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.
VERY large file, long download, because I want
you to be able to read the testimonials.
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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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