University Health Network - Academy of Medicine Collection
Category
Archival
Pharmacy
Pharmacy, General
Home Health
Classification
Archival, Publications
Pharmacy
Pharmacy, General
Home Health
Accession Number
1977.12.171
Description
An advertising almanac for the year 1892 from Ayer's; bound with a tricoloured string in the top left corner; Includes advertisements, calendars, articles on ailment treatments and product information; 32 pages.
An advertising almanac for the year 1892 from Ayer's; bound with a tricoloured string in the top left corner; Includes advertisements, calendars, articles on ailment treatments and product information; 32 pages.
Almanac printed for the year 1892 and would have been given away prior to January of that year
Material
paper: cream, yellow
ink: black
fabric: blue, pink, white
Inscriptions
Printed on on th front cover: "AYER'S // AMERICAN ALMANAC // - CANADIAN EDITIONS - // 1892. // AYER'S SARSAPARILLA // Cures Others Will Cure You // PUBLISHED BY // DR. J. C. AYER & CO., // Practical and Analytical Chemists, // LOWELL, MASS., U.S.A."; printed on back page: "AYER'S SARSAPARILLA // Has cured others, will cure you. // PRESENTED BY // W. C. McLEAN, Dunlop St., Barrie, Ont. // DEALER IN // DRUS, MEDICINES AND CHEMICALS, FANCY AND TOILET ARTICLES, //Sponges, Brushesm Perfumery, &c. // Choice Domestic and Imported Cigars. // Physician's Prescriptions carefully compounded and orders answered with care // and dispatch. Our stock of Mediciations is complete, warranted // genuine and of the best quality."
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010-G Academy of Medicine Pharmaceutical Advertising Binder A
Unit Of Measure
centimeters
Dimension Notes
Length 19.4 cm x Width 12.3 cm
Condition Remarks
Paper has yellowed; some wear shown along spine; some corners broken
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Books
Reference Comments
"The Great American Medicine Show" by David Armstrong and Elizabeth M. Armstrong, p. 166;
"The Snake-Oil Syndrome" by A. Walker Bingham, p. 126 & colour insert 63
"American Health Quackery" by James H. Young, pp 130-134
Research Facts
American Dr. James Cook Ayer (1818-1878) was the wealthiest patent medicine businessman of his day.
He started working in an apothecary shop in Lowell, Mass., bought a drug store in 1841 when he was 22 and eventually received a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1860.
Ayer was more interested in selling medicines than in practicing medicine.
In 1843, James Cook Ayer mixed up a cherry cough medicine in a Lowell, Mass., apothecary while his boss was on vacation in Europe. The cough medicine, known as ‘Cherry Pectoral,’ marked Ayer’s first step on the road to a fortune. It was followed by a strong laxative called Cathartic Pills, a blood medicine called Sarsaparilla that was supposed to cure syphilis, a cure for malaria called Ague Cure, and a hair restorer called Hair Vigor.
Physicians happily prescribed Ayer’s medicines, but the real secret to his success was advertising. He spent $140,000 (c1840s) a year on advertisements that promoted the benefits of his medicines with charming, whimsical illustrations. He distributed millions of free copies of an almanac that hawked his cures.
Ayer advertised cherry pectoral as a cure for ‘coughs, colds, asthma, croup, laryngitis, bronchitis, whooping cough and consumption.’ His most popular product, sarsaparilla, was ‘a real blessing that purifies the blood, stimulates the vital functions, restores and preserves health, and infuses new life and vigor throughout the whole system. He recommended It for jaundice, dyspepsia, pimples, boils, ringworm, female weaknesses and ‘lassitude and debility peculiar to the Spring.’
Ayer built a state-of-the-art factory in Lowell to produce vast quantities of medicines that made him a fortune. He employed 150 people. In one year the factory processed 325,000 pounds of drugs, 220,000 gallons of spirits and 400,000 pounds of sugar. He sold his products around the world, and the factory continued to produce drugs until the 1940s.
He was accused of using misleading advertising to sell quack medicines and miracle cures. His defenders say Ayer’s claims were well within the bounds of medical knowledge in the 19th century.
Cherry pectoral contained three grams of morphine – but that was a lot less than doctors were prescribing at the time. Some of Ayer’s products contained small amounts of alcohol to preserve the plant material that comprised his medicines.
But certainly, some of his products did not live up to their billing. Sarsaparilla didn’t work. Hair Vigor didn’t work. But Ague Cure contained bark from the cinchona tree – which later became known as quinine and was very effective in fighting malaria. Cherry pectoral did not cure lung ailments, as advertised, but it did treat the symptoms of a cold, which helps patients improve.