The Quack Doctor

DELICACY of Complexion.—The incomparable BLOOM of NINON DE L’ENCLOS, superior to any thing yet discovered for rendering the skin soft, smooth, and beautiful in the extreme. Its wonderful effects in removing freckles, morphews, worms, &c. justly entitle it to that preference so long bestowed on it by the most elegant beauties in this kingdom. It is particularly recommended for the hands and arms, bestowing on them a delicacy and whiteness, superior to any thing vended for similar purposes.—Sold only by Mr. Golding, 42, Cornhill; Mr. Overton, 47, Bond-street; Mr. Wright, Wade’s Passage, Bath; and Miss Grigson, Liverpool; in bottles 4s. each.

Source: The Times, 20 June 1805

——————————————————————————————————————-

The story behind the Bloom suggested it had been introduced to Britain in 1782 by Mademoiselle Louisa Pigout of Paris, who appointed London agents to reach the British market. She credited the product for the beauty of famed 17th-century writer and courtesan Anne (nicknamed Ninon) de L’Enclos, who had handed down the recipe. Another of Pigout’s claims was that the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, would use no other cosmetic.

A 1784 advert gave detailed instructions for use:

Let the skin be thoroughly cleansed with Almond Washball, or oatmeal. Being wiped perfectly dry, shake the bottle exceeding well, and immediately pour a little of the fluid into a cup, and with a fine cloth rub it on the skin, more or less, as you please, till it is quite absorbed. Lastly, gently wipe the face with a soft flannel. Two or three bottles, and frequently less, will evince the pre-eminence of its virtues, beyond the possibility of a doubt.

If Ninon (right) really employed this preparation, she did well to survive to the age of 84. It comprised almond emulsion, essence of lavender and white lead.

White lead (lead carbonate) had been used in cosmetics since antiquity. In Ninon’s time and well into the 18th century it commonly took the form of ceruse – a mixture of the compound with vinegar. In 1756, Adam Fitz-Adam’s periodical The World noted that women who used ceruse

doe quickly become withered and grey-headed, because this doth so mightily dry up the natural moysture of their flesh: and if any give not credit to my report let them but observe such as have used it, and I doubt not but they will easyly be satisfied.

This was positively complimentary compared with Fitz-Adam’s description of women who used corrosive sublimate, but I’ll keep that for another time. In 1786 a correspondent to the Daily Universal Register (the forerunner of The Times) was equally disapproving of cosmetics in this satirical ‘receipt for making a fashionable lady’:

…viz. two pounds of cork, five yards of whalebone, one pound of hair, six pounds of wool or cotton, two drams of white lead, and half a dram of rouge—these, with a proper quantity of bones for the skeleton, and flesh and blood for the muscles, with the skin of a mouse for eye brows, a pound of powder, and half a pound of pomatum, will compleat the business.

The Monthly Gazette of Health – a publication I am very fond of but accept as rather subjective – estimated the cost of ingredients for a bottle of  ‘Bloom’ as 1d, and surmised that it was made in London, not Paris.

‘Bloom of Ninon,’ was the name of a Victorian face powder too, but this was a completely different product, consisting of precipitated chalk, talc, bismuth subcarbonate, zinc oxide and starch, perfumed with orris and rose essences. The use of lead cosmetics, however, continued throughout the 19th century, particularly in the theatre. In the 1850s, a writer in the Medical Times and Gazette described the case of a clown suffering from colic as a result of using lead carbonate mixed in lard. On his recovery he planned to continue using it because nothing else would create the desired whitening effect, but was eventually persuaded to convert to zinc oxide.

Medical jurisprudence writer Alfred S. Taylor described the symptoms of chronic lead poisoning as follows:

There is first pain, with a sense of sinking commonly in or about the region of the umbilicus. Next to pain there is obstinate constipation, retraction of the abdominal parietes, loss of appetite, thirst, foetid odour of the breath, and general emaciation. The skin acquires a yellowish or earthy colour, and the patient experiences a saccharine, styptic, or astringent taste in the mouth. A symptom of a peculiar nature has been pointed out by the late Dr. Burton and others (Med. Gaz. xxv. 687), namely, blueness of the edges of the gums, where these join the bodies of the teeth : the teeth are of a brownish colour.

Although the idea of historical ladies sacrificing their lives to vanity makes a good story, confirmed cases of death by cosmetics were few and far between. Reported instances of lead poisoning usually involved accidental ingestion via contaminated foodstuffs or water, or prolonged exposure to lead in the trades of house-painting and colour grinding – the symptoms of chronic poisoning were commonly known as painter’s colic.

