Various formerly very widely used over the counter medications were removed from the market several years ago. An example were throat lozenges called Tyrozets. They contained an antibiotic despite the fact that most sore throats are from viral infections rather than from bacterial infections and needless consumption of antibiotics carries the risk of building up resistance to them for future occasions when prescribed for a genuine bacteria-based condition.
-
Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now
- Thread starter GordonT
- Start date
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
Merle Haggard
Established Member
Doses anyone else remember those scaring adverts for "Dr. J. Collis-Browne's Compound' on the Underground?
The poster was of Victorian appearance with a type face of that period, red lettering in different fonts and possibly with the outline hand with pointing finger. It made a number of bold claims about its ability to cure a very wide variety of illnesses including ones even now regarded as serious or probably terminal as well as more usual ones such as flatulence. It was rumoured to contain opium and morphine. When opened, the bottle's contents had very pungent fumes.
Some legislation forced its name to be changed from 'Compound' to 'Mixture', and the adverts were changed to reflect the, but retained the very dated style.
Edited to correct autocorrect
The poster was of Victorian appearance with a type face of that period, red lettering in different fonts and possibly with the outline hand with pointing finger. It made a number of bold claims about its ability to cure a very wide variety of illnesses including ones even now regarded as serious or probably terminal as well as more usual ones such as flatulence. It was rumoured to contain opium and morphine. When opened, the bottle's contents had very pungent fumes.
Some legislation forced its name to be changed from 'Compound' to 'Mixture', and the adverts were changed to reflect the, but retained the very dated style.
Edited to correct autocorrect
Last edited:
I dont understand - why?
Did you have no cards or something?
I suppose you could pay via paypoint (or whatever its called) if you only had cash.
Morphine 1mg per 5ml dose and peppermint oil 0.0015ml.
(Martindale Extra Pharmacopoeia, 1989)
My late father was an information scientist, so inherited some unusual books.
Related - Victory V lozenges, with chloroform and ether
They're both rather volatile for putting in a lozenge that be on a shop shelf for any length of time; speaking a someone who nearly knocked himself out at Uni handling dichloromethane (similar to chloroform) and setting his right hand on fire with diethyl ether. (I was quite unharmed)
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Wasn't it Collis-Browne's?
Interestingly, the UK is one of few European countries which allows the sale of medicines in supermarkets or otherwise not from a pharmacy. I rarely take any medicine and my paracetamol "expires" before I get through the pack, but my partner does use mild painkillers for a couple of conditions and I'm reminded of how liberal the UK is in this respect whenever we visit a country like Croatia or Germany and she wants to pick up ibuprofen or paracetamol and you basically have to go to a pharmacy for it. In Croatia this evening came with a series of about half a dozen questions from the pharmacist.
Merle Haggard
Established Member
Correct - I wish I could switch off auto-correct.
I can only say about France. It is true that you need to go to a pharmacy, but there are many pharmacies, even some small villages have one. They will sell stronger painkillers OTC than in the UK. They also sell a wider range of products, which may be how they make the business pay.
gg1
Established Member
I'm a year older than you, must be at least 20 years since I wrote one, probably for an eBay purchase.
In the early years of eBay, sellers could be very specific about accepted payment methods, and some only accepted cheques or postal order as a way of avoiding the fees for online payment services like Paypal.
eBay stopped that when they made Paypal a required payment option sometime in the early/mid 00s, not long after they'd bought them.
I'm 65 and I've written hundreds, probably maybe thousands of cheques over my lifetime, monthly and quarterly bills for example, or when shopping with a cheque guarantee card. I remember when the supermarket in Hammersmith started accepting credit cards in 1982, so that became my preferred payment method from then on.
But maybe 3 in the last 10 years, one for Companies House (£10) and two for debt collectors who were chasing me for payment to insolvent energy supply companies, so in the latter case a cheque with a second class stamp seemed the best option.
I've sent large amounts of money to people who invest money by cheque in the past, but last time I just sent it online at £20,000 per day which was my limit until it all got there.
I've also received refunds from British Gas and Royal Mail by cheque, presumably also on the basis that it slows the process down, but I'm now able to pay these in online I'm glad to say. Shred the cheque once the money is confirmed in my account.
But maybe 3 in the last 10 years, one for Companies House (£10) and two for debt collectors who were chasing me for payment to insolvent energy supply companies, so in the latter case a cheque with a second class stamp seemed the best option.
I've sent large amounts of money to people who invest money by cheque in the past, but last time I just sent it online at £20,000 per day which was my limit until it all got there.
I've also received refunds from British Gas and Royal Mail by cheque, presumably also on the basis that it slows the process down, but I'm now able to pay these in online I'm glad to say. Shred the cheque once the money is confirmed in my account.
