See Dr. Grace Feder Thompson's
letter appealing for patients, Dr. Pierce's medical
empire and Lydia E.
Pinkham's Vegetable Compound.
See a Modess True or
False? ad in The American Girl magazine,
January 1947, and actress Carol
Lynley in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter"
booklet ad (1955) - Modess
. . . . because ads (many dates).
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Cardui medicine for difficult
menstruation, leucorrhea, backache,
headache, dizziness and general female
diseases
Two pages of
testimonials from "Home Treatment
for Women"
These are two pages from the lower booklet
on the previous page; they contain the
comments of happy users of the patent
medicine Cardui. It was published by
the Ladies Advisory Department of the
Chattanooga Medicine Company, in
Tennessee (U.S.A.).
Note the interesting language, especially
on
the right-hand
page: "right
smart
while," female weakness,"
"my sick time,"
"doctor with a
doctor." A woman I worked
with, who is from a small town in
Virginia, explained to me what "smart"
meant in this context; she had heard
her grandmother say it.
Much of the commentary is about painful menstruation,
something this and many other patent
medicines claimed, with justice, to
help.
And no wonder. It was 19% alcohol by
volume, 38 proof;
that's stronger than wine.
SarahAnne Hazlewood generously
donated the Cardui material to this
museum.
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© 1997 Harry Finley. It is
illegal to reproduce or distribute
work on this Web site in any manner
or medium without written permission
of the author. Please report suspected
violations to hfinley@mum.org
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