In The Pink

Did you know that mercurochrome is illegal? It cannot be distributed across state lines in the U.S. That bright pink-orange badge was a part of my childhood, now gone because of its mercury content.

Early in the book, one character is knocked down. I had a section of dialog while the wound is being dressed.

Note to self: Was mercurochrome available in April, 1919?

Probably not.  It was still a new discovery in Johns Hopkins in 1919. It is doubtful that it would have been commercially available in April. Even if it had been available, it would be more likely that someone would have to go out to buy it then be on the shelf of a medicine cabinet, waiting to be used.

I replaced mercurochrome with tincture of iodine.

Cecil Adams’ “Straight Dope” has an article on what happened to mercurochrome:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2518/what-happened-to-mercurochrome