"OH! THAT I FELT STRONG & WELL..."

As with the invalid in the "Ayer's Sarsaparilla" card, the invalid pictured here is propped up on large pillows, but this time at her own fireside.

How has the artist shown "illness"?

Catalogue information for this card

The ill woman seems to have lost much of her hair and, instead of a fashionable hat, wears only a cooling cloth tied around her head. Her face looks tired and unhappy, and she is noticeably thinner than her visitor. Today, the ideal of good health is someone who is fit and slender. In the 1800s thinness was considered to be a possible sign of illness; both the men and woman who appear on trade cards as "the picture of health" are usually plump and pink-cheeked, as is the mother on the "Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup" card; she is thus clearly healthy, despite being propped up on pillows in bed. Such differences between healthy and ill people can be seen in the "Carter's Iron Pills" card, too. 

Notice, too, that the words concerning illness ("coughs, consumption, illness) are listed above under the sick woman, whereas the name of the healing tonic is prominent under the healthy woman.