The concerns about health and the description of how to cure them are both really interesting despite the quackery. The discourse regarding the heart, circulation, and pulse shows that these played an important role in how British men conceived of health. The fact that India cures were seen as potentially legitimate also suggests much about this culture.
Thank you, Christian, for your thoughtful comment. I've encountered quite a few patent medicines advertised with background stories of geographically distant places and ancient traditions. From a practical point of view, I suppose it enabled dodgy practitioners to make things up knowing that customers couldn't easily check it out, and from a psychological perpective it was (and still is) common for people to turn to remedies imbued with exotic mystery when they were dissatisfied with the limited medical care available.
The concerns about health and the description of how to cure them are both really interesting despite the quackery. The discourse regarding the heart, circulation, and pulse shows that these played an important role in how British men conceived of health. The fact that India cures were seen as potentially legitimate also suggests much about this culture.
Really interesting and well done.
Thank you, Christian, for your thoughtful comment. I've encountered quite a few patent medicines advertised with background stories of geographically distant places and ancient traditions. From a practical point of view, I suppose it enabled dodgy practitioners to make things up knowing that customers couldn't easily check it out, and from a psychological perpective it was (and still is) common for people to turn to remedies imbued with exotic mystery when they were dissatisfied with the limited medical care available.