April-
Hamburger Tropfen translates to hamburger drops. In other words, it is a
hamburger juice extract. It may seem puzzling that this product was made by a
doctor and that it is included in Fike's book on medicine bottles. The
solution (no pun intended) is that beef extracts were part of the materia
medica in the 19th and early 20th century. (Beef boullian is still marketed,
but the medical origin has been generally forgotten.) Wood and Bache (The
Dispensatory of the United States, 12th Edition, 1865) refer to both "meat
biscuits" and "preserved meat juice" on page 1554. The latter was credited to
a Mr. Gillon of Leith, Scotland, and the method of production was described in
detail by a Dr. Christison in a medical journal in 1855, who recommended that
the beef extract be diluted with boiling water about one to four to make a
nutritive liquid, described as a "beef tea." The specific use was not
discussed in this source, but presumably it was prescribed for patients who
were physically undernourished, for example, for treatment of consumption
(TB). Similar products were marketed as medicinal nutritive products for many
years. Dr. Goodenough (That really was his name) gave a recipe for making beef
tea in his book "Dr. Goodenough's Homes Cures and Herbal Remedies" published in
1904 (reprinted by Avenel Books, New York, in 1982)and an Ad for Bovril, a
concentrated beef bouillon, was included in an American Medical Directory, 14th
Edition, 1936. It was described as "helpful to convalescents because it
stimulates the apetite and desire for other foods in the prescribed diet." I'm
getting hungry so I'll terminate this response.
Allen Vegotsky
[log in to unmask]
P.S. There is a picture of a complete Dr. Koenig's Hamburger Tropfen bottle in
Wilson and Wilson's "Nineteenth Century Medicine in Glass" (19th Century Hobby
& Publishing Co., Washington, D.C., 1971, page 54). The Wilsons state that Dr.
Koenig was a famous German doctor who sold his product in the U.S. through
Augustus Vogeler of Baltimore, Maryland, in the 1850's. It was sold as a
medicine; the dosage was 1/2 teaspoon in a glass of water.
> I have a portion of a DR AUGUST KOENIG'S HAMBURGER
> TROPFEN bottle from an 1867 schoolhouse site in
> Michigan. So far my searches for information on this
> bottle has only lead to finding some for sale ($10).
>
> Any information would be appreciated.
>
> -April
> ____________________
> April M. Beisaw, RPA
>
> __________________________________________________
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