Patent Medicine

My volunteer and I are still transcribing J.S. Meeks' coroner reports. We're in the final year--1896 (woot!). We have a running, albeit morbid, joke based off of the regularity of Greenville being featured in the "best of lists" and "top 10 things to do X": "Have you found any new or interesting ways to die in Greenville County?" Yes, death is death and for the people involved at the time it was sad, gruesome, and devastating. However, in retrospect, the testimonies and causes of death are so foreign and odd to modern eyes that they make us laugh or shake our heads. One lady died because her corset was laced too tight. One man's cause of death was ruled "a visitation of God." And several cases have dealt with patent medicine. One man would take a swig and then would violently shake all over. This most recent patent medicine related death finally prompted the Jury to forward on their complaint to the governing bodies of Greenville to prevent peddlers and snake oil salesmen from taking advantage of the poor and ignorant. I am thankful that progress was made for the regulation of medicine.