Mrs. Winslow's

[debodun]

I have 2 similar bottles. One says "Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup" and the other just "Mrs. Winslow's Syrup". Why the difference and does it make any difference to a collector?

 

[CanadianBottles]

The one that doesn't say Soothing is an unusually modern one, looks like 1910s or so. I'm guessing that the change came because they stopped putting opiates in it and it stopped having a soothing effect. The product was discontinued not long after, so there aren't that many of the ABM ones out there. Not sure if they're particularly collectible or not though, the standard 1890s-ish ones are extremely common so not very desirable. Although yours looks like it might be older than most that I've come across, hard to tell from the picture.

 

[debodun]

Thanks for the info, CB.

 

[willong]

I'm guessing that the change came because they stopped putting opiates in it and it stopped having a soothing effect.

LOL! That could be!

I heard, from my late mother if my old fart's memory is on track, that irritable infants were once soothed with poppy seeds gathered into a knotted handkerchief in lieu of a plain pacifier.

I also seem to recall that the Myth-Busters program confirmed that consuming poppy seed muffins could produce positive drug test results. Still, I maintain that I like poppy seeds on buns and baked into cakes and muffins for their delicious taste!

 

[CanadianBottles]

LOL! That could be!

I heard, from my late mother if my old fart's memory is on track, that irritable infants were once soothed with poppy seeds gathered into a knotted handkerchief in lieu of a plain pacifier.

I also seem to recall that the Myth-Busters program confirmed that consuming poppy seed muffins could produce positive drug test results. Still, I maintain that I like poppy seeds on buns and baked into cakes and muffins for their delicious taste!

As far as I know a reasonable amount of poppy seeds won't cause any opiate effect, the opium is mostly in the pod rather than the seeds. A baby sucking on a handkerchief full of poppy seeds is probably not going to get any noticeable euphoric effect out of it, certainly not comparable to Mrs. Winslow's which was laced with morphine. That's true that poppyseed muffins will produce a positive drug test if using the more sensitive tests (which mostly aren't used anymore for that exact reason) but it doesn't mean that it's actually having any effect on you. Eating a poppyseed muffin is roughly the opiate equivalent of dipping the tip of a toothpick in a light beer and then putting it in your mouth. You'll have to do that a lot of times before it has any effect.

And I like my poppyseed bagels too! There's nothing like a poppyseed Montreal bagel fresh from the wood-fired oven.