A new player emerged in the English medical marketplace in the second half of the seventeenth century: proprietary medicines. Pamphlets advertising various pills, elixirs, salts, and powders comprised as much as around a fifth of all new medical titles printed in the period 1650–1690 (Fissell Reference Fissell, Jenner and Wallis2007: 116–17). These ‘early modern infomercials’, as the historian Mary E. Fissell characterizes them (2007: 120), informed the public of the ‘singular virtues’ ‘never found out before’ of particular medicines, described the ‘wonderful cures’ performed by them, and indicated the appropriate dosages for use. Sometimes they also engaged in heated disputes about the effectiveness of the cures or the true ‘ownership’ of the medicines.
Pamphlet advertisements of proprietary medicines are fascinating examples of specialized texts that straddle two (or more) functions: while promoting the products is the primary aim (even if it is not voiced as such), these texts also appropriate established (learned) medical knowledge and discourse conventions and impart them to the general public. As such, pamphlet advertisements can be considered a new hybrid genre incorporating both old and new structural elements and linguistic features. The old components were modeled on or repurposed from existing genres of medical writing, while new ones were invented for new overtly promotional requirements. So far these texts have been considered mostly by medical historians (e.g. Porter Reference Porter1989; Styles Reference Styles2000; Fissell Reference Fissell, Jenner and Wallis2007; Wallis Reference Wallis2008; Mackintosh Reference Mackintosh2018), but they have garnered little attention from historical linguists (although see Mullini Reference Mullini, Brownlees, Del Lungo and Denton2010; Ratia & Suhr Reference Ratia, Suhr, Taavitsainen and Pahta2011). In this chapter, I will conduct a move analysis (Swales Reference Swales2004) of thirty-two pamphlet advertisements from the period 1660–1700 in order to identify the structural elements of this new hybrid genre. Furthermore, I will look for the origins of the identified elements in earlier, established medical genres by referring to earlier research on the structural elements characteristic of recipes and treatises. The comparison will also show which elements are completely new. This case study of one hybrid genre will thus demonstrate the innovativeness of late seventeenth-century medical professionals, who developed a new medical genre from existing ones to make best use of the possibilities afforded to them by the changes in the contemporary medical marketplace.
13.1 Genre Analysis and Advertisements for Proprietary Medicines
According to the already iconic definition by Swales (Reference Swales1990: 58), a genre is made up of communicative events with a shared rationale, which is recognized by expert members of a discourse community. The rationale – that is, the communicative purpose of a genre – ‘shapes the schematic structure of the discourse and influences and constrains choice of content and style’ (Swales Reference Swales1990: 58). For Bhatia (Reference Bhatia1993: 21), the communicative purpose of a genre is reflected in the ‘interpretive cognitive structuring of the genre’ representing the ‘accumulated and conventionalized social knowledge available to a particular discourse or professional community’. Both definitions emphasize the role of recognized conventional structures and stylistic decisions for achieving the communicative purpose of a genre. Genres also reflect the beliefs and values of the discourse or professional communities and even societies at large (Tardy & Swales Reference Tardy, Swales, Schneider and Barren2014: 166), which is why genre analysis has established its place as a part of discourse analysis. Rhetorical moves in Middle English and Early Modern English medical genres have been analyzed in several studies (see e.g. Mäkinen Reference Mäkinen2006; Taavitsainen Reference Taavitsainen2001, 2011).
Both Swales and Bhatia recognize that genres are not static but are shaped by their users; this is also reflected in the fact that genres can become mixed with or embedded in other genres (Bhatia Reference Bhatia, Halmari and Virtanen2005). According to Bhatia (Reference Bhatia, Halmari and Virtanen2005: 220), modern advertising genres are especially prone to ‘colonize’ or invade ‘the territorial integrity’ of professional and academic informative genres. He suggests that the reason for this lies in the fact that the most popular strategy found in promotional genres is to describe a product in a positive manner, thereby combining the advertising purpose with an informative purpose; a shared informative purpose makes it easier for the genres to be mixed into genres that have been labeled as infomercials, infotainment, or advertorials (Bhatia 2005: 221). As Fissell’s (Reference Fissell, Jenner and Wallis2007: 120) characterization of early modern pamphlet advertisements of proprietary medicines as ‘infomercials’ demonstrates, the ‘colonizing’ of informative texts by promotional purposes was taking place already in the seventeenth century. This study will shed some light on how this ‘colonizing’ of informative texts takes place in a new genre.
