[1] Lester E Bush Jr, ?Mormon Elders? Wafers: Images of Mormon Virility in Patent Medicine Ads,? Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 10.2 (1976 Autumn): 89-93.

[2] To the left is an image of, presumably, a chubby, cherubic Cupid with a bow and a quiver of arrows. Cupid is on his back ?juggling? a barrel with his feet. The barrel has a large stylized heart on the side; the end of the barrel is marked ?M. E. D. W.?—presumably for ?Mormon Elder?s Damiana Wafers.? My transcription ignores formatting and capitalization: ?The Mormon Elder?s DAMIANA WAFERS [¶] The most powerful Invigorant ever produced. [¶] Permanently restores those weakened by early indiscretions, imparts youthful vigor, restores vitality, strengthens and invigorates the brain and nerves. A positive cure for impotency and Nervous Debility. Prompt, Safe, and Sure. 4/6 per box, 6 for 22/6. Usual discount to the Trade. Send for Circular. [¶] F. B. Crouch, [¶] 202 Grand Street, New York City; [¶] London Depot, 51 Strand, W.C. [¶] Hovenden & Son, Sanger & Son, Barclay & Sons, Edwards & Son, and all Wholesale Druggists.? FB Crouch, ?The Mormon Elder?s Damiana Wafers,? advertisement in The Chemist and Druggist (1889 Nov 16).

[3] Robert Thaxter Edes, Text-book of Therapeutics and Materia Medica (Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Co, 1887), 206.

[4] I have found no other references to the ?Mormon Elders? Tonic.? I presume he refers to the Damiana Wafers. HT Peck, editor-in-chief, Selim H Peabody, Charles F Richardson, assistant editors, ?Aphrodisiacs,? in The International Cyclopædia: A Compendium of Human Knowledge, in fifteen volumes, revised edition, Volume 1 (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co, 1892), 550.

[5] To the left is an image of, presumably, a chubby, cherubic Cupid with a bow and a quiver of arrows. Cupid is on his back ?juggling? a barrel with his feet. The barrel has a large stylized heart on the side; the end of the barrel is marked ?M. E. D. W.?—presumably for ?Mormon Elder?s Damiana Wafers.? My transcription ignores formatting and capitalization: ?The Mormon Elder?s DAMIANA WAFERS [¶] The most powerful Invigorant ever produced. [¶] Permanently restores those weakened by early indiscretions. Imparts Youthful Vigor. Restores Vitality. Strengthens and Invigorates the BRAIN and NERVES. A positive cure for IMPOTENCY and Nervous Debility. Prompt, Safe, & Sure. [¶] DAMIANA is beyond a doubt the most reliable, useful, and permanent tonic to the genital organs of both sexes known; acting as it does, directly upon the nervous system, it restores, as it were, the debilitated functions of the principal organs of the human frame, and is unsurpassed as a nervine. Its merits are well established as a powerful, permanent and determined aphrodisiac, as well as an alterative aperients of remarkably fine quality.—John J. Caldwell, M. D., in New York Medical Record, Nov. 3d, 1877, page 694. [¶] The Mormon Elders? Damiana Wafers have acquired the distinction of being, not only a simple, pleasant, and convenient vegetable compound, but one that is indorsed [sic] by the medical faculty, and relied upon by the heads of the Mormon Church, as a remedy for Nervous Dyspepsia, Debility, and all Weaknesses which would disqualify them as members of their faith, of which we can speak more fully in our special circular, giving testimonials and quotations from medical reports. Price $1 per box. Send for special Circular. [¶] F. B. Crouch, [¶] Sole Agent for United States [¶] 202 Grand Street, New York.? FB Crouch, ?The Mormon Elder?s Damiana Wafers,? advertisement in American Druggist 15.5 (Whole No. 143; New York, 1886 May): 46.

