Olden Life: What was Chlorodyne Alan Thomas
Many readers will remember the ubiquitous advertisements for Dr J. Collis Browne's Chlorodyne.
They appeared in magazines, newspapers, guide and travel books, theatre programmes, on hoardings, railway stations and Tube trains.
Who was Dr J. Collis Browne, and what was Chlorodyne?
John Collis Browne, born in 1819, began his career as a doctor in London hospitals, and qualified as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1842. Three years later, he became an extralicentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, and then joined the Army Medical Service as an assistant surgeon.
In 1848, while serving with the Indian Army, Collis Browne formulated a compound, the principal ingredients being chloroform, morphine, cannabis and laudanum. He called it Chlorodyne.
The formulation of the compound coincided with a desperate outbreak of cholera in the region, and Collis Browne's Chlorodyne achieved remarkable success in the treatment of the disease.
Leaving the army in 1852, he was requested to go to Trimdon in County Durham, where an epidemic of cholera had broken out. So successful was Chlorodyne that the grateful villagers presented him with a gold medal, inscribed, ‘As a Testimonial to His Humanity, Skills and Ability during a visitation of Cholera in 1854.'
Collis Browne decided to exploit the commercial potential of his Chlorodyne, and formed a partnership with John Thistlewood Davenport, a manufacturing chemist. Davenport was a wise choice as a partner, as President of the Pharmaceutical Society, giving additional kudos to the venture.
They marketed Collis Browne's concoction as Chlorodyne, a remedy of general utility that cured a wide spectrum of ailments from toothache to cholera.
The timing of this business start-up was spot-on. Self-medication, widely practised at the time, continued for many years, much to the benefit of purveyors of patent medicines in general, and Collis Browne's Chlorodyne in particular.
It was considered an absolutely essential medicine for the medical chest in the Boer War and later conflicts; and was frequently dispensed in stables, piggeries and kennels, too. The veterinary applications were not widely publicised.
Becoming one of the most popular patent medicines in the country, its success encouraged many competitors to enter the field. The active ingredients were well-known and generic versions were made up and sold at prices that undercut Collis Browne's Chlorodyne. Potential purchasers were warned to be wary of imitators (who probably sold the same thing at half the price).
Collis Browne's Chlorodyne could be extremely addictive, and deaths from overdoses were a frequent occurrence. However, as government regulations grew tougher, the original formulation had to be changed, with the cannabis removed and the opiates greatly reduced.
The advent of the National Health Service brought about a decline in self-medication, and this affected the sale of proprietary medicines. Dr J. Collis Browne's Chlorodyne was affected by this downturn; although the name of Collis Browne lives on in J. Collis Browne's Mixture (minus the Dr), which relieves diarrhoea and coughs. It contains morphine and peppermint oil – but doesn't pack the same addictive, knockout punch as its predecessor!