The method chosen for analyzing this new genre of proprietary medical advertisements is move analysis (Swales Reference Swales2004; Tardy & Swales Reference Tardy, Swales, Schneider and Barren2014), which seeks to identify stretches of text that serve a particular rhetorical function. The Swalesian concept of moves has a clear parallel with the concept of macrostructures, which has also been used as the methodological framework in genre analytical studies (see e.g. Borde Reference Borde, Bös and Kornexl2015). Move analysis has been used to analyze a variety of modern genres, including academic and professional genres (see e.g. Maswana, Kanamaru, & Tajino Reference Maswana, Kanamaru and Tajino2015 on research articles, Loréz-Sanz Reference Loréz-Sanz2016 on abstracts), but also hard-sell print advertisements (Bhatia Reference Bhatia, Halmari and Virtanen2005) and legal news reports (Ge Reference Ge2016). Recently, move analysis has also been employed in the analysis of modern mixed genres such as online science news (Zhang Reference Zhang2018) and advertorials (Zhou Reference Zhou2012). Historical genres investigated with this method include late modern English death notices (Borde Reference Borde, Bös and Kornexl2015) and patent specifications (Groom & Grieve Reference Groom, Grieve, Fanego and Rodríguez-Puente2019). Caren auf dem Keller (2004) analyzes the structure of medical advertisements in eighteenth-century newspapers.Footnote 1 Identifying the moves of these pamphlet advertisements of medicines and comparing them to structures found in earlier informative genres of medical writing will reveal how an overtly advertising purpose ‘infiltrates’ traditional informative genres such as recipes and treatises on specialized topics to the extent that a new hybrid genre is formed.
Proprietary medicines were a new element in the very fluid early modern medical marketplace, which was populated by patients with different financial means and medical practitioners with varying levels of formal medical learning. Furthermore, medical texts were increasingly available for both learned and lay audiences. The wealthy and middle-class patients were just as likely to rely on physicians, apothecaries, midwives, or untrained medical entrepreneurs (often called quacks by the professional physicians), such as Humphrey Nendick (d. 1707) or Anthony Daffy (d. 1680) (see Figures 3–6 and 14 in the Image Gallery). The universal medicines prepared by both university-trained and self-taught medical practitioners took the form of pills, powders, and elixirs, and as these were sold in a variety of outlets, the patients never met the medical professional whose name was on the package. These proprietary medicines were too expensive for the poorer sort, even though they were often advertised as affordable, so they must be considered semi-luxury or even luxury products (Haycock & Wallis Reference Haycock and Wallis2005: 2). The manufacturers or ‘owners’ of the medicines named in the pamphlets most likely wrote the pamphlet texts themselves; only eight of the thirty-two pamphlet advertisements investigated in the present study are anonymous. Proprietary medicines were promoted in handbills posted on walls and in pamphlets distributed in the street, but also by shouting in the street and word of mouth. Figure 14 in the Image Gallery shows the title page of Anthony Daffy’s pamphlet advertisement for his Elixir Salutis (1675). Advertisements of services and products such as medicines gradually found their way into newspapers by the late seventeenth century (Brownlees Reference Brownlees2011: 166).Footnote 2 In the eighteenth century, advertisements for proprietary medicines were a staple in newspapers (Mackintosh Reference Mackintosh2018: 232). An analysis of almost 3,000 advertisements in the Zurich English Newspaper Corpus (ZEN) of eighteenth-century newspapers found that 13 per cent of them advertised medical products, many of which were branded by including a proper name in their label (auf dem Keller Reference auf dem Keller2004: 61, 63–4).
Figure 14 The title page of Anthony Daffy’s pamphlet advertisement (1675) for his proprietary medicine, Elixir Salutis. A manicule at the foot of the page draws attention to a warning against counterfeiters. Wellcome Collection.
Medical historians, who were the first scholars to pay attention to ephemeral texts such as handbills and pamphlets that advertised the services and products of quacks, note that the language of these texts is characterized by hyperbole (see e.g. Porter Reference Porter1989). Linguistic studies have taken note of the frequent use of affective features and even speech-like informal structures, as well as the use of first- and second-person pronouns and text-internal and text-external deixis as strategies to amplify the authority of the author (Mullini Reference Mullini, Brownlees, Del Lungo and Denton2010; Ratia & Suhr Reference Ratia, Suhr, Taavitsainen and Pahta2011). In eighteenth-century medical advertisements in newspapers, the tradition of hyperbole was still present, seen in the frequent use of adjectives like great, excellent, infallible, perfect, and famous (auf dem Keller Reference auf dem Keller2004: 90–1). Despite this, by the late eighteenth century the preferred style for advertising proprietary medicines in newspapers avoided hyperbole and preferred bland, factual writing that aligned the advertisers with orthodox therapies and regular practitioners (Mackintosh Reference Mackintosh2018: 234). Testimonials and case reports were used only sparingly (auf dem Keller 2004: 105), but reassurances of the consistent and correct composition of the medicines continued, with the name on the packaging given as proof of quality (Mackintosh Reference Mackintosh2018: 234). The repetition of advertisements in newspapers made proprietary medicines one of the first examples of branding (Styles Reference Styles2000; Mackintosh Reference Mackintosh2018: 234). It should be noted, though, that branding can be considered to have begun already with pamphlets, which were often reprinted and revised regularly.
