With its slogan "It's Famous Because It's Good", the Oamaru-invented and manufactured tonic was fed to generations of children, particularly from the 1930s to 1970s when it was regarded as one of the best around, despite its taste and smell which caused some children to bring it back up again.
Now, the North Otago Museum wants to re-create that smell for an exhibition on Lane's Emulsion, challenging people to come up with a recipe with the same bouquet as the original.
"The first thing people mention about Lane's is the smell," museum curator Chloe Searle said yesterday.
"I really want visitors who never had Lane's Emulsion to be able to experience that."
Miss Searle has not tasted the tonic but has smelt it. She was given a bottle containing some of the mixture by a museum volunteer.
"It smells very fishy - not something I would want to take," she said.
One internet site described it as "a cream-coloured potion of the consistency of melted ice cream containing ghastly stuff like cod liver oil".
Another which discussed it had comments ranging from "loved it" to "throwing up" every time it was administered.
The rights to Lane's Emulsion are still held by Oamaru company Crombie and Price, which bought Lane's Medicine in 1971 and kept manufacturing the emulsion until 1984. The company has a large collection of Lane's Emulsion memorabilia at its Oamaru office.
"We still get inquiries about it. It was the kind of stuff kids either liked or hated - you could get 50 of them together and 25 would like it and 25 would say it was pushed down their throats," he said.
"But I still see some splendid specimens of people that I can credit to Lane's Emulsion."
From the 1930s to the 1970s, it was "probably the best tonic" available. It was the only restorative tonic for people who were run down from ailments such as flu and colds.
But it was killed off in the 1980s when new codes were introduced by the Government for over-the-counter medicines.
They imposed new standards on manufacture - from raw materials through to manufacturing plants and packaging - with which the building used in Harbour St could not comply.
The tonic was also overtaken by the introduction of vitamin, mineral and other supplements.
Entries in the North Otago Museum competition will be judged by a descendant of the original inventor, chemist Edward Lane.
Mr Lane came up with the recipe in 1898, first manufacturing at his pharmacy in Tees St, then at the Harbour St factory, which still carries the company's name and slogan.
Anyone can enter the competition by taking a small sample (about half a cup) of their concoction and their recipe to the museum by May 31.
