biomedicalephemera: Alphonso & Imogene: An Idyl of Henry’s Carbolic Salve Alphonso loved dearly the blithe Imogene whose face was the fairest that ever was seen; but when he proposed, “Alas”, Imogene said “I would gladly accept and with thee would wed, but with ugly eruptions your face is so scarred that all my life’s future, with you would be marred unless you remove them; so if me you’d have, you must cure them with HENRY’S CARBOLIC SALVE. “You are too ugly to marry me, you ghoul.” Unlike many Victorian trade cards, the product advertised here, Henry’s Carbolic Salve, was not actually complete quackery - it probably wouldn’t have cleared boils and acne very effectively, but carbolic soaps were the product of choice for Henry Lister, when he was trying to push hand-washing and sanitation before surgical procedures. Miami University Libraries Digital Collections. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

biomedicalephemera:

Alphonso & Imogene: An Idyl of Henry’s Carbolic Salve

Alphonso loved dearly the blithe Imogene whose face was the fairest that ever was seen; but when he proposed, “Alas”, Imogene said “I would gladly accept and with thee would wed, but with ugly eruptions your face is so scarred that all my life’s future, with you would be marred unless you remove them; so if me you’d have, you must cure them with HENRY’S CARBOLIC SALVE.

“You are too ugly to marry me, you ghoul.”

Unlike many Victorian trade cards, the product advertised here, Henry’s Carbolic Salve, was not actually complete quackery - it probably wouldn’t have cleared boils and acne very effectively, but carbolic soaps were the product of choice for Henry Lister, when he was trying to push hand-washing and sanitation before surgical procedures.

Miami University Libraries Digital Collections. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

155 Notes

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    Now Alphonso was fond of his pustular face but he did his best to keep Imogene’s faith a daily dose made his appearance...
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    PERFECT
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    This is just hilarious!
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    Printing this out and carrying it with me always in case anyone ever proposes to me.
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