13.2 Materials and Methods
The primary material of this study consists of thirty-two texts advertising various proprietary medicines, published in England between 1660 and 1700 and available in the Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). These texts share the same communicative purposes of promoting a particular medicine and informing the readers of, for example, the properties of the medicine and where it could be obtained. The authors, when named, were also the manufacturers of the medicines or the owners of the secret recipes for the medicines. The texts were identified from bibliographies of previous scholarship and by using relevant keywords as database search terms. When possible, only first editions of the texts were considered. There are two instances of the same product advertised twice in separate pamphlets, but in these cases the texts are not identical. For example, in 1668 Constantine Rhodocanaces published a pamphlet of twenty-seven pages describing his alexicacus or spirit of salt; three years later his advertisement for the same product was only one sheet long. Despite some repetition, the texts are so different that both are included in this study.
The length of the advertisements ranges from one sheet to thirty pages (c. 500–10,000 words), though most commonly the pamphlets are eight or sixteen pages long. Publications that consist of only one sheet or page are arguably not really pamphlets, but rather broadsheets or handbills, although I have included them in this analysis as they are structured in the same way as pamphlets and shared the same promotional function. There are eight such texts in the material. Separate title pages (found in twelve texts) were not included in the analysis, but prefatory material indicated with a label addressing the reader (in eight texts) was included.
As discussed by Groom and Grieve (Reference Groom, Grieve, Fanego and Rodríguez-Puente2019: 208–9), traditional move analysis is inherently qualitative, as close reading is necessary to identify sections of texts serving particular rhetorical functions. This was the case with this study as well. Text-structuring cues such as section headings or titles were useful in differentiating between moves, and other layout features such as changes in type size or font or empty space, initial capitals, as well as pointing devices such as manicules and asterisks (cf. auf dem Keller Reference auf dem Keller2004: 97–9), were also used as visual signals of borders between structural elements.
In move analysis, individual moves can range from single clauses up to a paragraph and have various realizations (steps) (Swales Reference Swales2004: 228–9). However, in the material for this study, moves usually take up at least one paragraph and often span several paragraphs, though in the shorter texts some moves can be very short. A move such as testimonial can consist of several testimonies of successful treatments, but in such cases it was only counted as one instance of the move. However, if another move, such as directions for use, occurs between two testimonials, the testimonials were considered to be two separate moves. Thus, moves can occur more than once in a text, but never consecutively. Noting the order of moves gives information about their preferred locations in the texts and also of patterns of co-occurrences, though a full-fledged quantitative analysis of the frequencies and co-occurrence patterns of moves falls outside the scope of this study.
The rhetorical functions of moves can be realized in multiple different ways within the move, and this is why, for each move, I also took note of the most common realizations (steps). For example, sales information can include information about packaging, pricing, and locations of vendors. It should be noted, though, that the primary focus of the study was on identifying the moves of the texts rather than the complete repertoire of strategies for realizing them.
Once the moves and their typical steps had been identified, I looked for potential sources and models for them in other early modern medical texts, many of which had roots in medieval traditions. I compared the moves of pamphlet advertisements to descriptions of the elements of vernacular recipes (Stannard Reference Stannard and Eamon1982) and descriptions of the discourse forms of medical texts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries outlined in the descriptions of the categories of the Early Modern English Medical Texts corpus (EMEMT; see Taavitsainen & Pahta 2010), which contains a representative sample of medical texts from this period. Apart from Jerry Stannard’s recipe elements (Stannard 1982), there has been no comprehensive study of the moves of early modern English medical genres; the corpus category descriptions of discourse forms are the closest available approximation to such an overview, supplemented by Wear’s (2000) monograph on early modern English medicine. The most immediate models of pamphlet advertisements seem to be in specialized texts describing particular methods or therapeutic substances (see Pahta & Ratia Reference Pahta, Ratia, Taavitsainen and Pahta2010); indeed, that is the category in which examples of pamphlet advertisements are placed in the corpus, but there are also parallels to medical textbooks that had their origins in medieval practica or compendia (Wear Reference Wear2000: 117). I also compared my findings to auf dem Keller’s (Reference auf dem Keller2004) analysis of the structure of medical advertisements in eighteenth-century newspapers.
