History's medical advertisers and their remedies

May's Celebrated Love Lozenges

This advert doesn’t specify whether you have to take the lozenges yourself in order to exert a magnetic influence on the object of your affections, or whether you’re supposed to give him or her one (a lozenge, that is) under the pretence that it’s a delicious bon-bon. But in either case, who could resist ordering the “extra-strong” version?

MAY’S CELEBRATED LOVE LOZENGES.
SURE and safe, pleasant in taste, certain in effect; gains the
undying love and affection of any one you wish; none can
resist their magnetic influence. In boxes, post free, 9 stamps;
extra strong, 13 stamps. The best are the cheapest.—Mr. MAY,
Pharmaceutical Chemist (by diploma), 22, Heaton-road, Peck-
ham-rye, London. N.B.—Beware of Spurious Imitations.
Y.S.—Latin prescriptions translated into English, six stamps.

Source: Reynolds’s Newspaper (London), Sunday 4th January, 1874.

One thought on “May's Celebrated Love Lozenges”

Pingback: New Year, New Blogs « Writing and all that

Comments are closed.

BBC Radio 4 Best Medicine

Tune in to Best Medicine on BBC Radio 4, 6.30pm, 14 November 2023 (or listen later at BBC Sounds and all podcast platforms). Hosted by Kiri Pritchard-McLean, it’s an entertaining panel show that looks at the strange, the amusing and the uplifting sides of medicine, past and present. I talk about some inhalation inventions that […]

A Fortune Built on Sand: Health Grains

In early 20th-century New York, a mailman introduced a new patent medicine called Health Grains for indigestion – but the ingredients were far from beneficial. Mrs Bertha Bertsche, a 38-year-old widow, could often be found supervising the pans on the kitchen range at her home in Glebe Avenue, Westchester Square, New York. Inside the pans, […]

Men and women in 19th-century clothing sit on benches in an underground cave.

Rocks that Shock: the Hillman Electric Resort

In 1880s Georgia, a Baptist minister accidentally discovered rocks that appeared to emit a therapeutic power of electricity. As their fame spread, the location became a popular resort for people in search of healing.