Even so, it was not a great idea to put lead on your face. As the Monthly Gazette said of the Bloom of Ninon in 1819:

The repeated application of lead to the skin of the face, instead of animating the countenance, would assuredly, by paralysing the nerves, render it inanimate.

Therefore, it was nothing like any beauty treatments that are available today.

In a testimonial included in another Empress Josephine Toilet Co. advert, “Mrs Jos. C. Morton” wrote:

Some years ago I ruined my skin and complexion by the use of worthless face powders. Pimples would raise up in large lumps all over my face. They oft times resembled more closely a boil than a pimple. Modesty and sensitiveness of my condition banished me entirely from my friends, and I also felt that my husband was really ashamed of me…

Fortunately for marital harmony, Mrs Morton grasped the “golden cord of hope” that was Empress Josephine Face Cream, and was entirely cured, making her shallow wastrel of a husband “more proud of [her] than ever.” (Newark Daily Advocate, Ohio, 5/7/1893)

.

BEAUTIFUL
WOMEN
OF PARIS

Have been using Empress Josephine Face Bleach, Cream and Soap for more than one hundred years to protect and preserve their pretty complexions. The
EMPRESS JOSEPHINE
FACE BLEACH
is positively guaranteed to be an effectual, pleasant and permanent cure for the following blemishes of the skin:
Freckles, Pimples, Moth Patches, Blotches, Extreme Redness, Eczema, Acne, Excessive Oiliness, Tan, Sallowness, Brown Spots, Blackheads and Roughness. Money refunded whenever it fails to do as represented.
CUT THIS OUT
———————–
DEAR MADAM. —This ticket
entitles you to a cake of
Empress Josephine Face
Soap free of charge, with
your first purchase of a
bottle of Empress Joseph-
ine Face Bleach.
JOHN F. COULSON, 804 Market St.
H.C. PURCELL, 821 Fourth St.
J. L. HANSON, 528 Broadway.

Source: The Logansport Journal, Indiana, 14 June 1893

The Empress Josephine range was one of many cosmetic brands designed to give women that fashionable Victorian pallor. Others included Madame Ruppert’s Face Bleach, Mrs Graham’s Face Bleach, Malvina Cream and Lotion, the Royal Face Bleach and Hagan’s Magnolia Balm. A variety of dangerous ingredients formed the basis for such skin products, the main ones being lead carbonate, zinc oxide and corrosive sublimate (mercuric chloride). These could be absorbed through the skin, causing a wide variety of unpleasant physical, psychological and neurological  side-effects – for example,  death.

Harriet Hubbard Ayer, proprietor of unguents called the “Recamier Balm” and “Recamier Moth and Freckle Lotion” gave a recipe for face bleach in her Complete and Authentic Treatise on the Laws of Health and Beauty (1899). She suggested a solution of bichloride of mercury with glycerine, but in the quantities given it was luckily ‘not strong enough to blister the face in average cases.’ Good news for the average among us. Ayer helpfully warned:

Do not forget that bichloride of mercury is a powerful poison and should be kept out of reach of children and ignorant persons.

Which was all very well, but what if the ignorant persons were really tall?

‘Dr MacKenzie’ was one of several brand names attached to arsenic products – similar ‘wafers’ (pills) were sold under the names Dr Simms, Dr Rose and Dr Campbell.

The wafers made the skin fashionably pale by destroying red blood cells. Although it was possible to build up a tolerance for arsenic by taking regular small amounts, it is no surprise that the cosmetic use of the substance did not always end happily.

In July 1880 the Indianapolis Sentinel reported the case of ‘a young lady, handsome and intelligent,’ who had gradually lost her sight as a result of taking arsenic. Her engagement to a ‘young physician of good prospects’ was on hold while he waited to find out if her sight could be restored.

Deaths also occurred, such as that of 18-year-old Hildegarde Walton of St Louis, who died in 1911 having taken several boxes of wafers in an attempt to clear up a skin complaint.

THE SECRET
ONE BOX
of Dr. MACKENZIE’S IMPROVED HARMLESS ARSENIC COMPLEXION WAFERS will produce the most lovely complexion that the imagination could desire, clear, fresh, free from blotch, blemish, coarseness, redness, freckles, or pimples. Post free for 4s. 6d. ; half boxes, 2s. 9d.— S. HARVEY, 5, Denman St., London Bridge, S. E. Use Dr. MacKenzie’s ARSENICAL TOILET SOAP 1s. per Tablet; No. 2, unscented, 6d. per Tablet. Made from Purest Ingredients, and Absolutely Harmless.
BEWARE OF THE MANY IMITATIONS. Have Dr. Mackenzie’s or none.

