Medical Ephemera

"McNeil's Pain Exterminator, liver and blood pills. The J. X. Quigley Co., proprietors, Harrisburg, Pa."

Front and back of a small folded advertisement for Wier's Lemon Seltzer that also includes a chronology of the Spanish-American War, which took place in 1898 (the year "1899" above the "Historical Events in the Spanish-American War" heading is apparently either a typo or is intended to show when the ad was published). -------- Wier's Lemon Seltzer Cures Headaches &c. Before, after. 10c. -------- 1899. Historical Events in the Spanish-American War. Jan. 25.--Capt. Sigabee arrived at Havana with Battleship Maine. Feb. 7.--DeLome letter made public. Feb. 15.--Battleship Maine blown up, 206 officers and men lost their lives. Mar. 5.--Spain asked the recall of Gen. Lee. Mar. 16.--Congress voted $50,000,000 for National Defense. Apr. 4.--Navy Dept. ordered purchase of 10 crusiers. Apr. 9.--Gen. Lee returned from American consuls. Apr. 12.--Ultimatum to Spain to withdraw land and naval forces from Cuba. Apr. 21.--Spain declares war by notifying U.S. diplomatic relations were at an end. Apr. 24.--President calls for 125,000 volunteers. May 1.--Ad. Dewey destroyed Montejo's fleet. Americans, none killed and 6 wounded; Spanish, between 5 and 6 hundred killed and wounded. Ensign Bagley, of torpedo-boat Windslow, 1st officer killed in the war. May 25.--President calls for 75,000 more volunteers. June 3.--Hobson sank Merrimac in Santiago harbor. June 24.--First action between land forces and Spanish took place. July 3.--Cervera's fleet destroyed by Sampson's fleet. July 17.--Santiago surrendered. Stars and stripes hoisted. Aug. 9.--Protocol drafted and signed. Aug. 18.--Manilla surrendered to U.S. Sept. 17.--Peace Commission sailed for Paris. Oct. 18.--American flag raised over San Juan. Nov. 1.--Spanish cruiser Infanta Maria Teresa abandoned at sea after being raised. Nov. 25.--First American troops landed in Havana. Nov. 28.--Spain assents to U.S. demand for the entire Phillippines for $20,000,000. Dec. 10.--Spanish American treaty signed at Paris. Ask your druggist for Wier's Lemon Seltzer. It is a positive cure for headache, nervousness, indigestion, etc. Pleasant to take. 10c.

"Aeroplane Headache Tablets make headaches fly. 3 for 5¢. (Trade Mark Reg. U.S. Patent Office.) Phone, South 694."

"One dozen Ryman's Liver Pills. Sugar coated." Ryman's Celebrated Worm Syrup and Dr. Ryman's Catarrh Snuff were two other patent medicines sold under the Ryman name. The OCLC catalog record for Materials relating to proprietary medicines marketed by H. A. Moore & Co., of Howard, Pa. , provides some background information regarding the manufacturer of Ryman products: "'We beg leave to call your attention to the fact that we have purchased the right to manufacture and sell all of Ryman's medicines, and that our agent will call on you in a very short time with a fresh and new lot of the different kinds of medicines formerly sold by C. H. Else & Bro., of Milesburg, ...'--printed letter dated May 26, 1883, and signed: H. A. Moore & Co. Howard A. Moore was apprenticed to Dr. C. H. Else, druggist, of Milesburg, Pa. In 1876, Moore married Laura J. Ryman of Milesburg."

"No Man Loves a Tired Nervous Woman! Nor does a woman love a pepless man. How to get friends (page 9). How to hold your husband's love (page 12)." Are you tired, nervous, or--ahem!--pepless? If so, then you would surely benefit from reading this small 1930s advertising booklet. It extols the virtues of Vinol, a patent medicine that contained ingredients such as cod liver oil and beef peptones, plus alcohol (as much as 15 percent). Do you suffer from other unpleasant afflictions instead? Then you merely need to flip over this reversible booklet (similar to an upside-down book or a tête-bêche binding) to read about the wonders of Adlerika (see the cover on the other side below).

"Gas on Stomach for 20 Years. Exercies to help constipation (page 8). What to eat (page 12)." Constipated? Bloated? Nauseated by ads that discuss such topics? Then this small 1930s advertising booklet is for you! It discusses the benefits of Adlerika, a patent medicine that contained Epson salts and other ingredients with laxative properties. Do you suffer from other afflictions that you'd rather not discuss in mixed company? Then you only have to flip this reversible booklet over to read about the vitality of Vinol (see the cover on the other side below).

The cover of a booklet advertising Witchal, a witch-hazel extract manufactured by the E. E. Dickinson Co. and used medicinally as an astringent.

"Electricity in a Bottle. Cures catarrh, hay fever, headache, asthma, neuralgia. Price, $1.00. The West Electric Cure Co., Chicago, Ills." A die-cut advertising trade card for an electrifying patent medicine.

