WRECK RELIC
Dyspepsia’s pangs, that rack and grind
The body, and depress the mind;
Slow constitutional decay,
That brings death nearer, day by day;
Nervous prostration, mental gloom,
Agues, that, as they go and come,
Make life a constant martyrdom;
Colics and dysenteric pains,
‘Neath which the strong man’s vigor wanes;
Bilious complaints, — those tedious ills,
Ne’er conquered yet by drastic pills;
Dread Diarrhea, that cannot be
Cured by destructive Mercury;
Heralds of madness or the tomb;
For these, though Mineral nostrums fail,
Means of relief at last we hail,
HOSTETTER’S BITTERS medicine sure,
Not to prevent, alone, but cure.
– Hostetter’s United States Almanac, 1867
A description for the use of Hostetters Stomach Bitters, a concoction of straight alcohol, herbs and vegetable extracts, used during the American civil war to cure stomach melody’s. Also sold in some Canadian Bars by the glass full. Things were tough back in the good old days
This bottle is still corked and was found on a local wreck in the Marlborough Sounds.
