Babys Never Cry When They Take Dr. Fahrney's Teething Syrup

Title: Babys Never Cry When They Take Dr. Fahrney's Teething Syrup

Author: [Drs. D. Fahrney & Son]

Publication: [Hagerstown, Md.]: [Drs. D. Fahrney & Son], 1900.

Description: A diecut advertising card for Dr. Fahrney's Teething Syrup. Undated, circa 1900. Text in black on recto and verso, color-illustrated on recto with a row of babies, on diecut white card stock. 3.25 x 6 inches. Light soiling and creasing. Very Good. A collectible diecut patent medicine advertisement with the creepiest babies we've ever seen. We find newspaper advertisements for Dr. Fahrney's Teething Syrup as early as 1875 and as late as 1940. Dr. Fahrney claimed that his teething syrup could be used to treat a whole range of ailments, including teething irritation, sleeplessness, dyspepsia, wind colic, vomiting, biliousness, constipation, diarrhea, dysentery, acid stomach, and cholera infantum. In 1909 Dr. Farhney pleaded guilty to misbranding in violation of the Food and Drugs Act. In a Notice of Judgment, the United States Department of Agriculture wrote that Dr. Fahrney's claims were "false, deceptive and misleading, as it was not the best remedy for teething, was not a sure remedy for all ailments incident to babies, does contain injurious ingredients, viz. alcohol, chloroform, and morphine, and because bad results do follow from the continued use of it." Dr. Fahrney's Teething Syrup continued to be sold for decades later; one hopes that the concoction was reformulated. Alternate title on the illustration: "Ask for Dr. Fahrney's Teething Syrup and Take No Other."