| In 1890 pharmacist Lunsford Richardson took | | | | soothe, and relax your baby. Now, you and your |
| over the retail drug business of his brother-in-law | | | | baby can rest easy with the soothing comfort of |
| Dr. Joshua Vick, of Selma, Greensboro, North | | | | Vicks BabyRub. |
| Carolina. After Dr Joshua Vick saw an ad for | | | | These ingredients include petrolatum, fragrance, |
| Vick's Seeds, Lunsford Richardson began | | | | aloe extract, eucalyptus oil, lavender oil, rosemary |
| marketing Vick’s Family Remedies. The basic | | | | oil. |
| ingredients included Castor oil, linament, 'dead shot' | | | | Now there is also an alternative medication which |
| vermifuge. The most popular remedy was | | | | is also natural Watkins Medicated Ointment |
| Croup and Pneumonia Salve, which was first | | | | For more than eighty years, this versatile product |
| compounded in 1891, in Greensboro. It was | | | | has been making people feel better. It helps |
| introduced in 1905 with the name Vick's Magic | | | | relieve that stuffed-up,congested feeling of a |
| Croup Salve. It gained great popularity during the | | | | chest cold, and suppress the accompanying cough. |
| Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. | | | | And as well as a rub, it provides relief from aching |
| Many parents slather Vicks VapoRub on their | | | | muscles, windburn, sunburn, and minor burns and |
| sniffling, coughing kids when they're sick -- | | | | scalds. |
| because, by gosh, that's what their parents did to | | | | Low-level anesthetic action: Depresses pain |
| them. For children under the age of 2, the folksy | | | | perception, suppresses coughs. |
| remedy could be dangerous, researchers warned | | | | Economical: Costs less per ounce than Vicks® |
| today. | | | | Pleasant, penetrating aroma: Provides a feeling of |
| The product's label cautions against using Vicks | | | | comfort. |
| VapoRub on children under 2, but many parents | | | | Active Ingredients |
| do so anyway, putting their infants at risk, | | | | • Menthol: An alcohol extracted from |
| experts said. | | | | cornmintoil. When applied to the skin, menthol |
| "People don't read warnings on prescription | | | | producesan intense and lasting cooling sensation |
| medications, so to [read a warning for] a salve on | | | | thatcounteracts pain and is also used as an |
| the outside of the body that has been around for | | | | antipruritic. |
| 100 years . . . I think it would be a rare parent | | | | It both stimulates the nerves for perceptionof |
| who would do that," said lead author Dr. Bruce K. | | | | cold and depresses those which transmit pain. |
| Rubin of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical | | | | • Camphor: Occurs in nature in the camphor |
| Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. | | | | tree,an Asian evergreen related to cinnamon. |
| But there is another product that can be used. | | | | Whenapplied to the skin, camphor produces a |
| Vicks BabyRub is a non-medicated formula that | | | | mildlocal anesthetic action (depresses some |
| contains soothing aloe vera and fragrances of | | | | nerveendings and stimulates others). It also acts |
| eucalyptus, rosemary, and lavender. Combined | | | | as anantipruritic, which means it relieves itching. |
| with your loving touch, it is perfect to calm, | | | | |