One of a whole columnful of doom and gloom ads in a January 1893 edition of the Toronto Telegram. It was surprising to see so many ads about "lost manhood" and weakness and nerves in an ordinary newspaper. Well, never fear, gentlemen - Spanish Nervine is here to help.Here is what it's good for: "Fits and Neuralgia, Hysteria, Dizziness, Convulsions, Nervous Prostration, spread by the use of tobacco and alcohol. Wakefulness, Mental Depression, Involuntary ??, Hyper ??? caused by over-exertion of the brain, self-abuse and over-indulgence." [The microfilm as well as the scanned copy were both very hard to read, as you can see.]
The After man does not look much happier than the Before man, though he does look a little healthier.
Spanish Nervine is supposed to be from the "Spanish Medicine Company" of Madrid, Spain - though it does not seem likely that a Madrid medical firm would go by that name, does it? There were other "nerve tonics" that went by the name "Nervine" such as Bunter's Nervine, which was primarily a toothache remedy.
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Thank you so much to Bad Gals Radio for the Smokin' blog award!
4 comments:
Ah, yes. That old "Spanish Medicine." You used to have to "fly" to Madrid to get it.
Or Havana...
Heh. I could tell you a story but I won't.
Max - In the first draft there was a good joke about Spanish fly, actually! And - why not tell that story in one of your posts?
I have to say, I'm very curious about what "involuntary" type of action this stuff is supposed to cure. ;)
Margie and Edna - Well, nothing they could talk about explicitly, I'm sure! The Victorians liked to leave things to one's imagination. :)
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