#42: Getting Well, Part 2: Now they got a pill for
that!
Note: I began putting this post together in early
February 2020, before the new Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, became such a prevalent component of our
daily lives. Think of it. At that time, I was able to go to the movie theatre
if I wanted and I DID go to a restaurant! Crazy! As I read this now, the whole thing takes on new meaning. Nothing in it, however, has anything to
do with COVID-19. You will need to go to the post: called Contemporary History #11 - COVID-19 for that information. That
aside, let’s get back to the past, but keep your distance – no offense.
In our most recent post, we looked at how we Drums cared
for the illnesses and medical conditions we each faced across the years by
using remedies we sometimes literally cooked up in their own kitchens and
parlors. It seems we tried everything from tea made from tree bark to special
prayers offered during specific phases of the moon. With this post we move past
that time and through the era of “Patient Medicines” into the beginning of the
era of medicine as we know it today.
You know, my sore throat DOES
feel better now that I’ve finished this cup of Sage tea and honey! Gosh, that
fellow in the picture sure looks sick. Maybe he could have used some. I wonder
if that thermometer he has is one of these guys.
These are glass mercury thermometers. They have plastic
cases (so they can’t be THAT old. Wait, I guess I’m older than they are. Well,
isn’t that depressing.). When I was little and got sick, one of the first
things my mom did was push one of these babies into my mouth, “UNDER the tongue
and DON’T BITE DOWN!!!”
They don’t use mercury thermometers like these anymore,
for probably obvious reasons. Today mercury is considered a poison. I liked
them though, because if we “accidentally” broke one, it was GREAT fun chasing the
mercury around on the floor! Nowadays, they close schools for such “spills”! I
mean, who knew?
As we’ve seen in the previous post, our ancestors turned
to all manner of remedies, including mercury, in their quest for a more
comfortable and longer life. However, as medical knowledge advanced, fewer and
fewer of our ancestors stripped bark off trees and/or boiled leaves and roots to
make medicines. They just ran to the local pharmacy to purchase the latest
mass-produced, over-the-counter version of their remedy. Of course, such
“medicine” was not just restricted to stuff you rubbed on or swallowed or
bathed in. Wooden legs and hooks for hands and lenses
to help one see better and Ear
Trumpets to improve hearing and wheeled chairs and canes and walkers to
get around and even fake
teeth have been part of human existence for ages as well; all offered
in the attempt to help folks just get through yet another day!
And we Drums used many of these things too. By the way,
that previous sentence; or one might argue, sentence fragment; is really just
an assumption on my part for most of “us” Drums. I have precious little
evidence to help me know for sure.
I know my Mom had a hearing issue. She never used an ear
trumpet, though. After all, these are modern times! Mom tried to hear better with
this “Listening Ear” hearing device. She liked it so much that I only learned
she had it after she had died and I found it wrapped in a plastic bag in the
back of her dresser drawer. Just to be clear, all sarcasm aside, she must not
have liked this thing at all. For her to spend money on a device and then wrap
it in a plastic bag and shove it into the back of a drawer would not bode well
for her “liking” the thing. However, note she did not throw it away. She
wrapped it in a plastic bag and shoved it into a dresser drawer. Once you have
something, you keep it!
I do recall her saying she thought she might get
something to help her hear better some time back. At the time she had said that,
she also said that she didn’t want “one of those hearing aids you put in your
ear. They feel funny!” Therefore, I thought that nothing more had ever come of
it. Seems I was wrong.
I wear glasses. My wife wears glasses. Therefore, you
know our son, Philip, wears glasses. My brother wears glasses. I don’t recall
my dad wearing glasses, or his father, either. Mom wore them. I know Mary Balliet
Drum (1873 – 1966), Nathan’s wife, Dad’s grandmother wore glasses. I have
the photo to prove it. As you’ll see later in this post, I think we even have
the glasses!
 |
| Mary Ann Balliet Drum (1873 – 1966) |
Mary and Nathan’s daughter Christie Drum (1897 – 1941), my
dad’s aunt, wore glasses too (I don’t know what happened to the glasses she is
wearing in this photo. I do know we don’t have them).
 |
| Christie Drum (1897 – 1941) |
I don’t want to say we Drums are short-sighted, but with all
these folks mentioned so far needing glasses; it does make me wonder how well
those earlier Drums saw their world!