MacKenzies’s was the British version, while the main US brand was Dr Campbell’s Safe Arsenic Wafers, which the proprietor supposedly used to cure his own sallow complexion. Until the age of 19, he ‘was the possessor of a remarkably clear skin and bright English complexion, so much so as to excite comment among my fellow college students, who used to say “they wished I were a girl.”‘ Yellow fever put paid to this excitement, and Dr Campbell ended up ‘a far deeper yellow than Oscar Wilde’s favourite sunflower.’ (New York Times, 10 April 1887)

After experimenting unsuccessfully with various arsenic products, he developed his brand of wafers and apparently regained his pale skin – thus inspired to help others, he began advertising to the public. The wafers were still around as late as the 1920s.

Sources: Dr MacKenzie’s Arsenic Wafers from The Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times (London) 7 March 1896. Dr Campbell’s Arsenic Wafers from The World (New York) 25 Feb 1894

This double advert shows only a fraction of the cosmetics range sold by Alexander Ross. He sold several products for the hair, including his famous Cantharides (Spanish Fly) Oil for curing baldness, and Golden Hair wash that turned the hair “a golden colour after a few usings.” Other products included a Skin Tightener liquid for removing wrinkles, a Vegetable Skin Pill, Chiropo for the cure of corns and the Hair Destroyer depilatory. The most intriguing part of this advert, however, is only mentioned in passing – the Nose Machine.

This was a kind of metal brace that people with crooked noses were advised to wear strapped to their head.  Ross advertised it as:

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.

Before deciding whether to fork out 10s. 6d. for the Nose Machine, you could send off for an information pamphlet. Intriguingly, this also contained “interesting remarks on noses generally.”

C O M P L E X I O N   G L O B U L E S  produce  a  clear  com-
plexion  without   injury.     Strange,   but   true,   they   give   white-
ness to the hands and lustre to the  eye  if  taken  now  and  again.
They are perfectly harmless. 5s. free by post.—ALEX. ROSS, 21,
Lamb’s Conduit-street, London, W.C. Established 1850.
——————————————————————————————————–
P L U M P E R S   for   T H I N   F A C E S  are   placed  in   the
mouth,  between  the  teeth  and  the  cheeks,  making  the  profile
perfect, and the shape of the face  correct.   They  are  the  colour  of
the gums, and easy to wear.—Post 21s.—ALEX. ROSS, Inventor of
the Nose Machine, 21, Lamb’s Conduit-street, London.

Source: The Daily News (London) Friday 24 April 1891

As someone with a “countenance of moderate pretensions,” I can see the allure of some of these products …         

                             TRICOSIAN POWDER.
   For rendering Red or Grey Hair and Whiskers a beautiful
                                   Black or Brown.
THIS POWDER, which is a very curious dis-
covery in Chemistry, will be found, upon trial, much
superior to every preparation now offered for these purposes;
it is perfectly innoxious both to the Hair and Skin; indeed it
is of service to the Hair, for it promotes its growth, and in-
vigorates its texture. It is so perfectly safe for the Skin or
Clothes on which it happens to fall, and so infallible in its
operation that the dark tint, which is produced in a few
hours, cannot be obliterated by any process whatever. Price
3s. per box.
            SIDKI; OR, THE TURKISH COSMETIC FLUID.
This Lotion communicates to the Skin a delicate fineness
of texture, and juvenile freshness, and renders a countenance
of moderate pretensions irresistably attractive, protecting it
from the inclemency of the atmosphere and the ravages of
time. Price 2s per bottle, or twelve in a case for £1.
                           HUILE DE CACHMERE,
for preserving and improving the Hair, promoting its growth,
preserving it from falling off or turning grey, and restoring
it in those parts which have become nearly bald.
Price 2s. per Bottle, signed by the Proprietor, J. SINNETT.
   HUBERT’S ROSEATE POWDER FOR REMOVING
                          SUPERFLUOUS HAIRS.
This excellent Depilatory is perfectly safe in the application
and certain in its effect. Price 3s. and 5s.
               THE VENETIAN BLOOM OF YOUTH AND
                                       BEAUTY.;
Or Imperial Vegetable Powder for the Skin,
(A peculiarly elegant preparation of the beautiful Azalœa).
Communicates to the Skin the most brilliant and natural
fairness, and possesses this pre-eminent excellence, that it
cannot be discovered by the most scrutinising observer.
Price 2. per package, Six in one 10s., or Fourteen for £1 1s.
Sold Wholesale and Retail at Dr. SMITH’S, 74, Marlbo-
rough-street, and Shaw’s, 8, Bachelor’s-walk.

