An 1898 ad for Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Photo above: During the early years of the 20th century, elixirs such as Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription were often sold by traveling medicine shows, such as the one shown setting up here in Morgantown, WV.

“To be the mother of many children is ranked among nature’s chief blessings but when the cares of the busy housewife are added to the trials of frequent motherhood, it is too great a burden for a woman who is not in prime health and condition. Every woman who is called upon to bear the ordeal of bringing many children into the world needs the support and reinforcement of that wonderful strength-promoting “Favorite Prescription” originated by Dr. R. V. Pierce, chief consulting physician of the Invalids’ Hotel and Surgical Institute, Buffalo, N. Y., and one of the most eminent of living specialists.

Poster for Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription ca. 1880-1900 — Poster for Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription ca. 1880-1900

“Mrs. David H. Langley, of Lancing, Morgan Co., Tenn., in a recent letter to Dr. Pierce, writes: I am now thirty-six years old and have given birth to ten children. Eight only are living. I have twin boys six years old. The same spring after they were born I was confined to my bed all spring and summer with female complaint; had it so badly I could hardly walk around the house without feeling worse.

“I was restless at night, sleep almost left me, and I was almost a skeleton. I did not call my doctor as I had tried the doctors twice before when I was down with the same trouble, and my husband paid out a great deal for me. I received no lasting benefit; I had almost lost all hope of being able to do anything. My husband had to work very hard and I could not even attend to the babies.

“No one can know the distress of my mind as well as body. Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription was the only medicine that seemed to do me any good. After I had taken the first bottle and part of the second. I could sleep well and all my troubles began to get better. I believe I took eight bottles and then I felt like a different person. I gave birth to another baby and my old complaint came back. I began using the “Favorite Prescription” and was soon relieved and was able to do my work, including the washing.” —Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, Nebraska, December 25, 1898

Was there in fact a man named Pierce behind this wildly successful product? And was he a doctor? Ray Vaughn Pierce (1840-1914) was real, and depending on your worldview, he was considered by some a doctor. He took up the study of medicine in Cincinnati, and in 1865 graduated from that city’s Eclectic Medical Institute.

b&w etching of Eclectic Medical Institute in 1871.

Considering that by the early twentieth century, Pierce’s company World’s Dispensary Medical Association had become one of the country’s largest manufacturers of patent medicines, it might strike our modern ears as appropriate that someone selling patent medicine studied at an eclectic establishment. But ‘eclectic’ in that time and place meant something quite different.

Eclectic medicine referred in the 1860s to a branch of medicine that made use of noninvasive therapies and healing practices. The most important historical fact about it is that it’s the field that served as a link between 19th century medicine and all of the modern day alternative medicines that exist, except for homeopathy.

The Eclectic Medical Institute received its charter from Ohio in 1845, and grew into the leading Eclectic medical school during the 19^th century, so Pierce’s reputation based on his training there would not have been questioned—at least in the alternative medicine circles.

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An 1898 ad for Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription

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