‘Tis the Genuine.

Amusing medical lithograph from a calendar illustrated by Dr Louis Crusius who initially trained as a pharmacist and later graduated from the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1890. As a practicing Doctor, Surgeon and later Lecturer, Crusius’s drawings were a satirical insight into the medical profession, mostly done for friends and family, this calender was published by the Antikamnia Chemical Company of St. Louis. Crusius died prematurely in 1898.

The company’s name, Antikamnia, means “opposed to pain” and its Antikamnia tablets were a patent medicine that reduced fever and relieved pain. Like Dr. Crusius, the company’s founders were graduates of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. The calendars were a limited edition sent to doctors upon request. Many of The Antikamnia Calendars appeared after his untimely death in St. Louis on January 2, 1898.

The Antikamnia Calendars and the Birth of Tylenol These mischievous little skeletons helped lead us to one of today’s most successful pain relievers. The Antikamnia company marketed an analgesic (pain-relieving) powder to pharmacists and druggists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries using these rather morbid calendars. The name of the company actually means “opposed to pain”. Antikamnia Chemical Company was later shut down after failing to disclose the active ingredient of of their pain-relieving products: Acetanilide.