Originating in New York in the 1840s, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup was a dangerous concoction. Parents often did not realise that it contained morphine, and sadly, as the American Medical Times put it in 1860, were “relieved of all further care of their infants” through its use.

ADVICE TO MOTHERS!—Are you broken in your rest by a sick

child suffering with the pain of cutting teeth? Go at once to a

chemist and get a bottle of MRS. WINSLOW’S SOOTHING SYRUP.

It will relieve the poor sufferer immediately. It is perfectly

harmless and pleasant to taste, it produces natural quiet sleep,

by relieving the child from pain, and the little cherub awakes “as

bright as a button.” It soothes the child, it softens the

gums, allays all pain, relieves wind, regulates the bowels,

and is the best known remedy for dysentery and diarrhoea,

whether arising from teething or other causes. Mrs. Winslow’s

Soothing Syrup is sold by Medicine dealers everywhere at 1s. 1½d.

per bottle. Manufactured in New York and at 498, Oxford-

street, London.

Source: The Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, Saturday 9th January 1875