THE MIRACULOUS ‘SWEDISH POWDER’
[MIRACLE CURE.]
Poudre suédoise.
Paris, [s.p., c.1760].
8vo, pp. 12; woodcut headpiece depicting manufacture of the poudre; some spotting and browning; in contemporary marbled wrappers.
Seemingly unrecorded pamphlet extolling the virtues of ‘Swedish Powder’, sold at the Hôtel du Grand-Cerf on the rue Saint-Denis for the treatment and prevention of several ailments, but especially for the ‘most unfortunate symptoms of venereal disease’.
The powder was the invention of a Swede, and was recommended to a gonorrhoea sufferer at the end of his tether, to be applied morning and night for a month to the gums. Acting as diuretic and purgative, the powder worked: ‘le trente-deuxiéme jour il se trouva parfaitement rétabli’; and so the patient became an evangelist, recommending it to all his friends who were in less severe pain (because nobody could be in more severe pain and live).
The pamphlet describes the powder (‘un alcohol impalpable, d’une belle couleur de rose’), its effects, dosage, the diet a patient should follow while using it (no salad), and its many virtues, also giving the price and the guarantees of authenticity. Enquiries should be addressed to a M. Boileau, Surgeon at the Infirmary of the États-Généraux de Hollande.
Not in OCLC or Library Hub.
