Monday, January 05, 2009

Ser-Ap-Es pen knife

Here's a drug I'm positive I've never seen prescribed. From an alert reader comes this vintage shot of a penknife advertising an old antihypertensive. There are three component medications in this, one of which is (and I swear I'm not making this up) an extract of Rauwolfia serpentina or "Indian snakeroot." Add that to willow bark and cinchona alkaloids in the list of natural products used in modern medicine.