Cardui Medicine

Cardui was made by the Chattanooga Medicine Co, owned by Rev. R.I Melree, and was supposedly made from an indian recipe. It was first made in 1879. Cardui medicine for difficult menstruation, leucorrhea, backache, headache, dizziness and general female diseases.
Cardui was a 38-proof patent medicine made from the late 19th century through the twentieth by the Chattanooga Medicine Company, of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Like most such medicine, it owed a lot of its powers to its high alcoholic content, 19% by volume, which is more than wine. And like most patent medicines, it promised to cure a huge range of ailments, many incurable even today: tumors, cancer, "women's diseases," etc. Cardui specifically claimed to relieve painful menstruation, which I'm sure it did, numbing the imbiber several days a month. Elderly neighborhood ladies were the main purchasers of such medicine, its being an acceptable way to consume alcohol. Respectable women did not frequent liquor stores.
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