13.3 Results and Analysis
In this section I will describe the moves identified in the material and make some observations about possible precursors found in earlier medical texts. Through close reading I identified seven moves in advertisements for proprietary medicines: endorsement, symptoms, virtues, directions for use, testimonials, addressing critics and competitors, and sales information.
Table 13.1 Occurrences of the seven moves (total number of texts = 32)
| Move | Number of texts in which the move occurs |
|---|---|
| Endorsement | 24 |
| Symptoms | 8 |
| Virtues | 30 |
| Directions for use | 26 |
| Testimonials | 16 |
| Addressing critics and competitors | 15 |
| Sales information | 31 |
As shown in Table 13.1, only three of the moves, virtues, directions for use, and sales information, are found in almost all of the pamphlets, so they can be considered more or less compulsory elements. The order of the moves varies, though some tendencies could be identified. The moves are discussed in the order in which they tend to appear in the pamphlets.
13.3.1 Endorsement
Endorsement is a versatile move that tends to be the first element in pamphlet advertisements. It is found in twenty-four of the thirty-two texts, and in eighteen cases it is the first move. This move serves to raise interest in the promoted product and to set it apart from other, competing medicines. The move also establishes the credentials of both the product and its manufacturer. Typical steps or strategies for realizing this move include references to noble clients, the approval of eminent physicians, a classical secret medicine only recently discovered, the extensive travel or experience of the manufacturer, considerations of the public good rather than personal gain, and general usefulness of the medicine for the public at large. William Sermon demonstrates many of these strategies in the advertisement for his pill:
Friendly reader,
Having through the wonderful Goodness and Mercy of the Almighty God, by long experience in searching the great Volume of Nature, by a diligent inspection, observing the property of each Distemper, with the nature and occult quality of Metals, Minerals, and Vegetables; some years past arrived to the sublime preparation of this most excellent Medicine, whose transcendent Virtues (of late) have been known to many persons of great worth. A Medicament so exceeding rare as admits no Rival for the performance of the foresaid Cures, &c. the want of which every year causeth great numbers of Men, Women, and Children to descend untimely to their Graves.
In the opening paragraph to the pamphlet, Sermon points out his own long experience and diligence in medical matters, refers rather vaguely to ‘many persons of great worth’ who were aware of his pill, and claims that his medicine is not only ‘most excellent’ but also ‘exceeding rare’ and better than all others in curing illnesses and ailments and thereby saving innumerable lives. The hyperbole evidenced by premodifiers such as wonderful, great, sublime, transcendent, and exceeding is very characteristic of endorsements.
Similar strategies for endorsing a new medicine or medical procedure can be seen already in the sixteenth century in medical treatises focusing on promoting specific cures or methods as viable medical procedures for other medical professionals. In medieval recipes there is no endorsement move. The parallels between the communicative functions of the earlier treatises and pamphlets advertising finished products to potential customers are clear, and therefore it is easy to understand how the endorsement move became a conventionalized move in pamphlet advertisements within the first decades of the new genre. Thomas Witherden was clearly aware of some of the conventional strategies for realizing this move, but he played on the readers’ expectations by refusing to engage in these strategies:
Though I have not impudence to brag of great Travels, long Journeys, many Voyages, and what Wonders I have done beyond Sea; nor am ambitious to shew large Parchments, Broad-Seals, &c. not sinistrously covetous of popular Applause; yet modesty will justly allow me so much confidence, to tell the World, that I have (for these many years) been my own Physician and Patient […].
Witherden claims that his competitors’ references to travel and markers of approval are ‘impudence’ and ‘ambition’, instead emphasizing the fact that he has tested his cures himself. Witherden, too, makes heavy use of descriptive premodification, but seems to be doing it in an ironic fashion to show his awareness of the hyperbolic overuse of this feature by other authors.
13.3.2 Symptoms
As suggested by the label, this move describes how particular illnesses or conditions can be identified by the symptoms exhibited by the patient. However, as many of the medicines claimed to be universal panaceas, it could be considered superfluous – and indeed, the move is not very common. It is only found in eight texts. According to Wear (Reference Wear2000: 113–15), medieval and early modern remedy books did not contain information about symptoms because they assumed that lay people were able to self-diagnose. Authors of pamphlet advertisements who drew on remedy books as the models for their texts probably made the same assumption and therefore did not consider symptoms a necessary move.
