Before there was Neosporin, there was Merthiolate — a household staple that burned like betrayal and stained your skin like a bad decision.

This mercury-based antiseptic, known formally as Tincture of Merthiolate (Thimerosal), was the go-to solution for every skinned knee, scraped elbow, and parental overreaction in mid-century America.

🔥 Fun Facts and Mild Nightmares:

• Active Ingredient: Thimerosal — a mercury compound. That’s right. Mercury.
• Use: Applied to minor cuts and abrasions… and your will to live.
• Pain Level: Somewhere between lemon juice in a paper cut and stepping on a LEGO while barefoot.
• Legacy: Banned or discontinued in most modern uses due to toxicity concerns. It lives on now mostly in memory—and your collection.

🏷️ Notable Bottles in the Collection:

• A labeled bottle from Albright’s Drug Store in Morganfield, KY — a local tie-in and a hauntingly nostalgic reminder that sometimes medicine hurt more than the wound.
• Variants from Porepac and McKesson — all loaded with that characteristic golden-red sting.

💀 From the Cabinet of Medical Curiosities:

When antiseptic care was a sensory punishment and no one questioned putting mercury on an open wound… we give you Merthiolate. For educational purposes only. And maybe a little trauma bonding.

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