Source:  Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser (Dublin) Tuesday 22 April 1851

This is another of the ads from Defoe’s A Review of the Affairs of France, which I have mentioned previously.

COSMETICON:    A    most     excellent     wash
to Beautifie the  Face,  &c.,  rendring  the  Skin sur-
prisingly white and  clear:  It  takes  away  all  Hard-
ness,  Tan,  Sunburn,  or  other  Discolourings:   All
Morphews,  Scurfs,  Freckles,  Lentils,  &c.,  tho’  of
never so long standing, speedily  heals chop’d Lips,
Pimples, or other breakings-out  in  the  Skin,  after
an admirable manner. Gives such a delicate,  pure,
clear, natural  lustre  to  the  Face  and  Hands,  &c.,
that  nothing  in  Nature  can  possibly  exceeds  it ;
yet leaves no  darnish,  but  is  wholly  free  from  all
pernicious   Ingredients,   as   Mercury  &c,   being
pure, sweet, clean, harmless and transparently clear;
’tis   found,  by  many  Years   Experience,  to  make
the skin so incomparably pure,  fine  and  soft,   and
so free from all Defilements and  Defects   whatsoe-
ver, that   it   leaves   no   room  for  anything  of   the
like kind to come  after   it.   For   Bruises   by   Falls,
&c., Aches and Pains even of   the   Gout   or   Rheu-
matism, it’s a present Sovereign  Remedy.  Sold   at
Mr.  Stevens’s,  a   Tin-Shop   next   the  Three  Nuns
near Salisbury-Court   in   Fleet-street,   and   at   Mr.
Parker’s Bookseller at  the  Keg  and  Star  in  Corn-
hill,  over  against  the  Royal-Exchange,  at   3s.   6d.
a Bottle, with Directions.

Source: A Review of the Affairs of France, Tuesday 3 April 1705

Note: Archaic spellings too numerous to detail but all as in original.

        Image: Whiskerandos, by John Leech, 1854.
Courtesy of the John Leech Sketch Archives from Punch

            LUXURIANT HAIR, WHISKERS, EYEBROWS, &c.
     THE   TESTIMONIALS   daily   received   by   Miss   DEAN
establish  the  fact   that   CRINILENE  is  the  only  preparation  that
can be perfectly relied upon in  producing  those  acknowledged  orna-
ments of manhood  in  three  or  four  weeks,  with certainty.  It  is emi-
nently successful in nourishing,  curling  and  beautifying  the Hair, and
checking and preventing greyness in all its stages, strengthening weak
hair,   preventing   it   falling   off,   &c.  For  the  reproduction  of  hair in
baldness, from whatever cause, and  at  whatever  age,  it  stands  unri-
valled. One trial only is  solicited  to  prove  the  fact.  It  is  an elegantly
scented  preparation,  and  sufficient  for  three months’ use will be sent
post  free,  on  receipt of Twenty-four Postage stamps, by MISS DEAN,
48 Liverpool-street, King’s-cross, London.

Source: The News of the World, Sunday 23 March 1851

 This is the oldest advert featured on The Quack Doctor so far – it’s from a 1705 edition of Daniel Defoe’s periodical A Review of the Affairs of France. Defoe began the publication in February 1704 as a weekly opinion piece, but by the time of this example he was publishing it every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. If I were a trendy, down-with-the-kids TV historian I’d say “he was an 18th-century blogger!” But I’m not, so I won’t. 

This advert was one of a few that Defoe repeatedly used depending on how much space he had left to fill. Look out for a couple of others at a later date.

.

.

The   Royal   Essence   for   the   Hair  of  the  Head
and   Perriwigs,   being   the   most    delicate   and
charming   Perfume   in   Nature,  and  the  greatest
Preserver  of  Hair  in  the  World,  for  it  keeps that
of Perriwigs  (a  much  longer  time  than  usual)  in
the  Curl,  and  fair  Hair  from  fading  or  changing
colour,  makes  the  Hair  of  the  Head  grow  thick,
strengthens and confirms its Roots  and  effectually
prevents   it   from   falling   off   or   splitting   at  the
ends, makes the Powder continue in all Hair longer
than it possibly will, by  the  use  of  any  other  thing.
By   its   incomparable   Odour    and    Fragancy   it
strengthens the Brain, revives the  Spirits,  quickens
the Memory, and  makes  the  Heart  chearful,  never
raises  the Vapours in Ladies, &c., being wholly  free
from  (and   abundantly   more   delightful   and  plea-
sant  than)  Musk,  Civet,   &c.   ‘Tis   indeed   an  un-
paralled  fine  Scent  for  the  Pocket,  and  perfumes
Handkerchiefs,   &c.,   excellently.   To   be  had  only
at  Mr.  Allcrafts,  a  Toyshop  at  the  Blue-Coat  Boy
at  the  Royal  Exchange  in  Cornhill.  Sealed  up,  at
2s. 6d. a Bottle with Directions.

