I’m Stuck on Tar Balsam Ralph Finch makes comments on a sticky note
I
didn’t know what a “tar balsam” was, although the Finches recently acquired one.
We don’t exactly collect them, but we have one. It’s a dark green tin kitchen device, almost twenty inches high, and similar to one I owned thirty years ago, painted blue, that said “Flour.” (OK, I didn’t like the blue one, then bought a green one? Don’t ask me to explain.) Now we all know what a Tar Baby is, right? I’m 81, and remember being told the Tar Baby story when I was a child. For those of you who missed that chapter in your childhood, here’s what Wikipedia recalls: “The Tar Baby is the second of the Uncle Remus stories published in 1881. It’s about a doll made of tar and turpentine used by the villainous Br’er Fox to entrap Br’er Rabbit. The more that Br’er Rabbit fights the Tar Baby, the more entangled he becomes. In modern usage, tar baby refers to a problematic situation that is only aggravated by additional involvement with it.” But what about tar balsam? Wikipedia wasn’t as helpful, although I did find a reference to “Pine Tar and Balsam Soap.” Getting closer, I found that, “Topical pine tar has been used in medicine since antiquity to treat a range of skin conditions, particularly eczema, psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis and other dry, itchy, flaky or inflamed skin conditions, and is still used successfully today.” Next, I turned to the balsam queen, the late Betty Blasi, who published A Bit About Balsams in 1974, subtitled: “A chapter in the history of the 19th century medicine.”
First, a little remembrance of the wonderful Betty and her husband, Gene. They were the powerhouse duo of glass collecting in Kentucky, promoting the hobby in general and Louisville in particular. Both had enthusiasm and personality to match. Those of us fortunate enough to have known Betty still miss her. In Betty’s book, in which Sam Greer, Don Keating, Burt Spiller, Ralph and Terry Kovel, Bill Agee, Charles Gardner, and Hal Wagner contributed, the history of balsam was recounted. Betty mentioned how natives used balsam for hundreds of years “in the making of tinctures.” Perhaps more recognized by today’s bottle collectors, Betty noted: “Its use spread to England where in the mid-1700s, Robert Turlington made balsam history and established the value of balsams as we now know them.”
Not a medicine for kids, but still a good story.
So, turning the 175 pages of Betty’s book, I found various balsam products used to “restore hair color,” cure a “hacking cough,” cure “spasmodic cholera,” etc. I found an “Aurine Ear Balsam” recommended also to cure deafness, while Burk’s Maple Balsam” could cure “spitting of blood.” As with many imaginative claims, in this 1915 ad for Coe’s Cough Balsam users were alerted: “Why is a man who has taken Coe’s Cough Balsam like a chopper who has lost his ax? Because he hacks no more.” (And people complain about my jokes? Really?) And if you have another problem, an 1836 ad for D. H. George’s drugstore offers a “Compound Balsamic Mixture”
It can ease any cough… no Lion.
November 2021
31
