You’re a resident of the Collar City in 1909, and you feel like your blood is just a little . . . impure. Perhaps a dose of Schneider’s Blood Purifier would be just the thing! Made up of sarsaparilla, cherry, dandelion, burdock, mandrake, prickly ash, “&c.,” three tablespoons a day probably couldn’t do much damage. (And, if it was like most patent medicines of the day, it was likely that the “&c.” was primarily alcohol.)
Don’t know too much about Frederick Schneider. 86 Third Street still stands, most recently (though not all that recently) home to Heritage Stationery, and immediately next door to the former First Baptist Church, and just down from Barker Park. It’s clear he was active in the National Wholesale Druggists’ Association, where he attended at least one annual meeting and served on the Committee on Paints, Oils, and Glass, and, in 1903-4, the Committee on Adulterations (representing Schneider & Macy Drug Co.).
An article in the April 21, 1904 edition of The Pharmaceutical Era contained this image of Schneider on the occasion of his 40th year in business. Have to agree, he doesn’t look in his 60s here, so maybe that Blood Purifier worked after all.