Life, 1891-02-05 · page 16 of 16
Life — February 5, 1891 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This 1890 *Life* page uses romantic poetry and a cautionary illustration to advertise Dr. Pierce's "Favorite Prescription," a patent medicine marketed to women. The satirical setup depicts a man mourning his lover's physical decline—her "rounded outlines waste away"—before the punchline: the solution is Dr. Pierce's tonic. The humor relies on period anxieties about women's health and beauty. The advertisement claims the prescription cures "female complaints" and paradoxically both removes wrinkles *and* "adds years to your life." Below, a cartoon man's exaggerated joy represents the relief patent medicines promised. The page is primarily **advertising**—six different remedies fill the margins (cocoa, soap, perfume, syrup, pills, dressing). These products exploited real medical ignorance and gender-specific insecurities to sell ineffective or dangerous substances. The satire gently mocks the desperation behind such claims while profiting from it.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Your face is like a Sweetheart ¢rooping flower, I see you fading, hour by hour, 7O'sweetheart! Your rounded outlines waste away, In vain I weep, in vain I What power Pray jéath's cruel hand can stay? Sweetheart! Sweetbeart! Why, nothing but Dr. Picrco’s Favorite Prescription. The hand of time deals lightly with a woman in perfect health. But all fune- tional derangements and disorders pe- culiar to women leave their mark, You needn’t have them. Dr. Pierce's Fa- vorite Prescription comes to your res cue as no other medicine can. It cures riodical pains, prolapsus and ispla 's, bearing-down sen- sations, and all ‘female complaints” and “weaknesses,” it is a positive remedy. The ‘Favorite Prescription” fs s owerful, restorative tonic and nery- ine, imparting strength to the whole system in general, and to the uterine organs and appendages in particular. It keeps years from your face and fig- ure—but adds years to your life. It's guaranteed to give satisfaction in every case. If it doesn’t, your money is re- turned, World's Dispensary Hedical “Associa: tion, Proprietors, Buffalo, N. FACIAL< BLEMISHES. ‘The largest estadliibment fa the world for the treatmeat ot weal JOHN MH, WOODBURY, Dersatsiegut, n 125 W, 42d St.,N.¥, City. “Well! Well!” That's the way you feel after one or two of Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets have done their work, You feel well, instead of bilious and constipated ; your sick headache, dizziness and indigestion arg gone, It's done mildly and cally, too. You don't have to feel worse before you feel better. That is the trouble with ‘the huge, old-fashioned pill. ‘hese are small, sugar-coated, casiest to take. One little Pellet’s a laxative, three to four are cathartic. They late and cleanse the liver, stomach’ and bowels— quickly, but thoroughly. They're the cheapest pill, sold by druggists: becaust you only pay for the good you get. Woodbury’s Facial Soap For the Skin and Scalp. Prepared by a Dermatologist with 20 years’ ex- rience, fugly, indore by the medical pro- Jeesion ; unequaled as @ remedy for ectema, ecaldbead, oily skin, pim| flesh worms, complexion, ete. Indispensable as a toilet articl and @ sure preventive of all diseases of the ekin. At Druggists or by mail, Price SOc. ON IE. COUDRAY’s| | gOUQUE? | | CHotst| DELICIOUS SCENT. — LATEST CREATION of B. COUDRAY in PARIS SOLD RY ALL PRINCIPAL PERFUMERS, anne LETE AN DEN EMISTROL ELE FOR FIFTY YEARS! MRS.WINSLOW'S SOOTHING SYRUP for fifty years has been used by millions of mothers for their Children while Teething. It soothes the Child, Softens the Gums, Allays all Pain, Cures Wind Colic and is the Best Remedy for Diarrbora, 5c. a bottle. NK MILLEP’ CROWN DRESSING @_X©BARKER BRAND “WR LINEN COLLARS LUTELY BEST, WE. AB L BRAND. IN SH aw THIS PAPER IS PRINTED PECIAL: LIFE: INK MANUFACTURED BY THE W. D. WILSON PRINTING INK CO., rm. 140 WILLIAM ST. N. Y. Send for Special Prices and Discounts, GOLD MEDAL, PARIS, 1878. ZW. Baxer & Co-s Was Breakfast Cocoa from which the excess of oil has been removed, Is Absolutely Pure and it is Soluble. No Chemicals are used in its preparation. It has more than three times the strength of Cocoa mixed with Starch, Arrowroot or Sugar, and is therefore far more economical, costing less than one cent a cup. It is delicious, nourishing, strengthening, EASILY DIGESTED, and admirably adepted for invalids as well as for persons in health. Sold by Crocers everywhere. W. BAKER & C0., DORCHESTER, MASS. comicbooks.com