Though we are archiving visual epidemic humor, a brief gesture toward the sense of smell seems appropriate. The Parisian parfumerie Delettrez began selling L’eau de cologne du Grand-Cordon in 1857, and this unisex perfume seems to have established the Delettrez brand. Less expected (at least for me) was its embrace by the Parisian public as one of the many elixirs against cholera. Although Pasteur’s germ theory was beginning to make headway at the time of the 1884 epidemic resurgence, miasmatic theories still predominated in the general public.
Consider this endorsement from Le Voleur illustré: “We could not recommend too much to our readers of both sexes the use of l’eau de cologne du Grand-Cordon, which is not only a first-rate perfume and cosmetic, but also a very effective product against the miasmas and unhealthy fumes so dangerous in times of cholera. It is wise to use l’eau de cologne du Grand-Cordon every morning, to soak your handkerchief and linen with it, and to carry a bottle with you. Such precautions, even if exaggerated, never hurt anyone.”
A different sense of “cordon sanitaire“?
Sic Transit Pestilentia 