1900s advertising

Mother’s Friend

In honour of the birth of The Quack Doctor’s new baby niece, who arrived early Saturday morning in the car park of Harlow Hospital, this post looks at a liniment that claimed to make labour a doddle. Mother’s Friend was on sale in the US and Canada by the mid-1880s, though some adverts said it […]

You Needn’t be Bald

Source: Popular Mechanics December 1909 When a bald fellow had got fed up with rubbing lotions on his scalp or taking bullocks’ blood supplements, it was time to go for something more drastic – a vacuum cap. An early form of this device was invented in New York in 1898 by Claude O. Rosell. The cap, which […]

The Lambert Snyder Health Vibrator

Unlike the La Vida Electric Vibrator, this one was hand-operated. Snyder explained its action in his patent application as follows: In a general sense my present invention comprises a main staff and a vibrator-head, the latter mounted for movement longitudinally on the staff in such manner that said movement will give a series of shocks to […]

Habitina – an infallible remedy for addiction

Source: The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette,17 April 1907 —————————————————————————————— Following on from the last post, we remain in early 20th-century America. But while Mayr’s Wonderful Stomach Remedy was fairly harmless (albeit rather revolting), this nostrum was notorious for the damage it caused in just 6 years of existence. Between 1906 and 1912, the Delta Chemical Company […]

Capsuloids Hair Restorer

Source: Black & White, 19 March 1904 Chief among the ills to which flesh is heir in the springtime is the provoking habit of our ‘crowning glory’ to come off in handfuls, leaving us with the parlous prospect of a denuded poll. So says a 1904 advertorial recommending Capsuloids as a hair restorer. I’m not […]

Tucker’s Asthma Specific

I was an asthmatic child in the 1980s, and although there was the advantage of being able to get out of PE sometimes, my asthma could be difficult to manage. Most potentially fun occasions ended up with me wheezing away in a corner, and frequent chest infections left me either in hospital or lying on […]

Dr Young’s Rectal Dilators

Source: Detroit Medical Journal August 1905 As you can see, this ad is aimed at the medical profession, and the product was (and still is) accepted by orthodox practitioners as helpful for certain conditions – it was not so much the dilators themselves but the claims made about their efficacy that at one point pushed […]

Magic Foot Drafts

RHEUMATISM Cured Through the Feet Without Medicine An external cure so sure that the makers send it FREE ON APPROVAL. Try it. Send your name and address to the makers of Magic Foot Drafts, the great cure for every kind of rheumatism; Chronic or Acute, Muscular, Sciatic, Lumbago, Gout, etc., no matter where located or […]

Derk P. Yonkerman's Tuberculozyne

Consumptives There is Hope for You! Derk P. Yonkerman, Specialist, discoverer of a remarkable Cure for Consumption. To every consumptive person there is hope of life and health, for, incredible as it may seem, a specific which cures Consumption has at last been found. Seeking year after year, working early and late, […]