Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup was a trademarked medicine that began being manufactured in 1845 by druggists Jeremiah Curtis and Benjamin A. Perkins. The story behind the medicine is that Curtis's mother-in-law created the formula when she worked as a nurse caring for infants. The claim was that this could be used as a cure for teething pain and diarrhea. The two primary ingredients in the syrup were morphine and alcohol, and one teaspoonful contained enough morphine to kill the average child. This would lead the syrup to eventually earn the moniker of 'the baby killer'. Unfortunately this was a hugely popular medication, with over 1.5 million bottles being sold annually. Although there is no official statistic for how many children died because of it, estimates suggest that thousands died from overdoes, addiction or withdrawal.