From Quacks To Quaaludes: Three Centuries Of Drug Advertising

Physicians and chemists who formulated drugs began writing of their wonders and publishing them in medical texts and newspapers in the late 1700s. From there, drug advertising took off as both doctors and the public were eager to try anything to alleviate pain and health problems. Over time, the drugs changed and so did the style of advertising, so now we can look back in horror at ads that urged giving babies morphine for teething, popping heroin tablets to quiet a cough, inhaling Benzedrine to get through the workday, and new and improved drugs for morning sickness so the pregnant housewife could get back to her duty of making the family's breakfast. Link  -via the Presurfer