It appeared, however, from a booklet sent with the ointment that rheumatism was only one among a large number of complaints for which the ointment was recommended; it was described on the label as:
A certain cure for Sprains, Bruises, Cuts, Burns, Chapped Hands, Eczema, Blood Poisoning, Whitlows, Sea Water Boils, Abscesses, Piles, Rheumatism, Sciatica, Lumbago, Pains in the Back and Loins, and all Sores and Ulcers of every description.
The directions for its use in rheumatism were:
First wash the part to be treated with warm water and soda, then thoroughly dry—(a quantity of the ointment may then be well rubbed in). Now get a piece of thick cotton cloth (old sheeting answers very well) or better still, chamois leather, spread the ointment thickly and apply like a poultice. When the dressing begins to get dry, take it off, and after scraping the cloth replace it with fresh ointment. The part may, after a dressing or two, begin to itch, and the skin, being stimulated, may come out in a humour. If so, do not be alarmed but persevere. This is a sure sign that the Ointment is doing its work, drawing out the deleterious matter, viz., Uric Acid Poison, from the body through the most natural of all channels, the pores of the skin.
Analysis showed the presence of colophony resin, petroleum jelly, a little beeswax, and a fatty base. The colophony was accompanied by a small proportion of another substance of resinous nature, which appeared to be the altered resin to be found in the variety of colophony known commercially as “black resin”; a dark substance was also present which appeared to consist of the natural impurities of crude petroleum; the fatty basis showed generally the properties of a mixture of lard and tallow. A similar ointment was obtained by using the following formula:
| Black resin | 12 | per cent. |
| Beeswax | 2 | ” |
| Crude petroleum jelly | 26 | ” |
| Tallow | 20 | ” |
| Lard | 40 | ” |
Estimated cost of ingredients for 1¾ ounces, 1d.
ZOX.
Zox is a powder made by a Company with an address in London and the price charged is 1s. for a box containing eight powders. It was described on the wrapper as:
The most marvellous pain reliever. Instantly cures Toothache, Neuralgia, Headache, Sciatica, and all Nerve Pains. Pure, Harmless, not Aperient.