Source:  A Review of the Affairs of France, with Observations on Transactions at Home, Tuesday 13 March 1705

Notes: Fragancy and un-paralled are as they appear in the original. Chearful was a normal 18thC spelling.

Image: Portrait of Madame Récamier, by François Pascal Simon Gérard

FEMALE ATTRACTION

TO    obviate    the    unpleasant    sensation    experienced    by
those    Ladies    who    may    have    SUPERFLUOUS     HAIRS
growing  on  the  Face  or Arms, and to render their persons more
lovely   and   attractive,   was   the  chief  motive  that  induced  the
Proprietor   of    ALFRED’s    ROYAL    COMPOSITION    to   sub-
mit  that  important  Discovery  to  the  test  and  Patronage  of the
Female World. How far he  has  succeeded  in  the  attainment  of
his wishes  is  best  shewn  by  the  numerous  applications  which
continue to be made  from  the  most  distinguished  in  the  higher
circles for  rank,  beauty,  and  fashion.  This  Composition  (which
was  first  prepared  for  the  late  Queen  of  France)  not  only  re-
moves  and  eradicates  all  Superfluous  Hairs from the Face and
Arms, but renders the Skin more delicate  and  fair,  giving  to  the
complexion and features a new  portion  of  loveliness  and  attrac-
tion.   The   Proprietor   finding   a   considerable   increase  in  the
sale,   has   relinquished   the   Retail  Branch,  and  appointed the
Composition to be sold in packets, at 5s. 6d. and 2s. 9d. each, by
Messrs. Gattie and Lea, No.  52,  New  Bond-street;  Davison  and
Son,  No.  59,  Fleet-street;  Kieth,  No.  30,  Haymarket; Bowman,
No.   102,   Bond-street;   Vickery,   Tavistock-street;    Cryer,  No.
68,   Cornhill;   and   Elliott,   Perfumer,   Rathbone-place.   Whole-
sale by Berry and Main, Greek-street, Soho.

Source: The Morning Chronicle (London), Tuesday 9th March 1802

Image: Le Baume d’Acier by Louis Leopold Boilly. Courtesy of the US National Library of Medicine.

BEAUTY, HEALTH, and a PEARLY SET
of TEETH, may be preserved to old age, by
the use of BUTLER’s VEGETABLE RESTORA-
TIVE TOOTH-POWDER, a specific for the Tooth
Ach, and its cause, the Scurvy in the Gums.
Of the Properties of this Tooth-Powder.
Its detersive property is just sufficient to clear
away those destructive particles of acid which ge-
nerally adhere to the Gums, and in the interstices of
the Teeth ; healing soreness in the former, and pro-
moting a new Enamel of pearly whiteness, where it
has been injured or corroded.
These distinguishing Characteristics of its sanative
effects and superiority have procured it the unbounded
approbation of the Queen, the Princesses, the Em-
press of Russia, the Duchesses of York, Bedford,
Gordon, Devonshire, Rutland, Lees, and most of the
English and Foreign Nobility, many of whom recom-
mend it with admiration, as a necessary appendage
to the Toilet: it imparts a firmness and beautiful
redness to the Gums–to the Breath the most de-
lectable sweetness, and if used constantly as direct-
ed, will render the Teeth firm and white, and pre-
vent the Tooth-ach from returning to those who
have been liable to its most baneful effects.
Sold by Mr. Butler, No. 4, Cheapside, corner of
St. Paul’s, London, in boxes at 2s. 9d. each, duty
included; also, by Mrs. Jones, at the Office of this
Journal, Spiers, Butler, Munday, and Slatter, Tre-
achers, and Merrick, Oxford; Mercer, Abingdon;
Norton, Henley; Marshall, Wycombe; Loggin,
Aylesbury; Beesley, Banbury; and most Medicine
Venders and Perfumers in every Town.

Source: Jackson’s Oxford Journal, Saturday 18th Feb 1815