Last edited:
Merle Haggard
Established Member
The advantage of paying by cheque in days long gone was that your account would not be debited until it had gone through the clearing process to reach your bank.
In those days I arranged to pay my mortgage by cheque at a building society branch. Although the buying society gave a date of the month when the payment was 'due' they accepted that it was acceptable for me to pay on the last day of the month.
The mortgage was due monthly but BR paid me four weekly. At some times of the year when my cash flow was particularly critical I could write a cheque on the last day of the month without sufficient funds in my bank account but knowing that by the time the cheque was presented to my bank - usually 4 or 5 working days - the next 4 week's pay would have been paid in.
Someone I worked with used a similar scam. He paid off one credit card's outstanding balance the day before it became chargeable for interest from another credit card, repeating the process to pay off that credit card. The amount borrowed didn't increase, though, he was just servicing a specific amount of debt without paying interest.
Now, when I make a bank transfer to a friend in their presence, the 'ping' of them having received the money happens pretty well instantaneously
In those days I arranged to pay my mortgage by cheque at a building society branch. Although the buying society gave a date of the month when the payment was 'due' they accepted that it was acceptable for me to pay on the last day of the month.
The mortgage was due monthly but BR paid me four weekly. At some times of the year when my cash flow was particularly critical I could write a cheque on the last day of the month without sufficient funds in my bank account but knowing that by the time the cheque was presented to my bank - usually 4 or 5 working days - the next 4 week's pay would have been paid in.
Someone I worked with used a similar scam. He paid off one credit card's outstanding balance the day before it became chargeable for interest from another credit card, repeating the process to pay off that credit card. The amount borrowed didn't increase, though, he was just servicing a specific amount of debt without paying interest.
Now, when I make a bank transfer to a friend in their presence, the 'ping' of them having received the money happens pretty well instantaneously
Absolutely, the change to make online payments pretty instantaneous has changed this for the better, in the past you posted the cheque in sufficient time for it to be received and then for it to be cleared. Now I get my quarterly power bill and set up a payment online for its due date and that's it, other than making sure I have the money in my account to avoid going overdrawn on the day.
If you paid it in online then you circumvent some of the human intervention needed when you pay it in at a bank, for sure. But I think it still has to go through a clearing process which is not instantaneous as you say.
HSBC says (https://www.hsbc.co.uk/ways-to-bank/mobile/cheque-deposit/)
so it looks like you were unlucky or have a less competent bank.
Last edited:
Merle Haggard
Established Member
I think that the cheque still has to be physically sent from the receiving bank to the issuing one. That certainly was the case.
That changed in 2019 to allow digital images as an alternative to physical paper.
Yes, so essentially your uploading a picture of the cheque feeds directly into this process, so your bank has limited need for human intervention.
Anecdotally I've heard of holidaymakers in Spain from UK stocking up on antibiotics over the counter from pharmacies to circumvent what they perceive as an unreasonable reluctance on the part of GPs to prescribe them. How aware or concerned they are about the risks attached to resistance from overuse I've no idea.
My recollection of France is that the pharmacies are crammed full of homeopathic remedies which they try to persuade you to buy in place of Pepto-Bismol (or whatever). Very strange. Each to their own, i guess, but I have an aversion to the idea and implementation of homeopathic medicine.
Merle Haggard
Established Member
My Romanian neighbour invites me round for coffee or snacks (and help with gardening) and the television, showing Romanian TV, is usually on.
I would say that more than half of the adverts are for 'patent drugs' of amazing efficacy - probably beyond even the claims of homeopathic enthusiasts. For instance, one regular one shows a doddery old person - by inference with very fading memory - in a supermarket. They have taken one tablet and can then remember all the items on a long shopping list that got lost on the way to the shop. Lots of other examples claiming quick cure of illness.
I don't know whether untested claims can be made in other Eastern European countries, though. Just seems amazing compared to our own legislation. And a surprisingly large use of English words (or, probably, from US films).
And in France you're going to be paying £5 for a pack of paracetamol that costs 30p here in the UK because only pharmacies can sell them.
I don't know about Eastern Europe, but in the USA they get around this with a disclaimer in the smallest font that they can get away with to the effect of "These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Not intended to treat, prevent, or cure any disease or condition".
US infomercials for medicine are wild. They can go on for an absolute age and you learn no more than a 10 second ad in the UK would've delivered.
Their adverts for investment platforms are similarly egregious with some of their claims.
I spend a fair amount of time in France. I don't bring much with me from the UK, but I do keep a reasonable stock of British bought Ibuprofen and Vicks Sinex.
That and Lidl baked beans.