Elmer’s wife, Dad’s mom, my grandmother, Ella Drum (1897
– 1976), wore glasses in her later years, too. After her stroke in 1964, Ella
also used a walker to get around.
As for teeth, dentures were part of existence for many of
“us”. I have an implant, which is not the same as removable dentures. This is
the model my dentist had made of it. It was either to show me how it is done or
so he would know how to do it. Dr. Greenberg was a very good dentist; probably
still is but I’ve lost track of him since I moved from Maryland back to Drums.
Ella and Eleanor (Harry’s wife, my mom), both had
dentures; it’s a guess for others. Not knowing really bites. (sorry)
Below we have a photo of a collection of eyeglasses used
by various Drums. Aren’t you glad I couldn’t find any of the dentures? At the
top of the photo we see a pair of my son Philip’s early glasses (around 2001).
Moving clockwise, below Philip’s, are a pair of Aviator
style sunglasses probably from the 1940’s or ‘50’s. I don’t know who wore them
but I think they were just sunglasses (not prescription). Below those, sitting
on the pretty flowered case, are a pair of my mom’s glasses (1990’s?).
At the bottom of the photo is a pair I believe may have
belonged to Christie. As explained in my previous post, I’m not the eye doctor
in this family; that would be my brother!
However, this pair seems to me to be for magnification (such as “reading
glasses”). To the left of Mom’s pair, is the pair I believe were worn by Mary
Drum, perhaps the pair that she is wearing in the above photo of her. Above
Mary’s, and to the left of the Aviator’s, is another pair that may have once
served Christie. These are bifocals.
Both of the glasses that I think may have belonged to Christie came in cases
that show they are from the Hazleton office of Cal Engle, Optician.
For anybody earlier than these folks just mentioned, we know
next to nothing, as they say. So, let’s take a look at that tiny bit that we do
know. Concerning Progenitor Philip’s health; to my knowledge, not only do we
know next to nothing, we know nothing at all! We think, at least
the possibility exists, that he may have lived for as long as 86 years
(1702 – 1788), but we do not know. For more on Philip’s life after
he arrived in Pennsylvania, hopefully a life well lived, see the post One
life Well Lived; One Life Cut Short. As for Philip’s son Jacob, the
life cut short, other than the fact that he was killed around age 45 by Native
Americans during a raid on his farm around 1774, we know nothing, again. The
same is true for Jacob’s son George’s health (1762 – 1831). We only know he
died not from an illness, but from an accidental gunshot wound at age 68. Knowledge
such as this is useful to have, but with that knowledge come so many more
questions!! How did it happen? Did he suffer? Those are just for starters! His
son, Philip, was 71 when he died in 1858, but, once again, other details
concerning his health and death are yet to be discovered.
Still, given what we know about the state of medicine
during these years, 1702 when Philip was born through 1858 when his great grandson,
Philip, died; these four lives appear to have been, certainly COULD have been, healthy,
long lives! Whatever aches and pains; coughs and fevers; impairments to
hearing, chewing, and/or seeing; they may have suffered, we will probably never
know.
We know a tiny bit more about Philip’s son John (1826 –
1881). However, the little we do know about John, like George, only raises
additional questions. John was handicapped, or incapacitated in some way, at
least in June of 1880 when the census was taken. He is listed in the 1880
census with the column for “maimed, crippled, bedridden, or other” checked. What
this does not tell us is the length of time this condition existed, whatever it
may have been. Was it something that occurred suddenly, like a fall from a
ladder or a stroke; or was it progressive, like polio? It does not seem as
though it was a condition he was born with since the 1880 census is the first
inkling that something was out of the ordinary. He lived almost seventeen
months after the census was taken; dying in November of 1881 at the age of 55.
We do not know his circumstances at death. That information might shed a little
light on some of this mystery.
We should know more than we do about John’s son, Nathan
(1868 – 1934). As I’ve often complained, whined is a better term, nobody in
this family seems to have ever written anything down, and now those who knew, who
we could have asked, have passed as well. Nathan spent most of his adult life
working in, and around, coal mines. The
section of his death certificate that discusses the cause is seen to the left.
“Chronic Pulmonary Tuberculosis (Fibroid Type)”, an illness that now falls
under the Black Lung umbrella. The contributory cause that is listed, “Ch.
Parenchymatous nephritis”, basically boils down to kidney failure. He was 66
years old.