The length of the symptoms move varies depending on how many diseases or conditions the authors choose to describe. The sparsest realizations consist of a simple phrase indicating the ailment to be treated: ‘For any pain in the Stomach, and bad Digestion, or Reluctancy […]’ (Salvatore Winter, Directions for the Use of My Elixir, 1664: f. A2). A common strategy was to save space by giving only a few examples of conditions and the symptoms associated with them. Headings were often used to distinguish between different sets of symptoms:
The Symptomes of the Fits of the Mother
IT arises with a trembling on the left side, with cold windy Vapours, and after the cold fit is over, (the which, sometimes lasteth an hour two or three) then an hot fit ariseth, one after another, that the party is all in a Water with it […].
Lockyer’s description combines medical terminology such as ‘cold windy Vapours’ and ‘hot’ and ‘cold fit’, which draw on humoral theory, with concrete and easily understood description of where the fits start and how long they can last.
Symptoms is a move that can also be found in textbooks on the practice of medicine and in specialized texts on specific medicines, which take pains to explain the symptoms of the conditions that can be cured by the medicine or procedure described in the texts. Connecting the signs of a condition with medical theory was considered an aspect of learned discourse such as textbooks on the practice of medicine, which made this information available also to literate lay people (Wear Reference Wear2000: 116–17). In specialized texts on specific medicines, discussing symptoms and linking them to medical theory gave the authors authority, as they implied a higher level of learning.
In Stannard’s (Reference Stannard and Eamon1982) classification of medieval vernacular recipe elements, there is no element similar to symptoms; the closest one is purpose, which states what ailment the recipe is intended for by naming either the ailment or a symptom, but it does not entail a full discussion of the symptoms, and actually aligns most closely with just the headings found in a symptoms element. Wear (Reference Wear2000: 106) notes that what modern medicine considers a symptom of a disease was often viewed as a disease in early modern medicine, and the labeling practice apparent in headings found in the symptoms element bears this out. Headings, especially when accompanied by other layout features such as changes in typeface or empty space, made it easy for potential customers to see at a glance whether purchasing the pamphlet would be worth their while.
13.3.3 Virtues
Symptoms were usually followed by virtues, which is a move found in all but two of the pamphlet advertisements. This move explains how the medicine works to cure various conditions or what its effect is on different organs. As with symptoms, the condition is often indicated in a heading. Charles Peter shows that he is aware that descriptions of symptoms were frequently expected, but he moves directly to the virtues of his tincture after briefly explaining his decision to skip the symptoms element:
STONE in the Kidneys, Ureters, Bladder, and Neck of the Bladder
I need not name the Symptoms; every unhappy Mortal, who has felt this Distemper, knows to their cost how great the Torment. Yet, God be praised, this Cordial Tincture can clear the Body from Stones, brings away great Quantities of Gravel, hinders the coagulating of Gravel and slimy Humours, (which generate Stones) hinders all retention of Humours in the Kidneys, Ureters, Bladder, and prevents Stoppages in the Neck of the Bladder.
Virtues shares many features with symptoms, though the purposes of these two moves are clearly different. As in symptoms, authors distribute learned medical information to lay readers in the virtues element. In (4), Peter refers to not only specific medical conditions and organs, but also to particular processes causing these conditions. Unlike Lockyer in (3), Peter does not use any layman’s terms in his explanation, but relies heavily on medical jargon and terminology. Interestingly, both Lockyer and Peter make use of humoral theory, which shows that this classical theory was still pervasive in the late seventeenth century, despite the emerging scientific thought style that emphasized experimentation over ancient authorities (see Taavitsainen & Schneider Reference Taavitsainen and Pahta2019).
Virtues have clear precursors in medieval recipes and early modern medical textbooks and specialized treatises. The recipe element rationale provides evidence that proves the efficacy of the recipe by explaining how the ingredients work in the cure, and sometimes even refers to humoral theory. The same applies to textbooks and specialized treatises as well. Perhaps having such clear models explains why virtues are practically an obligatory move in pamphlet advertisements of medicines.
