Items

Title: Ayer's Sarsaparilla
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Sarsaparilla featuring an image of a man in a dressing gown holding a bottle of Ayer's Sarsaparilla and reading a paper advertising the medicine. A woman wearing a bonnet and a dress with lace cuffs and collar reads over his shoulder and clasps his arm. The back explains the product's health benefits and has an image of an animal intertwined with the word "MIND."
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Body Fluids, Catarrh, Eczema, Furuncle, Indigestion, Lymph Node, Rheumatism, Tuberculosis
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bottles, Clothing And Dress, Lace And Lacemaking, Men, Men's Clothing, Sarsaparilla, Women, Women's Clothing, Women's Hats
ID: WH111
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Burdock Blood Bitters
Description: Trade card advertising Burdock Blood Bitters featuring a portrait of an extravagantly-dressed woman with gold jewelry, flowers adorning her headdress and dress, and a tambourine. The back lists the benefits of taking Burdock Blood Bitters.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Embroidery, Flowers, Gold Jewelry, Musical Instruments, Portraits, Shawls, Tambourine
ID: WH127
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Dr. White's Celebrated Cough Drops [from verso]
Description: Trade card advertising Dr. White's Cough Drops featuring a group of four people in a row boat rowing towards a sailboat. In the background is another sailboat and a cloudy sky. At the top of the card is a bunch of orange and pink flowers. The back lists the ailments the Cough Drops can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Cold (Disease), Cough, Hoarseness
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Boats And Boating, Clouds, Flowers, Nature, Ocean, Sailboats, Water, Water Waves
ID: WH378
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
Description: Trade card advertising Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, Lydia E. Pinkham's Liver Pills, Lydia E. Pinkham's Blood Purifier, and Lydia E. Pinkham's Sanative Wash featuring an image of a fisherman in a wooden boat on a body of water. In the background there is a large house with a smoking chimney, a bridge, a mountain, and some greenery. The image is framed by sprigs of pink flowers. The back lists the benefits of the items advertised.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Backache, Depression, Headache, Indigestion, Insomnia, Neurasthenia, Peptic Ulcer, Tumors
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bridges, Chimneys, Fishing, Flowers, Hats, Mountains, Nature, Smoke Plumes, Trees, Water, Water And Architecture
ID: WH187
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Dr. White's Cough Drops Are the Best
Description: Trade card advertising Dr. White's Cough Drops featuring a yellow rose and berries on the left and a circular image of a snowy landscape on the right. Within the image are a small house, a fence, some rocks, and some snow-covered trees. The back lists the ailments the Cough Drops can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Cold (Disease), Cough, Hoarseness
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Berries, Flowers, Housing, Leaves, Nature, Rocks, Snow, Trees, Wooden Fences
ID: WH380
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title

Aristotle’s Masterpiece, Or The Secrets of Generation displayed in all the parts thereof

Description

Published initially in 1684 and popular in both America and England for over two hundred years, this became the most widely reprinted medical book in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The contributions of the Masterpiece were not particularly scientific, but drew largely from Hippocrates, and Galen, as well as other classical and medieval writers. The source material came from two earlier books: Levinus Lemnius’s Secret Miracles of Nature, originally published in Latin in 1599, and The Complete Midwives Practice Enlarged (author unknown). Chapter headings include sections titled, “The Signs of Barrenness” “The Way of getting to a Boy or a Girl,” “How a Midwife Ought to be Qualified” and “A Word of Advice to both Sexes in the Act of Copulation.” The information this title offered on conception, pregnancy, and childbirth wasn’t particularly innovative; many seventeenth century discoveries in gynecology are absent from the text and replaced by Hippocratic pathology, or by superstition. The “Aristotle” of the title was pseudonymous, and likely evoked by the book’s author to give the tome scientific credibility. The book’s true author is unknown, though Culpepper and William Salmon, an English physician and author, are sometimes credited.

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Subjects (LC)

Anatomy, Anthropometry, Early works to 1800, Medical illustration, Medicine, Printing—History, Proportion (Art), Renaissance, Wood-engraving

