JF Ptak Science Books 

Pabst Brewing Company, makers of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer (evidently named for the Blue Ribbon that they did not receive in the 1893 Columbian Exposition) marketed one of their malt extracts as a curative, a palliative of some sort.  In this ad–rendered in a sort of Egyptian motif, because as we see in the legend at the bottom of the image in a barely-visible type, “the history of brewing begins in Egypt”–the malt extract is useful for a very wide variety of aliments. 

The two testimonies quoted in the ad come from a Dr. P.O. Warner, of Sand Beach, Michigan.  The first example is for the use of the Pabst product for an “anemic…run down to almost a skeleton” child–after a week of use of the malt extract, the child was again “plump”.  Unfortunately, the use of malt extract is generally used to treat constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome, and as a stool softener–something to help folks go to the bathroom….in the case of a weakened child, this seems to have been exactly the opposite thing to prescribe. 

The second case is even more reaching:  “really marvelous” results in using Pabst malt extract to help a woman with/getting over (?) typhoid fever.  I’m not sure how this would have come into play, or if  the simple consumption of a Pabst beer would have been a less-harmful remedy. 

The elegant ad appears in a beautifully printed nickel Little Magazine called The Chap Book, printed by the estimable Stone & Kimble of Boston.