13.3.4 Directions for Use
Another move that is found in almost all pamphlet advertisements is the directions for use (twenty-six texts), which gives information about how the medicine should be administered to patients of different gender, age, or general condition, and for different ailments. This move is an integral part already of medieval vernacular recipes: Stannard (Reference Stannard and Eamon1982: 60–5) lists the element he calls application and administration as one of the four required elements of recipes, and similar elements are also found in later medical genres that included recipes or described specific medical procedures. Example (5) demonstrates that the instructions for using proprietary medicines often nonetheless left some room for individual interpretation:
Now in the Griping of the Guts, according to the strength of the Patient, may be taken four or five spoonfuls, less or more, as cause requires, and it must be repeated again in five or six hours, and the same again the third time, if need require, and you not doubt of a cure.
The exact dosage is here to be decided by the person administering the cure, as is the question of whether a third dose is needed. This particular pamphlet seems to assume that the reader and potential customer is a medical practitioner rather than a patient looking to self-medicate. In example (6), the reader is clearly assumed to be the patient, but the author is still comfortable placing the responsibility for choosing the suitable dosage on the customer:
You may use of them at your pleasure, whether late or early, or at any hour of the day, before meat, or after meat, or in the time of feeding; but being taken in time of Supper, they defend the head (as we have said) from those vapours and fumes that ascend to it in the night […] The Dose is, Seven, Nine or Eleven [pills], and that three or four times a month, as necessity or the temper of the Body shall require.
Anderson leaves it up to the patient to decide not only the dosage but also the time of taking the medicine. They also determine themselves whether it is necessary to repeat the cure. He may have intended to give the impression that his medicine is easy to use, as it does not require the patient to follow a strict schedule or rationing scheme. The vagueness of the instructions had the added benefit that the patient could be blamed for not taking the correct dosage if the medicine did not work as expected.
As with virtues, the directions for use move has clear precursors in medical recipes, the application and administration element. Earlier treatises on specific medicines also often contained comparable information. The linguistic features of the recipe model were also adopted: modal verbs such as may and must are common in this element, as are imperatives (see Chapter 15 in this volume). This placed the author in a position of authority, which could be further enhanced by the use of distancing strategies such as the passive voice (as in Example (4)) and the pronoun we when referring to the author (as in Example (5)).
13.3.5 Testimonials
Testimonials is a move that could take many forms in pamphlet advertisements. It is found in sixteen of the texts, and in nine texts the move is used more than once. In many cases testimonials are short summaries or anecdotes of success stories, as in this passage:
Worms. The Porter at Dorchester House about three years ago being at the point of death, took one dose of this Medicine and voided a worm of twenty one foot long, and hath been well ever since.
Smart included a number of similar testimonials that exhibited how his medicine had cured a variety of ailments, aiming for credibility without actually giving so much information that a specific person could be identified. Smart relies heavily on testimonials in his advertisement, as they make up almost half of his text. Other authors included fewer testimonials but embellished them with details and sometimes even a narrative structure. Still others reproduced letters from grateful customers in their texts as proof of the value of their medicine.
Testimonials can sometimes be found at the beginning of texts or directly following an initial endorsement, but more often they co-occur with symptoms, virtues, and directions for use. In longer texts, it is often the testimonials that take up most space rather than explanations of how the medicine effects its cure. This is clearly a move that was considered to have strong selling power that would convince readers to buy the product.
Though this element had no clear predecessors in medieval recipes, apart from brief references to classical authorities finding a recipe useful in the incidental data element, specialized medical treatises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries made increasing use of case studies as evidence of the efficacy and value of the procedures and medicines they described (see Taavitsainen Reference Taavitsainen and Alonso-Almeida2011). These case studies, which are evidence of the new scientific thought style that valued empiricism over classical authorities, are clear models of the testimonials found in pamphlet advertisements and modern promotional genres. The testimonial move was evidently considered a conventional move in advertisements, as omitting it usually required a comment. Charles Peter, in (8), claims that he has turned down several offers for testimonials because his medicine does not need any, while Nathaniel Lomax uses a lack of space as his explanation in (9):
And not a few have offer’d to certifie the wonderful effects wrought on them by it [the cordial tincture]; but ’tis below me to accept of so mean a thing; my own authority being sufficient to give Credit to this, or any other Medicine.
And, as to inserting names, and Letters of Cures as many do, I have not room […] though I can prove plentifully […].
Both authors take pains to indicate that they have access to testimonials even though they are not included in their advertisement. Some authors who leave out this move go so far as to suggest that testimonials can be provided upon request.
