Isaac Swainson promoting his ‘Velnos syrup’,
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
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Isaac Swainson promoting his ‘Velno’s Vegetable Syrup’, facing an onslaught of rival practitioners advocating mercury.
Coloured etching
1789 By: Thomas RowlandsonPublished: 29 November 1789
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Appearing in the 1808 La Belle Assemblee, this ad promoted Mr. Swainson’s miracle vegetable syrup. Swainson was called a “radical quack” who sold vegetable syrups for venereal diseases and other complaints in lieu of mercury medicines. The vegetable syrup was so popular, Swainson was said to make up to 5,000 pounds a year and was able to purchase a Twickenham estate (The Secret Malady: Venereal Disease in Eighteenth-century Britain and France). The syrup was popular in the Georgian era well into the Regency and Swainson’s death in 1812. For a little biography on Swanson, see here: http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.php?aid=231&cid=10&ctid=1
You can find Swainson’s directions for using the syrup here.