Caption on the front of this real photo postcard: "Lithia Spring Park, Temple, [New Hampshire]." Sign on larger, nearer building: "Pack Monadnock, Lithia Spring, Bottling House." Sign on far building: "Pack Monadnock, Lithia Spring, Temple, N.H." Two men and two women pose for a photo in front of the bottling house at Lithia Spring Park, which was located on Pack Monadnock Mountain near the town of Temple , New Hampshire. During the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century, visitors to the park could partake of the lithia water that was available from the spring. The lithium salts in the water were thought to have medicinal benefits. A book by authors Michael G. Dell'Orto, Priscilla A. Weston, and Jessie Salisbury about the New Hampshire towns of Wilton, Temple, and Lyndeborough (Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 2003) explains what eventually happened to the park: "People flocked to Pack Monadnock Lithia Springs, which operated from 1891 until 1911, to enjoy picnics and slides and teeters free of charge and to take the therapeutic waters. 'Contains more Lithium than any other Lithia Spring known,' claimed proprietor Sydney Scammon. 'Best Remedy for Kidney Trouble and Indigestion.' The popular (and profitable) enterprise went out of business abruptly when Scammon was observed adding bottled lithium to the 'natural' spring water."

"Harry Jennings, 32 Portland Street, Boston, sole proprietor and patentee of the improved, infallible Magic Soap, for the destruction of all parasitic vermin. Patented July 12th, 1864. Trade mark--Waterford Jack."

"Mrs. Margaret Kushmore, nurse, No. 319 Richmond Street." An unusual Victorian-era business card. Calling cards that listed just a name were the norm for women and men in the late nineteenth century, but it's not as common to find a business card from that period that advertises a woman's name, occupation, and address in this manner. It's likely that this is the same Margaret Kushmore (1828-1909) who is buried in the East Cedar Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is located about six miles from the 319 Richmond Street address that she used on her card.

See below for a similar item: Swat the Fly, Protect the Family . Swat the Fly, Save the Babies Make the way hard for the fly and easy for the baby. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health. Swat 'em. Flies transmit typhoid fever, diarrhea, infantile paralysis, cholera, etc. Swat every fly, save all babies. Hurry, children, here's an unscreened window. No race suicide with the flies. Uncovered food means a feast for filthy flies. Cover all food. Keep garbage cans clean and covered. Flies carry disease and filth on their feet. Health departments, civic clubs, schoolchildren, scouts, housewives, swat 'em. This is no place for me. Disease.

"A happy family is a healthy family. Swat the fly. Kill him, he spreads disease. Protect the family. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health." See also Swat the Fly, Save the Babies .

In days of yore, the paper boy , message delivery boy , milkman , coal man , and even the garbage man might give you their holiday greetings! Compliments from the Garbage Man Christmas comes and Christmas goes, With summer rains and winter snows. The garbage man who always goes, Fighting mankind's every foe. He's poor and humble and knows no wealth, But is ever guarding the public health. He works in cheer and knows no fear, Of the deadly germ that is always near. So don't forget him when Christmas comes, To help him make his loved ones dear, With just a little Christmas cheer. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, 1917-1918.

The Bellevue Stratford, Phila., Pa. Talk through this disc. Hygiene Telephone Disc. A new one for each guest occupying this room. Talk through the Hygienic Telephone Disc and protect yourself from all germ disease. Replace when soiled. U.S. Patent, June 12, 1906. To put on, bend up small corner on line and slide on mouthpiece. Mfg. by Hygienic Telephone Disc Co., Phila., Pa. -------- Worrying about germs and the spread of diseases is nothing new, as this early twentieth-century "Hygienic Telephone Disc" demonstrates. Guests at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia could place one of these "Sani-Phone" discs--as they were also called--over the mouthpieces of the telephones in their rooms so they wouldn't contract tuberculosis or any other nasty bug. The discs used a wax paper-like film that was sandwiched between two layers of cardboard to keep germs away while letting sound through. For a 1912 advertisement that shows how the disc was placed on the candlestick telephones of the time, see Sani-Phone Hygienic Telephone Discs Ad, World Almanac and Encyclopedia, 1912 (Internet Archive) :

This Sani-Phone Hygienic Telephone Discs advertisement is a screen capture from the World Almanac and Encyclopedia, 1912 , p. xiv, which is available via the Internet Archive . For an example of a disc imprinted with a hotel's name, see Hygienic Telephone Disc, Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa., 1906 :

"J. H. Kanarr, professional hypnotist, Lancaster, Pa. Hypnotism thoroughly taught. Charges reasonable. Diseases cured without medicine. Public and private exhibitions given." Beverly Wilgus (Photo_History) posted an unused copy of this card on Flickr (see Blank Business Card for Professional Hypnotist - c. 1890 ) and speculated that the cards may have come from a nineteenth-century hypnotism school. In fact, I believe that the professional hypnotist cards originated with Lew Alexander Harraden of Jackson, Michigan, who offered mail-order lessons in hypnotism under the name "Prof. L. A. Harraden" in the 1890s and 1900s. Although J. H. Kanarr probably purchased one of Harraden's mail-order courses, it's doubtful that he ever actually worked as a "professional hypnotist."

Dr. Hand's Remedies for Children Mothers, use Dr. Hand's Colic Cure in place of stupefying syrups, paregoric, and cordials. Immediate relief for wind colic or crying babies. Not injurious. Pleasant physic, teething lotion, diarrhoea mixture, cough and croup medicine. Colic cure, worm elixir, general tonic, chafing.