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- Title
- Ayer's cathartic pills. (The country doctor)
- Description
- Racist trade card promoting Dr. J.C. Ayer & Co.’s Cathartic Pills and depicting a caricature of an older African American man doctor administering Ayer’s pills to an infant girl on his lap. Shows the African American man with white hair and a white beard, attired in spectacles, a brown hat, a white collared shirt, a brown bow tie, a green waistcoat, a green jacket, green pants, and black shoes. He sits on a wooden chair and holds an infant African American girl, attired in a red dress with yellow polka dots and a white collar, on his lap. In his left hand he carries a box filled with white pills, and in his right hand he holds a single white pill. The infant carries a pamphlet labeled "Ayer’s pills" in her hands. In the left, a barefooted African American boy, attired in a blue and white checked shirt and orange and yellow striped overalls, kneels beside the chair and looks on. On the ground in front of the boy is an open medicine bag labeled “Dr. Bolus” and filled with containers labeled, Ayers. James Cook Ayer (1818-1878) was a successful patent medicine manufacturer who estabished a factory in Lowell, Mass. After his death, J.C. Ayer & Co. continued to manufacture medicine under the management of his brother Frederick Ayer (1822-1918). After Frederick's death, the company continued to operate under the management of family members and professional managers until it left Lowell in 1943., Title from item., Publication information and date from the copyright statement: Copyright, 1883, By J.C. Ayer & Co., Lowell, Mass., Advertising text printed on verso: Ayer’s pills supply the universal want of a safe and reliable purgative medicine. The disorders which they are designed to cure, and for which they prove a sure remedy, are all caused by the derangement of one or more of the digestive and assimilative organs, and include constipation or costiveness, indigestion, dyspepsia, biliousness, heartburn, loss of appetite, flatulency, foul stomach, nausea, dizziness, headache, numbness, jaundice, diarrhoea, dysentery, and disorders of the liver. Eruptions and skin diseases, and piles, when the result of indigestion or constipation, are cured by the use of Ayer’s pills. They are, also, often the best remedy for rheumatism, gout, neuralgia, dropsy, kidney complaints, and other disorders arising from a reduced condition of the system, or the obstruction of its functions. In colds they operate beneficially by opening the pores, removing inflammatory secretions, and allaying fever. Ayer’s pills are made of vegetable ingredients only, and may be administered even to children with perfect safety. They are sugar-coated, and pleasant to take; and for all the purposes of a cathartic medicine they are unequalled. Ayers’ pills are usually put up in oval wooden boxes; but for hot and damp climates, and for export, in sealed glass vials, as above represented. Sold by., Text printed on verso: “The Country Doctor.” A fine Chromo-Lithograph (7 ½ x 13 inches, in “Statuette” style) of this original and popular subject, will be sent, post-paid, to any address, with a set of our elegant Album Cards, on receipt of 10 cents in cash or postage stamps. Address, Dr. J.C. Ayer & Co., Lowell, Mass., Gift of David Doret.
- Date
- 1883
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Goldman Trade Card Collection - J.C. Ayer [P.2017.95.91]