[Ads-l] Antedating "ice cream headache"

[Steven Losie]

Ice cream headache (OED, 1937)

[begin quote]
[headline] THE ICE CREAM HEADACHE
The Causes That Occasion It Scientifically Considered.
[..]
During the scorching weather of July and August you often rush into an ice
cream saloon with the avowed intention of cooling your body to at least a
few degrees below the melting point.

If you are in a great hurry you are apt to make the first few spoonfuls of
the cooling mixture rather large. This almost immediately gives you a
violent pain in the temples, or somewhere in the region of the eyes. Why is
this? Did you ever stop to think? asks a writer in the St. Louis _Republic_.

One who has studied the physiology of the case says that it is caused in
the following manner: The frozen mixture coming into contact with the
nerves of the throat (the larynx, pharynx, etc.) temporarily paralyzes
them. The sensation instantly shoots to the center of those nerves, which
is in the brain.
[end quote]
Source: The Patriot (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), 22 June 1892, p.7, col.1
Database: America's Historical Newspapers (Readex/NewsBank)
Interestingly, The Patriot cites The Republic of St. Louis, MO, as their
source, but several other digitized reprints - with slightly different
wording - drop the line about The Republic in the article, and cite the New
York Ledger instead. That version also leaves off the definite article in
the headline (so it's just "ICE CREAM HEADACHE"). The earliest found
digitized instance of the NY Ledger version comes from the _Clinton
Republican_ (Wilmington, Ohio), 21 Jul 1892, p. 6, col.6, available at
Newspapers.com.
Which source was first? The New York Ledger is not digitized, but is
available on microfilm at the New York Public Library. The Republic (St.
Louis, Missouri), is not digitized, either, but the 1892 run of the
newspaper is available on microfilm from either the Missouri Historical
Society in St. Louis, or from the State Historical Society of Missouri in
Columbia, MO.

Another antedating:

[begin quote]
The caramel girl gets a candy "jag" on every night and gets up with a
chocolate-ice-cream headache every day.
[end quote]
Source: The Sun (New York, NY), 14 Nov 1893, p. 7, col.3
Database: Chronicling America
Also reprinted in the Buffalo (NY) Courier, 16 Nov 1893, p.4, col.3, which
can be found at Fulton History.

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