25 Health Products You'll Be Glad You Don't See Today

    You really didn't want to get ill in the past. With thanks to The Quack Doctor: her new book is out now.

    1. Vigor's Horse-Action Saddle, from 1897.

    2. Ambition Pills, from 1896.

    3. This nose shaper from 1920.

    4. Just no. From 1905.

    5. Cancer and Scrofula Syrup, 1861. Not too sure it worked.

    6. This rather hardcore cough medicine from 1901.

    7. Your paralysis cured, 1892.

    8. This extreme weight loss method from the early Twentieth Century. It's fine, they're easy to swallow.

    9. A headache cap from 1900.

    10. This 1914 vibrator advert. For your wife or sister to use. Um, when you're not home.

    11. This Bane costume from 1822.

    12. This thermal bath to make you more manly, from 1903.

    13. Fat-reducing soap from 1925.

    14. For the elderly: Thorazine, from the mid-20th Century. Unfortunate side effects: low blood pressure, involuntary muscle twitching, increased risk of death.

    15. Some face bleach from 1897. Contained mercury.

    16. An ankle corset from 1922.

    17. It's harmless. Really (from 1938).

    18. This dandruff cure from 1903. Yes, that is coke as in cocaine.

    19. These "Nervous Pills" from 1883. Ingredients unknown.

    20. This infant preservative from 1872. Contained, um, opium.

    21. Safe arsenic wafers, from 1887.

    22. This moustache trainer from 1901.

    23. This vaporising inhaler from 1887.

    24. Coca Cola, back when it had traces of cocaine in it (it was cocaine free by 1929).

    25. Valentine's Meat-Juice, from 1914.