"Save the Baby"

Just what is that stuff the charming Mrs. Squeers is giving to the hapless boys in the "Nicholas Nickleby" film?

Many thanks!

Treacle is a form of thick sugar syrup. Brimstone is a sulphur ore, from which pure sulphur may be refined. This mixture was thought to 'do you good' in Dicken's days!

On the subject of stuff that's supposed to "do you good": When I was young in the mountains of West Virginia, my mother used to give us medicine called "Save the Baby." I have no idea what was in it and I seemed to be the only one who remembers that brand. It was for chest cold

Thanks ESC, and I do envy that childhood of yours in the mountains of West Virginia, living as I do in the concrete jungle-