave up.

I was prone to skin infections and had open wounds treated with ichthamol ointment too. I actually think that stuff worked. Can you even find it anymore? Gooey black stuff.

[missy]

I remember this stuff, but didn't actually have the "pleasure" of having it used on me (I tended to do more serious things that needed stitches).
But I would get car sick VERY easily as a kid. The local pharmacist made up something liquid for me to take, and the bottle of it would be in the glove box. My dad used to swear it was some type of opiate! It wasn't paragoric (sp?) - but may have been based on it.

[Cynth]

I definitely remember merthiolate, mercurochrome and iodine. I'm not sure which we used, I think it was iodine---I think my mom thought it was more powerful.

I only remember having it put on one time, although there must have been others or I wouldn't have feared it so. The time I remember was when I was four years old and a little boy had bitten me quite viciously on the back. I was so instilled with the germ theory (my mother was a nurse) that I begged her to put iodine on the bite even though she didn't think it was necessary for some reason--probably the bite was not as bad as I thought. I was convinced I would die otherwise---maybe I was thinking of rabies or something. My poor mother. I remember lying across her legs while she sat on the toilet putting it on with the little glass rod. I was screaming, of course, but if she said she'd put on enough I just screamed that it needed more to prevent infection. What a weird kid.

Yes, thank god for Bactine. I thought that stung a bit too though. What made me feel life had really improved was when that Johnson's and Johnson's first aid cream came out. I made my mom get some of that right away. It was such a relief to have that.


I found the following info---first two from Wikipedia, third from World Health Organization.

1. Thimerosal (also spelled thiomersal) is a mercury-containing organic compound (organomercurial).

Thimerosal was developed and registered under the trade name Merthiolate in 1929 by the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly and marketed as an antibacterial and antifungal agent. It has been used as an additive to prevent bacterial contamination in vaccines and other compounds such as immune globulin preparations, skin test antigens, anti-venins, ophthalmic and nasal products, and tattoo inks.

The chemical formula for thimerosal is C9H9HgNaO2S. In the body it is metabolized to ethylmercury (C2H5Hg+) and thiosalicylate. Thimerosal causes susceptible bacteria to autolyze (break down their own cells with self-produced enzymes) via an unknown mechanism.


2. Mercurochrome (also known as merbromin) is a topical antiseptic. Its antiseptic qualities were discoverd by Johns Hopkins doctor Hugh Young in 1919. The chemical soon became popular among parents and doctors for everyday antiseptic uses, mostly in tincture form. The FDA banned its distribution in the United States in the 1990s over fears of mercury poisoning. It is readily available in most other countries.

Mercurochrome chemical formulaIt is also used as a chemical dye for its bright red color. In its pure state, it has the appearance of green crystals with melting point higher than 300 °C.

Chemically, mercurochrome is C20H8Br2HgNa2O6, name dibromohydroxymercurifluorescein.

3. Iodine tincture

Iodine tincture contains approximately 2% iodine and 2.4% sodium iodide diluted in 50% ethanol. Iodine is bactericidal, sporicidal, cysticidal and virucidal. Gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria are almost equally affected. Its action persists for several hours although it gradually diminishes after

[The Weekenders]

I see a bottle of the stuff (merthiolate) everyday in the bathroom where I work, sitting on top of the never-restocked first-aid kit. I wonder if its worth something...

I remember being thoroughly confused about iodine, merthiolate, mercurochrome as a kid, so I really appreciated the definitions above. Like Doug, I do remember the glass ball-tipped dispenser, which was always weird to begin with.

Yep, in those days, every fourth kid had a bright orangish or reddish spot on his knee, elbow or forehead. And boy, do I remember the sting...

Ah, the good ol' days of indiscriminate chemical use. Hexol in the bathtub, mercurochrome on the skin, radioactive watch hands, foot x-rays, bleach and Pine-Sol everywhere, lead-based paint, lighter fluid in every house. It's a miracle so many of us are still around....

[Cynth]

Is there something dangerous about Pine-Sol? I like that stuff.

I do remember those foot x-ray machines in shoe stores.

[SBS144]

And then there was castor oil.... ahhh, sorry, different medical problem....

