Read selections from Pierce's The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser; or, Medicine Explained, (below) 1895, Buffalo, New York, from Pierce's own press at his World's Dispensary Medical Association: "Spermatorrhea' (loss of semen without copulation, which usually means masturbation), portrait of Pierce, and his hospital.
See also Cardui patent medicine booklet covers, testimonials, examination sheet
See Dr. Grace Feder Thompson's letter appealing for patients, Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, and Orange Blossom medicine, Dr. E. C. Abbey's The Sexual System and Its Derangements, which emphasises masturbation, as doe Dr. Pierce, and several small boxes of old American patent medicine for women.
See the Wix tampon, instructions, patent, The Fascinating Story of Wix (and another version) and store instruction sheet. And read an ad in the Sears catalog for Wix and see a Wix tampon store display ad.
Early commercial tampons
Ads for the Kotex stick tampon (U.S.A., 1970s) - a Japanese stick tampon from the 1970s.
Early commercial tampons - Rely tampon - Meds tampon (Modess)
And, of course, the first Tampax AND - special for you! - the American fax tampon, from the early 1930s, which also came in bags.
See a Modess True or False? ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947, and actress Carol Lynley in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates).
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.

Dr. R. V. Pierce's patent medicine empire and hospital, often
concerned with women's diseases, cancer, digestive illness, fatigue,
headache, female weakness, gynecology, tumors, nervous
diseases, and menstruation

Dr. R. V. Pierce (portrait and signature) made a range of medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries in the U.S.A., many probably highly alcoholic, just like Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound. Dr. Pierce was Mrs. Pinkham's most successful competitor.

Like Mrs. Pinkham, Dr. Thompson, and the makers of Cardui, the company had a medical consulting service where the favorite piece of advice was to use its product. (See here for more general information about patent medicine.)

Below are the covers of a 1914 calendar and advertising booklet (read the whole booklet here), and, at bottom, an undated but modern-looking tin of "vaginal tablets" (see a box of his tablets). (And look what some women were wearing in 1914 to protect their clothing from menstrual leakage.)

Here are selections from Pierce's The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English; or, Medicine Simplified, (cover) 1895, Buffalo, New York, from Pierce's own press at his World's Dispensary Medical Association: "Spermatorrhea" (loss of semen without copulation, which usually means masturbation; see Dr. Abbey's similar interest), portrait of Pierce, and his hospital.
Was Dr. Pierce a hypocrite about masturbation?
Here are interior pages. See a barn with an advertisement for Dr. Pierce.
SarahAnne Hazlewood generously donated the Dr. Pierce material to this museum.

 

Front cover of the 1914 booklet. (Whole booklet here)

 

Back cover of the same booklet.

 

Undated tin of tablets.

NEXT: See interior pages and a barn with an advertisement for Dr. Pierce.

© 1998 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any of the work on this Web site in any manner
or medium without written permission of the author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org