Pharmaceuticals and Health Care
John Ayrton Paris, M.D. Pharmacologia. New York: F. & R. Lockwood, 1824.
This volvelle allows a physician to determine equivalent doses of medication ingredients. A volvelle, used since the 13th century, was especially helpful in science, astronomy, and mathematics, where they were often attached to an endpaper and aggregated groups of information.
G. W. Lawrence, M.D. Maltine Obstetrical Calendar. New York: Reed & Carnrick, 1892.
Useful premiums like this one tend to be retained and used. Maltine, maker of food supplements for infants, children, and pregnant women, used this volvelle to help calculate a pregnant woman’s due date.
Léon Jacquemaire. Premier aliment après le lait maternel [First food after breast milk]. [ca. 1900].
meunier, tu dors [miller, you sleep]. Villefranche, France: Blédine and Blécao Jacquemaire, [ca. 1912].
These cards for Algeria and Tunisia are of a set of 10 representing the French colonies. Geographical information is on the rear along with instructions for assembling. The company offers a scrapbook to display all 10 cards. Seeking to complete a collection encourages the purchase of more products. Blédine and Blécao are supplemental phosphate and carnine, developed by Léon Jacquemaire, a pharmacist.
The miller Blédine premium has the purchaser cut and create a volvelle. The wheel is secured with a linen knot, the traditional fastener. The act of creation increases the chances of remembering the product and retaining the premium.
M’aime-T-On? [Do you love me?]. Paris, France: Pastilles Valda, [ca. 1900].
Still popular today, this promotional volvelle shows in the top die-cut hole the suggested maladies the lozenges can help. How well they may help is indicated in the middle slot, from “no way” to “a lot.”
Elixir De Kempenaar Liqueur Hygiènique. Belgium: Jacques Neefs, [ca. 1905].
Jacques Neefs, a well-known Belgium wine and spirits merchant, often used this large series of Elixir cards to promote his business. Pull-out cards with unrelated humorous chromolithographed illustrations—more for children than adults—were used by many companies at the turn of the century. The use of the “hygiènique” may try to convey a medicinal benefit to their alcoholic product.
Urodonal, Nettoie le rein [Cleanse the kidney]. France: Leopold Verger (printer), [ca. 1912].
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a movable is worth so much more. Pull the lever on this card to have the scientist scrub the kidney. This oral medication, besides treating urinary tract infections, also claims to treat rheumatism, gout, sciatica, and obesity and does so in cards of many languages, like this Russian language card. Leopold Verger printed numerous movable advertising pieces in The Popuplady’s collection.
Ziron will steady your nerves. 1914.
This patented ‘snap your wrist and the gun goes bang’ premium really gets one’s attention. A 1917 newspaper ad reports there is a money-back guarantee on the iron supplement product. Gearing premiums to children, whether or not they were the product’s target, was a common form of advertising. [See Food - Quaker Oats for a prototype ad design.]
Colgate’s Ribbon Dental Cream: You can play and work better when your teeth are kept clean. New York: Colgate & Co., 1922.
One can almost classify this ad as a teaching tool. Properties of the toothpaste are written on the back with a description of how to use the brush. Inside, when moving the cover back and forth, the girl demonstrates the correct action. This ad is also available for boys.
Differential Diagnosis in Renal Diseases. Jersey City, NJ: Reed & Carnrick, 1928.
Noting on the back “For the Medical Profession Only,” this helpful movable graphically shows the kidney’s pathology, attached to the urinary symptoms and diagnosis. The drug Nephritin, according to the interior text, must be given in large doses to be effective, giving “restoration of normal condition.” This ad must have been a keeper among nephrologists.
Dr. Philippe Encausse (1906-1984) and C. A. Rogue. Standard Bio—Physiologique (Masculine & Feminine). [ca. 1930].
Dr. Encausse was the son of a famous occultist who claimed, “sport is a means of strengthening the body, improving the race and creating health.” The card is a handy reference for norms of male and female bodily measurements. It gives values for average heights, pulse, and vital capacity (forced maximum expiration after maximum inhalation) by age and weight. Pull the card to change the age and thereby the norms.
Johan Veeninga. Nivea Magic Book [Nivea Toverboek]. Hilversum & Amsterdam: Beiersdorf Manufacturing, [ca. 1960].
The split page or slice book allows the manufacturer to showcase several products at once but in a fun way. Turning the cut sections will present a uniquely dressed figure, each holding a different Nivea brand at the bottom of each page, such as skin or hair cream, shaving soap, or cough syrup, among others.
Arthritis in Motion: A 3D Exploration of Common Arthritic Conditions. Palo Alto, CA: Syntex Laboratories, 1985.
An easel supports a pamphlet intended as an educational tool for use in a physician’s office. The patient is instructed as follows: “The pop-up illustrations on the following pages depict the anatomical changes that commonly occur in arthritis. They will help you to understand the essence of arthritis.…” The pamphlet has pop-ups, pull-tabs, and wheels for the patient to manipulate. The book holds three pads of informative tear sheets to be taken home, but they don’t mention Naprosyn, the anti-inflammatory medication Syntex is promoting. Naprosyn (naproxen) is written only on the back of the easel.