Title: Sapanule: Cures Neuralgia, Diptheria, Rheumatism &c.
Description: Trade card advertising Sapanule featuring a scene reminiscent of classical Chinese art. On the right side is a traditionally-dressed man with walking sticks and wooden sandals. In the left, bottom corner is a traditional Chinese fan. Beyond the man's head is a tree with creepy branches and scarce leaves. The back lists the ailments Sapanule can cure.
Conditions Cured (LC): Diphtheria, Eczema, Erysipelas, Neuralgia, Pneumonia, Rheumatism, Salt Rheum
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, China, Clothing And Dress—Chinese Influences, Clouds, Ethnic Costume, Fans, Grasslands, Nature, Trees
ID: WH345
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Ayer's Sarsaparilla
Description: Trade card advertising Ayer's Sarsaparilla featuring an image of a man in a dressing gown holding a bottle of Ayer's Sarsaparilla and reading a paper advertising the medicine. A woman wearing a bonnet and a dress with lace cuffs and collar reads over his shoulder and clasps his arm. The back explains the product's health benefits and has an image of an animal intertwined with the word "MIND."
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Body Fluids, Catarrh, Eczema, Furuncle, Indigestion, Lymph Node, Rheumatism, Tuberculosis
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bottles, Clothing And Dress, Lace And Lacemaking, Men, Men's Clothing, Sarsaparilla, Women, Women's Clothing, Women's Hats
ID: WH112
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound
Description: Trade card advertising Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, Lydia E. Pinkham's Liver Pills, Lydia E. Pinkham's Blood Purifier, and Lydia E. Pinkham's Sanative Wash featuring a coastal landscape of a house whose chimney is letting out smoke in the distance. A body of water is in the foreground, and there is a group of trees on the left-hand side. The image is framed by branches and pink and white blossoms. The back lists the benefits of the items advertised.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthenia, Backache, Depression, Headache, Indigestion, Insomnia, Neurasthenia, Peptic Ulcer, Tumors
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Chimneys, Flowers, Nature, Smoke Plumes, Trees, Water, Water And Architecture
ID: WH186
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Horsfords Acid Phosphate for Mental & Physical Exhaustion, Dyspepsia, &c.: It Makes a Delicious Drink with Water & Sugar Only
Description: Trade card advertising Horsford's Acid Phosphate featuring the face of a young girl in a red bonnet with medium-length, curly hair. She is wearing a lettered necklace whose beads read "Horsford's Acid Phosphate." The back lists the ailments Horsford's Acid Phospate cures.
Conditions Cured (LC): Fatigue, Headache, Hysteria, Indigestion, Tuberculosis
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Baby Bonnets, Children, Children's Clothing, Dress And Clothing, Hats, Jewelry
ID: WH158
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Brown's Iron Bitters the Best Tonic
Description: Trade card advertising Brown's Iron Bitters featuring a woman, described as Mrs Langtry, The Jersey Lily, sitting by a wooden wheel holding a wooden bucket. She is surrounded by a bed of hay. She is wearing a pink, flowered dress with a white apron. She stares to the left. The back details how the Iron Bitters works to cure ailments.
Conditions Cured (LC): Depression, Fever, Indigestion, Malaria, Neuralgia
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Hay, Nature, Pails, Plants, Portraits, Trees, Women
ID: WH237
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Take Hood's Sarsaparilla to Purify Your Blood: 100 Doses $1.00
Description: Trade card advertising Hood's Sarsaparilla featuring five children at a show of some sort with a spotlight that shows the words "Take Hood's Sarsaparilla to Purify Your Blood 100 Doses $1.00." There is a girl in a blue dress with a white bonnet watching the spotlight while a boy climbs up the back of her chair. To her left is a boy in a dark blue shirt looking to the right. To her right is a girl in a red dress looking to the lower, left-hand corner. Finally, there is a toddler looking straight at the customer wearing a blue-and-red outfit eating a candy-cane and holding a treat. The back advertises a concert performance.
Conditions Cured (LC): Catarrh, Headache, Indigestion, Rheumatism, Salt Rheum, Scrofula
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Baby Bonnets, Candy Canes, Children, Children's Clothing, Dress And Clothing, Snack Foods
ID: WH150
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Parker's Tonic: the Great Health and Strength Restorer
Description: Trade card advertising Parker's Tonic, Parker's Hair Balsam, and Floreston's Cologne featuring an elderly man sitting desolately in a chair on the left with a healthy, vibrant man dining on a luxurious meal on the right. The man on the right is seemingly pouring himself some Tonic while the man on the left is bemoaning his lack of appetite. The back lists the curative properties of the Tonic and Balsam and touts the beauty of the Cologne.
Conditions Cured (LC): Asthma, Body Fluids, Bronchitis, Cold (Disease), Cough, Dandruff, Diarrhea, Dysentery, Indigestion, Itching, Malaria, Neuralgia, Rheumatism, Tuberculosis
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Bottles, Clothing And Dress, Dinners And Dining, Hats, Old Age, Suppers, Tableware
ID: WH179
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title: Burdock Blood Bitters
Description: Trade card advertising Burdock Blood Bitters featuring a portrait of a woman in elegant dress with a red, feathered hat that is adorned with a large B pin of sorts on which is written Burdock Blood Bitters. She is wearing gold jewelry, including a choker with a B on it. Her dress is blue with lilies on it, and she has a small rose pinned to the front of her dress. The back lists the ailments Burdock Blood Bitters helps combat and testimony from Burdock Blood Bitters users.
Conditions Cured (LC): Headache, Indigestion
Subjects (LC): Advertising—Medicine, Clothing And Dress, Feathers, Flowers, Gold Jewelry, Portraits, Women's Hats
ID: WH128
Collection: William H. Helfand Collection of Pharmaceutical Trade Cards

Title

Engravings of the Arteries

Description

This early work by the Scottish anatomist Charles Bell was composed for medical students and aimed to offer accurately and simply-rendered illustrations of the arteries. It was used as a preparatory text for surgical study and practice. The ten engravings in this volume were hand-colored, and labelled with letters corresponding to explanatory descriptions of the arteries on the opposite page. Bell was an accomplished medical illustrator; the engravings were done by Thomas Medland after Bell’s drawings. For Bell, true anatomical understanding was aided in pairing accurate drawing with thorough description. Bell believed that a variety of bodies should be used as subjects, and that the artist must choose the most typical anatomical examples to copy accurately. Bell made important inroads in determining the sensory functions of the nervous system, and was an early advocate of the idea that different parts of the brain controlled different functions; his pioneering work on the brain and cranial nerves influenced the work of other important brain researchers for decades. Chief among his achievements are his very fine medical illustrations, unsurpassed in terms of efficiency of presentation and elegance. These are very much on display in this beautiful book.

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