Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, 1888
Lydia Pinkham’s Compound was the mother of all patent medicines. Her Vegetable Compound might be the most popular patent medicine of all time. It is still sold today, although in a much modified form. This concoction promised to be a savior for all women who experienced "female problems." Pinkham claimed that it could cure moodiness, as well as dissolve and expel tumors.
The advertisements suggested that men loved this compound, because it made women "so much easier to live with." One advertisement exclaimed "Don’t blame her! She cannot help it." Lydia's famous face appeared on many of her advertisements and trade cards, and she became synonymous with relief of monthly female illnesses. In the long run, the medicine paved the way for a deeper understanding of women's hormonal fluctuations.
(Front side, advertising card)