[6] The preceding lines were: ?Damiana, though introduced to the profession but a few years ago by Dr. John J. Caldwell, is really an old remedy in domestic practice. Father Juan Marie de Salvatierra, a Spanish missionary, reports its use among the Indians over two hundred years ago, as a tonic to debilitated sexual organs and other weaknesses.? Continuing after the quote in the OP: ?F. B. Elmer, late U. S. Consul to La Paz, Mexico, says the country people of Mexico have unbounded confidence in it as a potent remedy for renal and vesical diseases. Damiana seems to act on the basilar portion of the brain, and in this way stimulates the reproductive organs. It is a heart tonic to some extent, and in this way, like cactus, influences the renal organs. It is more efficacious in cases marked by a want of tonicity—atony. In painful menstruation it is often serviceable.? He goes on to give cases and a recipe. Francis A Evans, credited to Keystone Medical Journal (1884 June), ?Damiana,? reprinted in The Therapeutic Gazette 8 [New Series 5.8] (Detroit, 1884 Aug 15): 382.

[7] Rather, Parkinson attributed the result to Mormon sexual restraint once a woman was pregnant. ?I notice that in your issue of April 10th, you copy an article from the Keystone Medical Journal, by F. A. Evans, M. D., on the use of damiana, in which he accredits the Mormon elders with using the drug extensively to keep up ?their wasted energies.? I simply wish to state, in behalf of a much-abused people, that I have practised medicine among them for three or four years, extensively, and have never had one single case of impotence. Have only had one case of syphilis and one of gonorrhea, and they occurred in ?black sheep.? Have known the benefits and uses of damiana, and, I with many other physicians, can testify that the Mormon elders do not use the drug as our worthy brother gives them credit for doing. The object they have in marrying more than one woman is to rear a stronger progeny. When a woman becomes pregnant, they let her alone and cohabit with another. I say fair play—?Give the devil his due.? The Mormons are often misrepresented.? WB Parkinson, ?Damiana and the Mormon Elders,? The Medical Record 28.8 (Whole No. 772; New York, 1885 Aug 22): 200.

[8] Continuing: ?The name of the remedies which have been proposed for the renewal of sexual life is legion. Few of them have real merit. Hygiene, moderation in gratifying sexual appetite, and the exercise of manly virtue, which in itself is a powerful factor in restoring confidence, the loss of which so often is the sole cause of impotency. Moreover medicine has its value too.? JL Gilbert, ?Impotency,? The Medical Brief 27.7 (St Louis, 1899 Jul): 1015 (1014-1015).

[9] My transcription ignores formatting and capitalization: ?The Mormon Elders? Damiana Wafers [¶] The most powerful invigorant. [¶] Permanently restores Impotent Men to Perfect Manhood, Sexual Power, and Procreative Ability. [¶] They cure every trace of Debility, Spermatorrhea, and every form of Seminal losses and weakness whether due to Youthful Folly, Abuse, or Natural Failure. [¶] Damiana is beyond a doubt the most reliable, useful, and permanent tonic to the genital organs of both sexes known; acting as it does, directly upon the nervous system, it restores, as it were, the debilitated functions of the principal organs of the human frame, and is unsurpassed as a nervine. Its merits are well established as a powerful, permanent and determined aphrodisiac, as well as an alterative aperients of remarkably fine quality.—John J. Caldwell, M. D., in New York Medical Record, Nov. 3, 1877, page 694. [¶] Damiana Wafers [¶] Are a safe, certain, and speedy cure for nearly all varieties of seminal and physical debility of the generative organs of both sexes, endorsed by the medical faculty, and relied upon by the heads of the Mormon Church as a remedy for Nervous Debility, and all Weaknesses which would disqualify them as members of their faith. [¶] For Sale by all Leading Druggists. Price $1 per box. Send for special Circular. [¶] F. B. Crouch, Sole Agent for the U. S. [¶] 202 Grand Street, New York.? [below the female figure at left is written, ?Trade Mark.?] FB Crouch, ?The Mormon Elders? Damiana Wafers,? advertisement, card insert, Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal 19.1 (1885 Aug): between pages 12 and 13.