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 At the beginning of the twentieth century, Elmer E. Pugh and brother Robert G. Pugh formed the "Pugh Brothers's Company"
of Somerset County for the purpose of manufacturing and distributing their product "Pugh's Magic Liniment." The bottle photos at right are old photos,
courtesy of Dolores J. Resh (these are the best bottle photos we have).
Their liniment was typical of the patent medicines that became popular during the late 1800s. There were no laws or regulations that controlled these
products, which claimed to cure just about any ailment and could actually contain harmful and potentially lethal ingredients. In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt
signed into law the Food and Drug Act, which did little to regulate the contents, but defined certain labeling requirements, including listing contents.
The Pugh Brothers registered their label with the United States Patent Office in 1908. Possibly this was the first year of their production.
Elmer was the senior partner, and carried on with the business into the 1920s. Elmer's occupation as recorded in the 1910 U.S. Federal Census was
"Salesman of Pat. Medicine," and in 1920 his occupation was listed as "Manufacturer of liniment." No census record associated Robert with the business.
The partnership actually dissolved during WWI, when the brothers claimed (in a newspaper notice) that they could not
continue manufacturing their liniment due to the difficulty of obtaining chemical supplies from Europe. This is probably when Robert left the business.
The contents of Pugh's Magic Liniment included alcohol, chloroform, and "Sol. Ether", which is Diethyl ether, commonly used as a solvent
and once used as a general anesthetic. Diethyl ether has narcotic properties and has been known to cause temporary psychological addiction, sometimes referred to
as etheromania. Chloroform was once a widely used anesthetic. The combination of alcohol, chloroform, amd ether is called A.C.E. mixture. In the late 1800s,
many anaesthetists favored A.C.E. mixture. It was administered through inhalation but was often injested. Deaths have been known to occur from the mixture.
Users actually thought that patent medicines like Pugh's Magic Liniment with A.C.E. helped to cure their ailments due to experiencing temporary euphoria.
But they didn't cure anything. In fact, excessive or extended use of this mixture could cause long-term damage to internal organs, or even death.
Also, the liquid was extremely flammable.
It is surprising that Elmer continued to market his product into the 1920s, since by now people were generally more aware of the false claims made for these products,
and the harm they can cause.
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