Patent Medicines
Patent medicines allowed patients to self-diagnose and treat their ills at home. Faster and cheaper than going to a doctor and less painful than traditional purging or bloodletting, these medicines also appealed to those seeking cures out of desperation. Various patent medicines claimed to address a range of diseases simultaneously, like “dyspepsia, biliousness, heartburn, habitual costiveness, dizziness, sick headache, and all diseases arising from a Disordered Stomach” (Mountain Leaf, 1000.206.004); “For Dyspepsia, Indigestion, Headache, Mental and Physical Exhaustion, Nervousness, Hysteria, Night Sweats of Consumption, Etc.” (Horsford’s Acid Phosphate, 1000.206.007); or “Female Complaints, all Ovarian troubles, Inflammation, Ulceration, Falling and Displacements of the Womb and the consequent Spinal Weakness, and [the] Change of Life” (Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, 1000.206.014).
