Title
St. Louis Courier of Medicine. Volume XV, No. 6. June 1886.
Author
Edited by E. M. Nelson, M.D., Ph.D.
Image
Description
This June 1886 issue of the St. Louis Courier of Medicine is a strong example of a late nineteenth-century American medical journal. It includes original articles, case reports, editorials, book reviews, society proceedings, medical advertisements, and notices aimed at practicing physicians.
The issue is especially useful because it captures medicine during a period of major transition. Physicians were still using many older therapies and clinical traditions, but germ theory, antiseptic surgery, bacteriology, medical specialization, and pharmaceutical advertising were rapidly reshaping practice. Notable content includes the editorial “The Malarial Germ,” an advertisement for an Atlas of Venereal Diseases, full-page pharmaceutical advertising from Rio Chemical Company, and a Missouri Medical College advertisement documenting medical education in the 1880s.
Condition
Original period medical journal pages with expected age toning and wear. Text and advertisements remain readable and suitable for research, display, and archival documentation.
Gallery
Historical context
By 1886 American medicine was moving away from older explanatory models of disease and toward laboratory-based medicine. Medical journals like this one helped physicians keep up with new theories, treatments, instruments, books, schools, and drugs. This issue is especially interesting because it shows germ theory entering ordinary professional discussion while traditional therapeutics and aggressive pharmaceutical advertising remained very much alive.
Curious Facts, Ephemera, and Trivia
- The issue includes an eye-catching advertisement for an Atlas of Venereal Diseases, showing how specialized illustrated atlases were marketed directly to physicians.
- “The Malarial Germ” editorial reflects the medical profession working through the new microbial explanation of malaria.
- The Rio Chemical Company advertisement promotes several proprietary preparations, including Celerina, Aletris Cordial, Acid Mannate, and Pinus Canadensis.
- The St. Louis Medical College advertisement gives a period look at medical training, faculty, and institutional promotion.
- This issue functions as both a medical journal and a physician’s shopping guide.
Excerpt
“The Malarial Germ”
This editorial is a useful glimpse into physicians debating disease causation during the rise of bacteriology and parasitology. It shows medicine in motion—not fully modern yet, but no longer comfortably old-fashioned either.
Why it is in the Cabinet
This issue belongs in the Cabinet because it documents what physicians were reading, buying, debating, and teaching in 1886. It connects several Cabinet themes at once: infectious disease, medical publishing, pharmaceutical advertising, venereal disease, medical education, and the transition toward modern scientific medicine.
Digital Copy
A complete, high-resolution digital copy of this journal is available through the Internet Archive and may be viewed online or downloaded free of charge.
Download: https://archive.org/details/st.-louis-courier-of-medicine-06-1886
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