Cephalic Pills

[deaj02]

Does anyone know the composition of this ACW medicine?

[Hank Trent]

Re: Cephalic Pills

A cephalic pill would be one which would cure ills of the head. It would be like looking for the composition of "headache pills" today--headache pills today might be aspirin, might be tylenol. etc., no way of knowing from the name alone.

Cephalic pills in the period might be either a patent medicine or a doctor's prescription. Spalding's Cephalic Pills http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedi...pills-62980585 were advertised heavily as a patent medicine, so it's possible a person in the period talking about a patent medicine with that name might be referring to them, but unfortunately I don't know what they contained specifically.

An 1863 ad (http://news.nnyln.net/st-lawrence-re...20-%200199.pdf big PDF file) claimed "They are entirely vegetable in their composition." That was probably a calculated similarity to Brandreth's long-time advertising for his vegetable blood-purifying pills as well as an appeal to the general suspicion of mineral medicines still lingering from the heroic days of calomel--but the ad doesn't go into any more detail on the composition.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[PogueMahone]

Re: Cephalic Pills

Keep in mind that there was no FDA to test products back then, so anything you could mix up and convince someone else to take might have been a "new product". Fellows' Syrup of Hypophosphites was internationally recognized for its recuperative properties, but one of the ingredients was strychnine, a deadly poison.

[Cyclesmith]

Re: Cephalic Pills

I was under the impression that the Cephalic Pill with mainly Blood Root and a plant extract from the guaiac tree which is where we get our modern Guaifenesin... which is a common over the counter expectorant (Mucinex, etc)... also a source for sarsaparilla common in early sodas and elixirs tonics. Even then, it would have been effective at relieving sinus headaches, and pressure.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Cephalic Pills

I was under the impression that the Cephalic Pill with mainly Blood Root and a plant extract from the guaiac tree which is where we get our modern Guaifenesin... which is a common over the counter expectorant (Mucinex, etc)... also a source for sarsaparilla common in early sodas and elixirs tonics. Even then, it would have been effective at relieving sinus headaches, and pressure.

Could you give your sources, for where you got that impression? Do you mean those where the ingredients in Spalding's pills in particular, or that the majority of any pills called cephalic would have those ingredients? I'm curious where you found Spalding's ingredients, or how you came to the conclusion about what formula dominated.

Andrew Jackson Davis gave a recipe for cephalic pills in 1879, consisting of red pepper, whitewood bark, mandrake and Senecio aureus.

An 18th century recipe includes antimony, galbanum, Russia castor and oil of rosemary, probably an example of the older kind of pills Spalding was distancing himself from, with his claim of being all vegetable.

An 1892 encyclopedia of recipes for "Pills, Headache. Syn. Cephalic Pills" gives three different recipes: 1) Caffeine [not an ingredient I'd expect in the 1860s though], aloes, conserve of rose hips, 2) extracts of opium, belladonna, henbane and lettuce, butter of cacao, 3) Nutmeg, rhubarb, chamomile, peppermint.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com