Zam-Buk is a patent medicine which was produced by the Zam-Buk Company of Leeds, England, founded by Charles Edward Fulford. It was first sold by his Bile Beans company in 1902, as a herbal balm and antiseptic ointment; the use of a complementary Zam-Buk soap was recommended to augment the treatment. The ointment was advertised as being effective against a wide range of conditions, including cuts, bruises, sprains, ulcers, bleeding piles and even colds and toothache. It could also be used as an embrocation by rubbing it into the muscles of the back, legs or feet.
Image: Showcard advertising "Zam Buk soon clears away skin trouble". Wellcome L0030507
Image: Keep Your Hands Soft & White with Zam Buk Wellcome L0076328
Bile Beans was a laxative and tonic first marketed in the 1890s. The product supposedly contained substances extracted from a hitherto unknown vegetable source by a fictitious chemist known as Charles Forde. In the early years Bile Beans were marketed as "Charles Forde's Bile Beans for Biliousness", and sales relied heavily on newspaper advertisements. Among other cure-all claims, Bile Beans promised to "disperse unwanted fat" and "purify and enrich the blood".
Ghost sign advertising Bile Beans, painted on the wall of 18 Lord Mayors Walk, just outside the city walls in York, England
Frontispiece to the sheet music for the "Bile Bean March"
Image: Advert; Medically approved Bile Beans Wellcome L0044201
