Marketplace and consumer goods for nervous diseases in Buenos Aires (1880-1900): tonics, oils, drugs and medical institutes

In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, neuroses and other nervous diseases (such as neurasthenia, hysteria or nervous weakness) had a relative significance in the health culture of Buenos Aires. These maladies appeared not only in medical literature, but also in graphical advertising of...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Vallejo, Mauro Sebastián
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
Repositorio:Temáticas (Campinas. Online)
Idioma:portugués
OAI Identifier:oai:inpec.econtents.bc.unicamp.br:article/14107
Acceso en línea:https://econtents.bc.unicamp.br/inpec/index.php/tematicas/article/view/14107
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Neurosis
Medicina
Farmacia
Mercado
Histeria
Neurose
Farmácia
Medicine
Pharmacy
Market
Descripción
Sumario:In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, neuroses and other nervous diseases (such as neurasthenia, hysteria or nervous weakness) had a relative significance in the health culture of Buenos Aires. These maladies appeared not only in medical literature, but also in graphical advertising of objects and services intended to combat them. The purpose of this paper is to analyze, focusing on topics related to the market, consumption and advertising strategies, two dimensions of these healing offers. On the one hand, the proliferation of substances (tonics, oils and drugs) sold in drugstores and other distribution points. On the other hand, the development of therapeutic institutes directed by physicians and equipped with various technical implements (hydrotherapy centers, electrotherapy, mechanical gymnastics, among others). The doctors joined the market of offers against nervous diseases by founding centers whose services were also promoted as consumer goods through advertisements and other means of dissemination. The article tries to locate the essential features of this complex market, attending to the social actors who intervened there and to the tensions and negotiations between them.