Abstract
Terumeru was a patent medicine that an apothecary in Osaka sold as an expectorant and medicine for internal diseases towards the end of the Edo era. Due to its manufacturer, Gengendo, closing its expectorant business in the early Meiji era, further details are unknown. The author investigated Terumeru products dating back approximately 200 years. The objective of this study is to clarify what kind of patent medicine Terumeru was, and furthermore, compare it to other medicines with names spelled using katakana that were distributed around the same time as a topic of discussion.
The characteristics of Terumeru were as follows : the dosage form was three times as much as that prescribed for similar drugs; and although it was said to be of Dutch origin, the name of a Chinese clinician, Zhu Zhenheng, was cited on its efficacy statement and advertising. These findings revealed that there were problems with its formulation and inconsistency in its brand image. These reasons led to the conclusion that Terumeru was considered a katakana-named patent medicine during the pioneering days of pharmacology Japan.