A great deal of the progress seen in Medicine occurred
during Nathan’s lifetime. The folk remedies of earlier times were quickly being
abandoned for the new concoctions one could buy in the Pharmacy, concoctions
that very often were those same old folk remedies wrapped in mass produced
packaging and branded in some catchy way. Still, those homemade remedies whipped
up in granny’s kitchen were not easily given up, especially if you found you
didn’t have the money enough to buy that new fancy labeled concoction in the
store!
In 2010, my mom finished writing a memoir of her mother’s
and her own life. It is, as of yet, unpublished. There are, at least, two
passages in it that seem pertinent to our discussions here. Both take place in
Milnesville, PA in 1918. Here they both are just as they appear in Mom’s
memoir. Bertha was Mom’s mother, my grandmother. She was 16 in 1918. Alice
became my mother’s grandmother when Alice’s son married Bertha in 1921.
The first story involves a remedy for constipation:
A week or so more and it was
the middle of July. One of the men approached Alice and whispered that he had a
problem. “Alice, I can’t go,” he whispered. When she looked at him rather
oddly, he just pointed to his bowels. “Oh!” exclaimed Alice, “We’ll fix that
right up!” Then she called, “Bertha! Come and help. We are going to make some
delicious pies!” Turning to the miner she added rather confidentially, “Very
good for body problems, you know!”
Alice told Bertha to get a
medium sized pot, the bag of prunes, and get started on cooking the prunes.
Alice began making the pie dough, enough for five pies! She always baked that
way! “If you’re going to heat the house, you may as well do enough so that it’s
all worth it!” she’d say. So she built up the fire and as Bertha lined the pans
with her dough, Alice went ahead and made a bowl of crumbs for the top.
Alice said the “Prune Pies
are delicious but OH can cause trouble! But eaten one piece a day, everything
just fine and if two pieces eaten together they really can clean a person
out!” So for the miner with the problem,
she gave him three pieces and a LOT of water.
It worked.[1]
The next story is all about taking care of a case of poison
ivy.
When she got there Thursday
morning, she found the house quiet, no fire, so Bertha ran up the stairs to
find Alice in bed, covered in ivy poison. Alice blamed one of her step-sons for
coaxing her through a new way to come home on Sunday. Bertha knew just what to
do. She ran downstairs, mixed up some cornstarch in warm water to make a thin
paste, and grabbed a big wad of cotton. Back she went to Alice and began to
smear this paste all over Alice. Then she put clean sheets on the bed. Back to
the kitchen she went where she started the fire in the stove (and) made a tray
of tea and toast for Alice…..[2]
As the folk remedies gave way to the store-bought
remedies, all sorts of potions and notions were devised to take advantage of
this new interest in “modern” health remedies, or, at least, to take advantage
of the gullible customer. Patent Medicines
became the quick fix, or at least were so advertised, for all sorts of maladies
suffered between the years of the Civil War and the 1920’s.
For example, check out this advertisement included in the back of my copy of a Garfield Presidential Campaign book entitled The Life and Public Service of James A. Garfield by J.M. Bundy published in 1880[8]. On an inside front page of this book it is described as "The Republican Vade-Mecum for 1880".A "Vade Mecum" is a guide or handbook one carried with them at all times. The term has been in use, apparently, since 1629, or so I learned when I googled the term.
It does make one wonder just what the "principles of the ox-brain and wheat germ" were! What does that even mean? I further wonder how many people campaigning for Garfield bought and took this stuff. After all, the ad says it will provide energy and strength to those "doing their duty during the campaign." If they did, did it work?
Advertisements such as this appeared in all sorts of places pushing all sorts of remedies from electric shock to, well, the "principles of the ox-brain and wheat germ"!
Below we see some more advertisements from the 1880’s. All of these are reproductions. The two spreadsheets are pages 212 – 215 of the 1870-1900 volume of the Time-Life series This Fabulous Century.[3] The “W.P. Smart & Sons” jar is one my mom liked. It includes a reproduction (at best) of an old-time remedy label that summarize most of these products. It is called “Rheumatic and Neuralgic Paste” and the label says: This paste is made from the Oil of Angle Worm, Cayenne Peppers, Frogs, and Gum Camphor, and will take pain away like a charm. It will cure Toothache, Nervous Headache, Neuralgia, Pains in the Back, Chilblains, etc., by rubbing it in. Can not be equaled for Catarrh. Mom kept her cotton balls in the jar.
Advertisements such as this appeared in all sorts of places pushing all sorts of remedies from electric shock to, well, the "principles of the ox-brain and wheat germ"!
