19th century

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.

Victorian asthma cigarettes: who was Dr Batty?

Some 19thC doctors saw smoking as an efficient way to deliver medication to the lungs – but the popular ‘Dr Batty’ advertisement isn’t real.

Advertisement for the Rev E J Silverton, 1884

Detective Caminada and the quack doctors

Dr Angela Buckley, author of The Real Sherlock Holmes, relates Detective Jerome Caminada’s encounter with an ecclesiastical con artist in 1870s Manchester.

The New and Delightful Method - Punch vol 45 p175

‘A new sensation’: hair-brushing by machinery

Originating in Bristol in 1862, the hair-brushing machine whirred its way into the public consciousness of Victorian Britain.

An advertising poster in the Art Nouveau style, showing a knight on horseback sticking a lance into a humanoid figure composed of tobacco leaves. The desing includes the words 'Narcoti-cure, cures the tobacco habit in from 4 to 10 days. The Narcoti Chemical Co., Springfield, Mass. Price $5.00. Book of particulars free.'

Narcoti-Cure: ‘Why smoke and spit your life away?’

Last updated: 20 April 2024 This beautiful 1895 poster, created by leading Art Nouveau designer William H Bradley (1868-1962), formed part of a widespread advertising campaign for Narcoti-Cure, a product that was only available for about a year. Narcoti-Cure claimed to put smokers, tobacco-chewers and snuff-takers off their filthy habit for life. ‘Why smoke and […]

Dr MacKenzie’s Harmless Arsenic Complexion Wafers

Arsenic was reputed to give a youthful, wrinkle-free complexion, so 1890s entrepreneurs started advertising arsenic pills and soaps.

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 […]

Claxton’s Patent Ear Cap

ADvent Calendar Day 4 ‘It has often been observed by experienced elders, that since it became the fashion for babies to discard caps, protruding ears are but too common. They are very ugly, and the ear-cap just invented is a safe preventive, without the heat that made the cap objectionable.’ (Northampton Mercury, 17 April 1891) […]

Dr Ralph’s Pills

ADvent Calendar Day 2 Dr Ralph’s Pills and the ‘Ralphian Theory’ appear to have been inspired by the Hygeist principles of James Morison, who introduced Vegetable Universal Pills to Britain in 1825. Joseph Ralph’s system, like that of Morison, comprised two varieties of remedy – the Alterative Purgatives (No. 1) and the Gentle Aperients (No. […]