Symptoms, virtues, directions for use, and testimonials often occur multiple times in medical pamphlet advertisements, when authors wish to describe the efficacy of their medicine for a number of different diseases with theory and examples and to tailor the recommended dosage to suit the ailments. As mentioned before, symptoms is not a very common move, but when present, it tends to precede the other three elements. The order of virtues, directions for use, and testimonials is more varied even within the same text, perhaps to add some variety to a text that might otherwise turn into a repetitive list. These four (or three, if we discount the rather rare symptoms) moves seem to form the core elements of the informative function of pamphlet advertisements, as they co-occur in different permutations when illnesses and their cures are described.
13.3.6 Addressing Critics and Competitors
The marketplace of proprietary medicines was an arena with fierce competition. This is reflected in the move labeled addressing critics and competitors, which is found in about half of the texts (fifteen of thirty-two). In this move, authors defended themselves against criticism or attempted to debunk or discredit their competitors by exposing them as quacks and counterfeiters. This element could be placed as the first move or following an endorsement in pamphlet advertisements, in which case the authors often use evocative language with exclamations and rhetorical questions in defense of their medicine or their own qualifications. When placed as the next to last move, a less common placement, the focus was more often on warning against the counterfeit medicines of competitors.
Authors had to be careful not to give away the ‘secrets’ of their medicine when they described its virtues, but that also left them open to claims of incompetence or fake medicines, especially when there was a similar medicine already on the market. For example, Anthony Daffy, Thomas Hinde, Thomas Witherden, and Daniel Woodward all produced and sold an Elixir Salutis. Everyone claimed ownership of the ‘true’ medicine and denounced the others as dangerous counterfeit medicines. Critics and competitors were not always named but referred to more vaguely, as in the following example:
But some scandalously report, that these Pills are dangerous in the working, being too strong for any person but one of extraordinary strength of Nature. Secondly, That I have no skill in the Art of Physick; and that I have no other Medicine but this particular Receipt or Composition. But let all know, these are meer scandals, raised upon me by persons of an envious spirit; and especially by some of the same Faculty; who are afraid that this Medicine may in great measure eclipse that mercenary repute which they have gotten by fraud and several Artifices.
Sermon does not name his opponents, but he specifies complaints made against him: that his pills are dangerously strong, and that he is not a trained physician and therefore can only produce one medicine rather than a range of them. His critics are attacking his credentials and his product as faulty out of envy and fear that they will lose their customers to him, Sermon writes, and then goes on to discredit their practice as mercenary and fraudulent.
The fierce argumentation evident in the addressing critics and competitors move bears a resemblance to the controversies of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries on topics related to politics, religion, and science. At first controversies took place in treatises, but they spilled into pamphlets as well, which allowed for faster reactions to volleys. In these controversies, authors picked apart their opponents’ arguments and defended themselves against the specific criticism made against them, often referring to specific sections of texts published by their opponents (see Ratia & Suhr 2011). First-person pronouns are used to stress the authority of the writers, and readers are included in the argument by addressing them with second-person pronouns. The same strategies are employed on a smaller scale in pamphlet advertisements, too, as well as in other specialized treatises on particular medical procedures or substances.
13.3.7 Sales Information
The final move found in pamphlet advertisements is a completely new move not seen in earlier medical writing, yet it is found in all but one of the texts. Sales information was an absolutely necessary component of pamphlet advertisements, for it gave customers the practical information they needed to find and purchase the medicine. Usually this was the final element of a text, but in some texts where the element is very brief, it is placed near the beginning; in pamphlets advertising several medicines, the price of the medicine is mentioned in connection with each product. The information included in this move concerns the price of the product and the exact locations of its vendors; the latter information was often formatted as a list. In some cases the medicine could only be obtained from the author himself, but the most popular ones were sold in dozens of establishments, in London and other major cities. Furthermore, authors often offered to send the medicine outside London upon request. Comparing successive editions of pamphlets shows that the lists of vendors were regularly updated. Frequently authors also include descriptions of the containers or their seals – occasionally even a picture of the seal – so that customers could be sure that they bought the true medicine rather than a counterfeit version of it.
Not surprisingly, the sales information move was adopted into newspaper advertisements of medicines in the late seventeenth century. Auf dem Keller (Reference auf dem Keller2004: 101–2) calls this element the standing details. Her analysis of eighteenth-century news advertisements shows that also in medical news advertisements, information about where to purchase a medical product was a compulsory element.
