Source: File: Advert - Phosferine.jpg. P.6. Col.3.
[online] Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12142577/Daily-Telegraph-February-9-1916.html> [Accessed: 9 February 2016]
Advertised with
daily praises,
Came a substance
for troops
By the usage of
phosperine -
In spurring on a
tired brain.
What nutrients were
needed
To feed the
tissues of a mind?
Early in 1669
alchemist Brandt
Distilled urine
to find elements.
From Swiss narturalist
Agassiz,
To Mark Twains
literary desire
To write well, was
advice to eat
Fish; phosphorus
makes brains.
As theories grew, with Hensing
Burning cattle
brains to release
Elements, over to
Vauquelin’s
Of fatty matter in Brain's tissues.
Onward studies by Couerbe for
Phosphorus lacking increases
Idiots - countered by fish heads;
Whose brains contained nothing.
Despite the
onward debates,
Medicines patents
saw a new
Century's big
claims for cures
In brain fag - came phosferine.
The tonic was taken as proven
Remedy, in a worldwide claim
To cure disorders of nervous
System; all widely advertised.
Pressures of war
would make
Demands on
men - as for Sapper
W. B. Parrett, R.E.
Signal Services,
Suffered pneumonia and pleurisy.
Three times in
hospital saw him
Unfit and weak with
chest trouble
And sleeplessness,
until friends
Suggested he took
phosferine.
After only a few
doses Sapper W.
Parrett was soon back
on his feet.
Personal claim found
keen soldier
Eager to fight
for country and king.
Reenergised, Sapper
Parrett's ability
Was again to take on route
marches
Without suffering
fatigue - quickly
Back to duty in Heliograph
signalling.
While a tonic medicine
for neuralgia,
Maternity
weakness, lassitude,
Sciatica or premature decay - was
Sciatica or premature decay - was
Also a great remedy
for tired soldiers.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Advert
- Phosferine. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 9 February 1916. P.6. Col.3. Available at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12142577/Daily-Telegraph-February-9-1916.html
[Accessed: 9 February 2016].
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Mediciene
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