1870s advertising

Cigares de Joy

ADvent Calendar Day 17 . Although smoking and asthma now seem an unlikely combination, cigarettes were an efficient way of getting medication into the lungs. According to the Medical Times and Gazette in 1875, the Cigares de Joy were ‘very useful little agents for inhaling the smoke of stramonium.’ Datura stramonium and its relative Datura tatula were common remedies for asthma, formerly […]

Merchant’s Gargling Oil

ADvent Calendar Day 14 If people evolved from apes, why are apes still selling Gargling Oil? Ask this fellow, taking a break from evading sasquatch hunters to advise punters that Merchant’s liniment is good for both man and beast. It was mainly an external remedy for bruises, wounds, skin diseases, burns etc, but people could […]

Hunt’s Remedy

ADvent Calendar Day 7 Take THAT, Death! POW! The skeletal figure of the Grim Reaper drops his scythe and cowers before the might of a strong, healthy opponent wielding a bottle of Hunt’s Remedy. The Remedy became popular in the 1870s after it was acquired by William Clarke of Providence, Rhode Island, and heavily advertised. According […]

To Short Persons

TO SHORT PERSONS.——Anyone (Male or Female) wishing to increase in Height and Symmetry of Figure, by means of a remarkable physiological discovery, may send a stamped directed envelope to Captain F. STAFFORD (U.S.). 1, Church-terrace, Kentish Town, London, N.W. The Penny Illustrated Post, 15 October 1870 —————————————————————————– Some advertisements might make wild claims, but as […]

Tuna – a vegetable compound

There’s often something a bit fishy about patent remedies, but this one appeared before the advent of canned tuna and, for the average non-sea-going punter, the name did not have the piscatorial associations it has now. A company called Fels and Davis began promoting it in 1879, but by the following year Davis had quietly disappeared […]

Ede’s Patent American Eye Liquid

EDE’S PATENT AMERICAN EYE LIQUID CURES Eyes! which Ache with tears that’s shed, Eyes! which Bloodshot overspread; Eyes! which Cataracts oppress, Eyes! which Dimness too distress; Eyes! which Evening fogs soon blight, Eyes! which Fever weakens quite; Eyes! which Great depression gives Eyes! which Health enfeebled leaves; Eyes! which Inflammation show, Eyes! which Jaundice spoils […]

Dr Pierce’s Nasal Douche

. . This Cut illustrates the manner of Using DR. PIERCE’S Fountain Nasal Injector or DOUCHE. This instrument is specially designed for the perfect application of DR. SAGE’S CATARRH REMEDY. It is the only form of instrument yet invented with which fluid medicine can be carried high up and perfectly applied to all parts of […]

The Nose Machine

NOSE MACHINE.—This is a simple successful contrivance which, applied to the nose for an hour daily, so directs the soft cartilage of which the member consists, that an ill-formed nose is quickly shaped to perfection. Any one can use them, and without pain. Price 10s. 6d., sent carriage free.—ALEX. ROSS, 248 High Holborn, London. Pamphlet […]

Allan's Anti-Fat

Source: The Belfast News-letter, Tues 3 June 1879 This ad is unusual in appealing not to the potential consumer but to her weedy, emasculated little husband. (Presumably he’s her husband, because he seems stuck with her.) Most ads for Allan’s Anti-Fat, however, were aimed directly at people wishing to lose weight. (N.B. the spelling ‘Allen’s’ […]

Laxora

Source: The Graphic, Sat 23 August 1879 Laxora was introduced to Britain by its French proprietor, P. Guyot, in 1877, and at once attracted positive attention from the medical press. It sounds a pleasant medicine to take – The Medical Times and Gazette described it thus: They consist of a core, or centre-part, of compound […]