Powder papers, booty balls, and sugar tits— Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs has a cure for whatever ails! These quaint names were given to popular medicinal forms during America's frontier era that were said to cure everything from fallen arches to a broken windmill. Grandmas, mommas, and even certified physicians treated the sick, lame, and unlucky with what was available: barbed wire and horseshoe nails, cactus, pokeweed, buckeyes, you name it. Ironically, a lot of these homespun treatments actually worked. In Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs, a practicing pharmacist takes a light-hearted look at the most popular medicines from the frontier days and how they were intended to work.

"A fun read." - Pharmacy Practice News

"This book is educational and entertaining, thanks to Bethard's light-hearted touch." - Wild West

"Lotions, Potions, and Deadly Elixirs: Frontier Medicine in the American West provides a fine guide to frontier medicine and practices and comes from a practicing pharmacist who considers popular medicines of the times. It's of particular interest - and recommendation - to readers of Western history who want a narrowed focus on frontier day medicine. From strange uses of milk and pepper to pill canisters and administration, this succeeds in being a lively, fun read!" - Midwest Book Review