Patent medicine

Okay, so a long time ago, people used to get sick a lot and they didn't have many medicines to help them feel better. But then some people came up with special mixtures of ingredients that they said could make people feel better when they were sick. These mixtures were called patent medicines.

The people who made these patent medicines didn't have to tell anyone else what was in them or how they worked because they got something called a patent from the government that gave them the right to be the only ones who could make and sell their special mixture. So, they could make a lot of money selling their patent medicine to people who were sick and looking for something to make them feel better.

But, some of these patent medicines didn't actually work or they might even be harmful. The government eventually realized this and started making companies test their medicines to make sure they were safe and effective before allowing them to be sold. Nowadays, we still have medicines to help us when we're sick, but they have to be tested and approved by experts before they can be sold to the public.