Popular Print and Popular Medicine: Almanacs and Health Advice in Early America

Chapter 4. Health Advice with an Agenda

90 4 HEALTH ADVICE WITH AN AGENDA “This is decidedly the age of almanacs,” Arthur Prynne asserted in 1841. The Albany-based almanac maker marveled at the rapid growth of specialization in the trade: “We have religious almanacs, political almanacs, phrenological almanacs, comic almanacs, farmers’ almanacs, ladies’ almanacs , pocket almanacs, and temperance almanacs, which last are distributed at our doors without pay, or so much as the requirement of a nod by way of acknowledgment.” Prynne’s reference to complimentary copies of temperance almanacs revealed his anxiety over the potential impact these and other specialty almanacs would have on his business. “Who then remains to be supplied with Prynne’s Almanac?” he asked. His reply, “We shall see,” was more an appeal than a nonanswer. Prynne was acutely aware that only the continued loyalty of his customers could supply the answer he desired.1 The age of almanacs to which Prynne referred was marked by rapid change. The period between the end of the War of 1812 and the Civil War witnessed the appearance of numerous almanacs devoted to specific causes, directed to specific audiences, or focused on specific subjects. Unlike general almanacs, which offered advice, information, and entertainment their compilers believed readers wanted, specialty almanacs provided readers with content their compilers thought they should have. Whereas the purpose of general almanacs was to generate a profit for their printers and publishers, the purpose of many specialty almanacs, several of which were distributed free of charge, was to advance an HEALTH ADVICE WITH AN AGENDA 91 agenda, to advocate a cause, or to sell a product other than the almanac itself. For some specialty almanacs, profits generated from sales were used to support a cause. The pre–Civil War emergence of specialty almanacs influenced the health advice offered to antebellum almanac readers. Some specialty almanacs contained no health advice of any kind. Among those that did offer health advice, it was usually based on astrology. Some almanac makers and publishers, however, fashioned their health advice to fit a particular moral agenda, and their advice tended to espouse prevention rather than treatment (see Fig. 6).2 Porter’s Health Almanac (Philadelphia, 1832–33), Thomson’s Almanac (Boston, 1840–44), and the Health Almanac (New York, 1842–44) are three examples of antebellum medical almanacs that offered health advice similar to that traditionally encountered in general almanacs. Porter’s Health Almanac was issued by Henry H. Porter, the Philadelphia publisher who sought a niche in the book trade by publishing works on personal health and hygiene and on general self-improvement, the most important of which was the Journal of Health (Philadelphia, 1829–33).3 In the autumn of 1831, Porter, in an attempt to expand his audience, published the first issue of Porter’s Health Almanac. Co-edited by John Bell and D. Francis Condie, the Philadelphia physicians who also edited the Journal of Health, Porter’s almanac offered the same health advice as that publication : the value to health of temperance, a proper diet, regular exercise, cleanliness, and control of the passions. Linking the traditional belief in the importance of personal hygiene to long life with the reform movements of the period, Bell and Condie espoused moderation and morality as the key elements of perfect health. Considering the professional interests of the editors, it is not surprising that Porter’s almanac included neither astrological health advice nor home remedies. As members of a profession under attack by competing medical sects, Bell and Condie concerned themselves with establishing the authority of the regular medical profession in the management of disease. By circumscribing the role of the laity in medicine, the co-editors attempted to strengthen the position of the trained physician in the sphere of treatment.4 Yet the doctors’ message of moderation and morality should not be seen merely as an attempt to promote their professional interests. Their message was also shaped by their attitudes concerning the body, health, and disease. The editors’ regimen advice implied a conception of the body as a mechanized equilibrium system governed Fig. 6. A specialty almanac promoting a reform movement, 1837. The Temperance Almanac . . . 1837 (Philadelphia: State Temperance Society, [1836]). (Author’s collection) HEALTH ADVICE WITH AN AGENDA 93 by—and embodying—the laws of nature created by God. Thus, living in accordance with God’s laws would keep one healthy or restore one’s health...