Pills and profits : the selling of medicines since 1870 : an exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine / Ken Arnold, Tilli Tansey.
- Arnold, Ken, 1960-
- Date:
- 1994
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: Pills and profits : the selling of medicines since 1870 : an exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine / Ken Arnold, Tilli Tansey. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![1.6 A medicine vendor. Etching by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669); Amsterdam, 1635. An itinerant medicine vendor. Engraving by T Kitchin after David Teniers the younger (1610-1690) To make a living selling medicines outside large cities, most vendors were obliged to be itinerant. Both these images suggest the way in which these pedlars employed ora- torical skills to talk up their products. Teniers' figure is shown near the entrance to a village. In Rembrandt's etching, the pedlar has a sword and slashed jacket. Many medicine vendors made effective use of real or feigned exoticism to attract custom. A second function that any itinerant pedlar served was to pass on news and gossip from one village to the next. Iconographic Collections 1.7 'The Company of undertakers'. Etching by William Hogarth (1696-1764); London, 1736 This is Hogarth's spoof coat of arms for a livery company of physicians. The title of the etching was originally intended to be 'Quacks in Consultation'. The three figures in the top row are 'irregulars', identified as (left to right) the ophthalmic surgeon and chevalier John Taylor, the bonesetter Sarah Mapp, and the medical practitioner Joshua Ward, promoter of 'Ward's drops and pills'. The legend calls the other 12 physicians 'Quackheads'. Many established physicians authorised the use of their names tO sell medicines at great profit. Iconographic Collections 1.8 'J Taylor' trade card; English [pre-1760]. Receipt from 'Milton Abbot'; English, 1835 J Taylor was an Apothecary & Chemist who sold all sorts of Druggs, Chemicals & Galenicals. His shop was located opposite the church (St Dunstan's, Fleet Street) pictured on the card. Milton Abbot styled himself Grocer Druggist and Tea Dealer. Along with patent medicines, he sold teas, coffees, foreign fruits and spices. The international range of wares that he stocked is indicated in the receipt's illustrated title. The vogue for trade cards reached its peak in the mid-eighteenth century. EPB hanging files 1.9 Patent deed for 'Broughton Wright's Sunflower oil'; English, [172?] This document reveals that Arthur Bunyan was first granted a patent for the sole privilege of making oil from the seed of Sun Flowers by George I in 1716.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20456517_0024.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
