Singleton's Golden Eye Ointment container c.1890s
Elizabeth I is renowned for having poisoned herself through the use of lead makeup, but this ointment container shows that an equally noxious Elizabethan recipe was poisoning 19th and 20th century New Zealanders. Singleton's Golden Eye Ointment's recipe was handed
and Health Centre outlines how long term exposure "may have effects on the kidneys, central nervous system and peripheral nervous system". However, despite the known risks of red mercuric oxide, it is still a common ingredient in modern skin lightening soaps and cream — perhaps we are not more savvy than our Elizabethan predecessors who whitened their face with lead, after all!
down generation to generation since 1596. Its key ingredient? 7.4 percent red mercuric oxide (Clifton 1908, 1373). The International Occupational and Safety
Elizabeth I, 'Rainbow Portrait' c. 1600 (age 67). White lead makeup covers smallpox scars. Fittingly, her outfit is embroidered with eyes.
Public domain.
Singelton's Golden Eye Ointment belonged to a class of popular medicine commonly sold in New Zealand pharmacies as patent medicines.
One of the earliest advertisements in 1859 for Singleton's eye ointment in New Zealand was by A. Bayfield, Lyttleton, who advertised a list of pharmaceuticals including "a fine lot of LEECHES" (a treatment that we can be equally glad is no longer available at the pharmacy, though leeches are still USDA approved for some treatments). At the time of
this pot's purchase in the 1890s, the advertised price was 3 shillings - a bargain for this supposed cure-all. An 1899 ad claimed that the ointment "cured all eye disorders" and preserved eyesight.
Patent medicines often contained secret or exotic ingredients, and brands would
seek to "build brand credibility and consumer reliability" through "sophisticated tools of product design and advertising" such as printed advertisements and product packaging (Storm 2017, 42). The lack of regulations surrounding these medicines led the 1908 Quackery Prevention Act, and the relentless advertisements of these over-the-counter medicines also lead to the 1942 Medical Advertisements Act (le Courteur 2014, 6). See the Bonnington's Irish Moss bottle page for an interactive display of these types of advertisements.
Since Singleton's Golden Eye Cream was in use in New Zealand until the mid-20th century, perhaps your grandparents or kaumātua used it in their youth!
Sources:
Clifton, Herbert. "The Composition of Certain Secret Remedies." The British Medical Journal 1, no.2475 (1908): 1373-6. JSTOR.
le Couteur, Claire. Pills and Potions at the Cotter Medical History Trust. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2014.
Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 664, 19 March 1859, Page 6.
"Mercury (II) oxide." International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre, 2014. https://inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics0981.htm (accessed 17 September 2021).
New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22661, 24 February 1937, Page 21.
NZ Truth, Issue1305, 18 December 1930, Page 14.
Otago Witness, Issue 2345, 2 February 1899, Page 12.
Timaru Herald, Volume L, Issue 4788, 10 March 1890, Page 4.