13.4 Discussion
The analysis of the moves of the new genre of pamphlet advertisements of proprietary medicines has shown that the authors of these texts drew on a variety of traditions of medical texts as models for writing. Two moves, virtues and directions for use, are found already in medieval medical genres of recipes, remedy books, and practica books or compendia describing the proper practice of medicine. The symptoms move is found in medieval practica books as well, and in an abbreviated form in the purpose element of recipes. These three moves are also found in new genres that appear in the early modern period, specialized medical treatises describing particular procedures or therapeutic substances.
Many of the procedures or substances outlined in specialized medical treatises were also claimed to be secrets originating from classical antiquity, which is one of the strategies found in the endorsement move of pamphlet advertisements. Another two moves, testimonials and addressing critics and competitors, have also been found to be characteristic of contemporary specialized treatises, which therefore can be confirmed as the most immediate models for pamphlet advertisements. The fact that six of the seven moves found in pamphlet advertisements were present in several other contemporary medical genres is evidence of, on the one hand, the fuzziness of the borders between genres, but, on the other hand, also of the dynamic nature of genres: they change and mix according to the communicative needs of the discourse community that uses and produces them. Furthermore, medical writers were sufficiently familiar with all of these genres to be able to exploit them in the formation of a new hybrid genre.
However, pamphlet advertisements have one further move, sales information, that is not found in any other earlier or contemporary medical genre. This is the move that is most clearly related to the advertising function of the texts, as it provides the information on pricing and purchasing locations. This move is the only one found later in eighteenth-century newspaper advertisements of medicines (auf dem Keller 2004), though a more detailed analysis of auf dem Keller’s rather vague body text category could reveal other similarities. A comparison of the seven moves identified for pamphlet advertisements and the nine rhetorical moves identified for modern hard-sell print advertisements (Bhatia Reference Bhatia, Halmari and Virtanen2005) reveals some similarities: both types of texts include a move for establishing the credentials of the advertised product or advertiser (the endorsement element in pamphlets), a move for detailing the product (the virtues and sales information moves in pamphlets), and a testimonials move.
Move analysis of a variety of genres has shown that moves should be considered a repertoire of options from which writers select only some to use in their texts, though there may be some obligatory elements. For example, Groom and Grieve (Reference Groom, Grieve, Fanego and Rodríguez-Puente2019) identified seventeen rhetorical moves for late modern patent specifications, but found that only six of these moves are present in almost all of them. In pamphlet advertisements of proprietary medicines, only the virtues, directions for use, and sales information moves can be considered obligatory, though it seems that the endorsement and testimonial elements were also recognized as conventional moves, as some authors felt compelled to comment on their decision to omit them. The order of moves is usually also fluid, though endorsements, when found, tend to be the first move in an advertisement, and sales information typically comes at the end of the text. Symptoms tend to precede virtues, as they are logically connected, but directions for use and testimonials also co-occur with these moves in different combinations.
Previous studies of the linguistic features of pamphlet advertisements have remarked on their hyperbole, which serves as an affective feature, as well as the strong authorial presence and the frequent addresses to the reader. This study did not focus specifically on the linguistic features of the moves, but it did find that some linguistic features are prevalent in particular elements. First- and second-person pronouns and addresses to the reader appear in most moves. However, the interpersonality found in these texts is not dialogic in nature, for its function is to establish the author as the expert and source of knowledge. The imperatives and modals of possibility and necessity found especially in the virtues and directions for use further demonstrate the instructive nature of the pamphlets. The promotional function, on the other hand, is evident in the hyperbole in the descriptions found especially in the endorsements. Narratives can be found in testimonials that are made up of lengthy case studies. A more detailed analysis of linguistic features could identify further linguistic strategies for realizing the purposes of the individual moves.
13.5 Conclusion
This study has analyzed the moves found in seventeenth-century pamphlet advertisements of proprietary medicines and compared them to similar elements found in earlier and other contemporary medical genres. The analysis shows that pamphlet advertisements of proprietary medicines are a prime example of a hybrid genre that makes use of old, well-established conventions and novel contemporary developments in other medical genres. At the same time, a completely new move is added to satisfy the overtly promotional aspect of the texts, which is related to the changes that were taking place in the medical marketplace in the early modern period with the introduction of the first branded medicines.
Proprietary medicines became an enduring element of the medical marketplace, and texts advertising these products moved from pamphlets to other publication formats, specifically to newspapers, while pamphlet advertisements declined and disappeared. An obvious start for future studies is in the newspaper advertisements of medicines, which start to proliferate in the second half of the seventeenth century and become a common feature in the eighteenth. Comparing the moves found in pamphlet advertisements and the much shorter newspaper advertisements will reveal the enduring elements of medical advertisements first conceived by the opportunistic and innovative pamphlet writers.
