“Some medical beast had revived Tar-water in those days as a fine medicine, and Mrs. Joe always kept a supply of it in the cupboard” (16).
Tar-water is an 18th and 19th century remedy for nearly every ailment. It was believed that a pint of tar-water a day could cure anything. Dickens’ use of tar-water in Great Expectations dates the novel to the mid-nineteenth century and establishes the society that Pip lives in before his inheritance.
Works Cited: C., T.E. "Charles Dickens on the Medical Use of Tar-water." Pediatrics. Dec. 1980. 14 Dec. 2008. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/66/6/839
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