[Whistlin'Dixie]

Ah, the good ol' days of indiscriminate chemical use. Hexol in the bathtub, mercurochrome on the skin, radioactive watch hands, foot x-rays, bleach and Pine-Sol everywhere, lead-based paint, lighter fluid in every house. It's a miracle so many of us are still around....

Man, I was a Dental Assistant back in the day before healthcare workers wore gloves!

We scrubbed our hands with Phisohex (so mine were always raw and bleeding). We mixed the amalgam for the fillings. We put a little pellet of "stuff" and dispensed a ball or two of mercury into a little capsule which was put into a shaker. After it was shaken to make the filling, you spilled the little lump out onto a small piece of some kind of material, and hand-squeezed the excess mercury out of it (onto the counter, I might add). I would use the flat of my hand to sweep the mercury balls into a container we kept under the counter to collect the excess mercury. We used to love to play with those mercury balls. Shiney.

Mary

[fel bautista]

I remember the iodine and the merthiolate as well. The little brown bottle was always up in the medicine cabinet. I remember slicing my thumb with an x-acto knife blade while cuttings spars for a flying model of a Piper Cub or some such plane. The blood was everywhere, the balsa wood, the wax paper; I paniced and my mom took some iodine and submerged the offending digit with the iodine. Proceded to put two or three bandages on the cut and was told to lay down and keep the thumb elevated.

[Charlene]

We always used mercurochrome. I remember how it stung, but my parents said that meant it was working.

I remember when dentists didn't wear gloves and I had to rinse and spit into the sink by the side of the chair. And I'm sure most of the fillings I have are mercury.

[fel bautista]

I loved those X-Ray machines. Dr Brown shoes???

[Bill Reeder]

The x-ray machines were great!! Buster Brown shoes?

[LeeMarsh]

As I remember it when I was a kid, we had Iodine and either methiolate or merchurochrome (sp?) one stung alot and one stung just a little. When we would get a cut, my mom would ask us how it happened. There were two types of accidents in her opinion, the first was when something unexpected happened. The second was a result of doing something stupid. Doing something stupid alway got the one that stung more; however, if you lied to avoid the "stupid" sting you'd get both. It was never applied to the open wound but to the skin around the wound to disinfect. The wound was alway washed with running cold water first.

BTW from age 1 to age 17, we (my three brothers and I) all got annual tetnus boosters, "just to be safe" when we got a bad cut. Yes we got cuts and stitches about that often for one reason or another. At the time, it was called being boys growing up and not a matter of 'proper safety precautions'. They were the badges and proof of grand adventures with me and my friends, all of perfecting our story telling abilities, learning which detail required accuracy, and which required a change of ... a... hm.... perspective to a more elastic view of reality.

We slowly learned to be more carefull more to avoid the sore arm from the tetnus shot than from the pain of the actual injuries. Scars and injuries were respected, you never hit a guy in his stitches. But, tetnus shot swollen tricepts were favored targets of siblings for enfractions remembered and friends for good natured teasing.

[cowtime]

And then there was castor oil.... ahhh, sorry, different medical problem....

and turpentine- taken by mouth, the other spring tonic

[Walden]

We always used to refer to it as "monkey blood."

"Are you a-gonna put some monkey blood on that scrape?"

[The Weekenders]

Ah, the good ol' days of indiscriminate chemical use. Hexol in the bathtub, mercurochrome on the skin, radioactive watch hands, foot x-rays, bleach and Pine-Sol everywhere, lead-based paint, lighter fluid in every house. It's a miracle so many of us are still around....

Man, I was a Dental Assistant back in the day before healthcare workers wore gloves!

We scrubbed our hands with Phisohex (so mine were always raw and bleeding). We mixed the amalgam for the fillings. We put a little pellet of "stuff" and dispensed a ball or two of mercury into a little capsule which was put into a shaker. After it was shaken to make the filling, you spilled the little lump out onto a small piece of some kind of material, and hand-squeezed the excess mercury out of it (onto the counter, I might add). I would use the flat of my hand to sweep the mercury balls into a container we kept under the counter to collect the excess mercury. We used to love to play with those mercury balls. Shiney.

Mary

We had a vial of mercury that belonged to my great-great-grandfather, who had a gold mine near Placerville. We used to sneak the vial down and play with the stuff in our hands, too... Nothing like it....