All patent medicine on this site
Go to Cardui booklet covers, examination sheet, Home Treatment for Women
See Dr. Grace Feder Thompson's letter appealing for patients; Dr. Pierce's medical empire; Lydia E. Pinkham's fabulously successful vegetable compound & trinkets & publications; Dr. E. C. Abbey's The Sexual System and Its Derangements (1882); Dr. Young's rectal dilators; Orange Blossom medicine; ad for Ergoapiol (1904), an abortion substance; and Lysol douche liquid ad, 1948 (U.S.A.)
YOUR remedies for menstrual period pain and problems. See more remedies here.
See modern home remedies here.
Mrs. Pinkham material: Handwritten letter to a sick woman, Typed letter to a Canadian (1918), Ad from the Salt Lake Weekly Herald (1881) for Mrs. Pinkham, trade cards (flowers, girl with cat), post card of Stanford University, a bottle for Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, mending kit, booklet Stretching Your Dollar, bottles for her Blood Medicine and (just plain) Medicine, Home Talks, Private Text-Book Upon Ailments Peculiar to Women, Fruits and Candies booklet, and a modern bottle, box and instructions for her Tablets.
A discussion of the letter testimonials, and their authenticity, of the Pinkham company (in a discussion of a Pursettes ad with a letter testimonial)
See two letters to MUM about the ingredients of her Compound, and one about the lyrics of an English pop song, Lily the Pink, about her.
Other amazing women: Nelli Bly, Dr. Marie Stopes, Dr. Grace Feder Thompson
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepage | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | facts-of-life booklets for girls | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | founder/director biography | gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | humor | huts | links | masturbation | media coverage of MUM | menarche booklets for girls and parents | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor | olor | pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religión y menstruación | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | underpants & panties directory | videos, films directory | Words and expressions about menstruation | Would you stop menstruating if you could? | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

Orange Blossom medicine for "all female diseases": headaches, stomach illness, insomnia, depression, cancer, tumors, constipation, flatulence,
fertility, menstruation, hemorrhoids, etc., U.S.A., 19th-20th centuries
Prepared by J. A. McGill, M.D., & Co., Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

"Works like a charm"

Promotional booklet, 1885

Orange Blossom was a cure-all medicine similar to Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound,  the infamous Pe-Ru-Na, and scores of other 19th and early century patent medicines offered in the U.S.A. See here for a discussion of Mrs. Pinkham and the medicine business.

Sending away for diagnoses, as requested on the cover, was popular. Click on Cardui and the other links toward the left top of this page for other companies making similar requests.

Below is the cover of an 8-page booklet published in 1885 promoting the medicine. Click below it to see the rest of the booklet.

See a package of Orange Blossom vaginal suppositories.
See Dr. Grace Feder Thompson's letter appealing for patients; Dr. Pierce's medical empire; Lydia E. Pinkham's fabulously successful vegetable compound & trinkets & publications; Dr. E. C. Abbey's The Sexual System and Its Derangements (1882); Dr. Young's rectal dilators; Orange Blossom medicine; ad for Ergoapiol (1904), an abortion substance; and Lysol douche liquid ad, 1948 (U.S.A.)
SarahAnne Hazlewood generously donated this material to the museum.

Below: The attached back and front covers. Enlarged pages below.
Below: The front cover. The flimsy paper booklet measures 4 3/8 x 5 7/8" (11.2 x 14.7 cm). As you see, my scans vary in sizes and colors but the original pages do not.
Below: The back page, a bit larger than the attached cover to make the writing easier to read.
Third text line from the bottom: Pe-Ru-Na also cost $1, a lot of money in 1885.

Under the central ad: "The Orange Blossom treatment is simple, harmless and works like a charm."
Below: Isn't the design neat?

NEXT: See pages 2 & 3, 4 & 5, 6 & 7

See a package of Orange Blossom vaginal suppositories.
Go to Cardui booklet covers, examination sheet, Home Treatment for Women

See Dr. Grace Feder Thompson's letter appealing for patients; Dr. Pierce's medical empire; Lydia E. Pinkham's fabulously successful vegetable compound & trinkets & publications; Dr. E. C. Abbey's The Sexual System and Its Derangements (1882); Dr. Young's rectal dilators; Orange Blossom medicine; ad for Ergoapiol (1904), an abortion substance; and Lysol douche liquid ad, 1948 (U.S.A.)
Copyright 2013 Harry Finley