History: Wartime Elixir Ad Targets Women's Sense of Duty (1918)

The 7 Nov 1918 edition of The Matawan Journal included this spirited wartime advertisement of the Lydia E Pinkham Hygiene Company, of Lynn, Massachusetts.  It encouraged "sick women to do your duty during these trying times" and take their vegetable compound to alleviate "female troubles and displacement."

Two woman advocated for this product by saying they'd found instant relief. One from Pennsylvania testified, "I am keeping house since last April and doing all my housework, where before I was unable to do any work." Another woman said she wanted other women in her situation to know that Pinkham's had ended her cramps and "dragging down pain," irregularity, "female weakness and displacement."

Displacement is likely a reference to painful symptoms experienced by many women due to internal organ movement caused by dramatic growth of the fetus in the second trimester of pregnancy. See Common Second Trimester Pains, at Baby and Bump.