Read selections from Pierce's The People's Common
Sense Medical Adviser; or, Medicine Explained, (below) 1895, Buffalo,
New York, from Pierce's own press at his World's Dispensary Medical Association:
"Spermatorrhea' (loss of semen without copulation,
which usually means masturbation), portrait of Pierce, and his hospital.
See Dr. Grace Feder Thompson's letter appealing
for patients, Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound,
and Orange Blossom medicine, Dr. E. C. Abbey's
The Sexual System and Its Derangements, which emphasises
masturbation, as doe Dr. Pierce, and several small
boxes of old American patent medicine for women.
And, of course, the first Tampax AND - special
for you! - the American fax tampon,
from the early 1930s, which also came in bags.
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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Dr. R. V. Pierce's patent medicine empire and hospital, often
concerned with women's diseases, cancer, digestive illness, fatigue,
headache, and menstruation
Dr. R. V. Pierce (portrait
and signature) made a range of medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries
in the U.S.A., many probably highly alcoholic, just like Lydia
Pinkham's Vegetable Compound. Dr. Pierce was Mrs.
Pinkham's most successful competitor.
Like Mrs. Pinkham, Dr.
Thompson, and the makers of Cardui, the company
had a medical consulting service, where the favorite piece of advice was
to use its product. (See here for more general
information about patent medicine.)
Below are the covers of a 1914 calendar and advertising booklet, and,
at bottom, an undated but modern-looking tin of "vaginal tablets"
(see a box of his tablets). (And look
what some women were wearing in 1914 to protect their clothing from menstrual
leakage.)
Here are selections from Pierce's The People's
Common Sense Medical Adviser; or, Medicine Explained, (cover)
1895, Buffalo, New York, from Pierce's own press at his World's Dispensary
Medical Association: "Spermatorrhea"
(loss of semen without copulation, which usually means masturbation;
see Dr. Abbey's similar
interest), portrait of Pierce, and his
hospital.
Here are interior pages. See a barn
with an advertisement for Dr. Pierce.
SarahAnne Hazlewood generously donated the Dr.Pierce material to
this museum.
Large files, long download!
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Front cover of the 1914 booklet. |
Back cover of the same booklet. |
Undated tin of tablets. |
NEXT: See interior pages and a barn
with an advertisement for Dr. Pierce.
© 1998 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
of the 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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