Below we see some more advertisements from the 1880’s. All of these are reproductions. The two spreadsheets are pages 212 – 215 of the 1870-1900 volume of the Time-Life series This Fabulous Century.[3] The “W.P. Smart & Sons” jar is one my mom liked. It includes a reproduction (at best) of an old-time remedy label that summarize most of these products. It is called “Rheumatic and Neuralgic Paste” and the label says: This paste is made from the Oil of Angle Worm, Cayenne Peppers, Frogs, and Gum Camphor, and will take pain away like a charm. It will cure Toothache, Nervous Headache, Neuralgia, Pains in the Back, Chilblains, etc., by rubbing it in. Can not be equaled for Catarrh. Mom kept her cotton balls in the jar.
With the enthusiastic support of President Theodore Roosevelt, Congress passed the “Pure Food and Drug Act” in 1906. That law began to turn the tide. Fantastic claims were still made and strange potions were still concocted and sold after 1906, but now manufacturers had to list the ingredients on the label and make less fantastic claims, be more truthful, in their advertising. Of course, marketers still today sell us stuff by making fantastic claims (cleans everything perfectly or lose the weight in just five days!) but that’s advertising for you.
We can bet money (and we Drums don’t ever do
that!) that we Drums tried some of these fantastic remedies. I don’t have
evidence from the 1800’s that this is true, but I do have a pair of glasses
from 1928 that fit the bill. So, we must have had some interest in the “advancements”
of modern medicine!
The ad copy says that these “Clear Vision spectacles
will enable you to read the smallest print, thread the finest needle, see far
and near.” This two-for-the-price-of-one offer said, “send no money”. “If
not amazed and delighted, if you do not think my spectacles at only $3.98 with
one pair free, equal to those sold elsewhere at $15.00, you can send them back.
You won’t lose a cent. You are to be the sole judge.”
Well, whoever of “us” sent for them, we still have them
so he or she didn’t send them back. By the way, $3.98 in 1928 would be equal to
about $60.00 today.[4] At
that price, they would not have impressed me, but I guess they impressed
somebody. As I said, we still have them!
Something I don’t know if “we” tried in 1928, but it certainly
was available to us, given what the ad says, was a product called “Tiz”.
This advertisement says Tiz will make sore feet feel
better.
Sore, Swollen Feet – burning all day! Bathe them in
“Tiz” and you can just feel all the ache being drawn out and glorious comfort
soaking it!
I think the last
word is a typo! It seems to me that the last word should have been “in”.
Anyway, the copy continues:
“Tiz” draws out the poisons and acids that cause feet
to swell, burn and ache. Also takes all the soreness out of corns, bunions and
calluses. Sweet, fresh, comfortable feet the year ‘round with a package of
“Tiz.” Get it at any drug or department store.[5]
If I remember correctly, Thomas Jefferson soaked his feet
in cold water every morning for more than 60 years. No Tiz in his, I’m sure,
but perhaps he accomplished the very same cure (nothing! Cynical, aren’t I?). He wasn’t trying to cure sore feet, however.
He was trying to ward off “catarrhs" (or common colds).[6]
Maybe he should have tried W. P. Smart & Sons Rheumatic and Neuralgic Paste!
I heard that paste can’t be equaled for Catarrhs!
Anyway, I think the model in the Tiz ad “tiz” Ruth
Bouche. If I am correct, those legs of hers were pretty important; one might
even say valuable. This story about Ruth that appeared in the Hazleton Standard-Sentinel
on August 28, 1923, says those legs were insured for $25,000 ($377,000 in
today’s dollars)! Ruth said that her garters were pretty valuable too. She
priced them at $1,600 and told the reporter that her garters, just like her
legs, were among the most expensive in the world.
Well, we may never know if any of “us” ever tried “Tiz”
but we did have a medicine cabinet full of medicine bottles, one of which does
mention it is good for sore feet (Spinol)! Below is a photo of medicine bottles
that the Drums collected over time. I am uncertain which one is the oldest. It
may be the Spinol bottle.
Spinol was first sold in 1901 but I do not think this
bottle is that old. It might be late teens or early 20’s. I think most of these
are from the 1920/30’s. The “youngest” bottle is the bottle from 1985.
In the top row, starting on the left, we see a small
bottle of Paregoric. The label says the contents were Alcohol and
“Anhydros Morphine” (.036 grams to .045 grams per 100cc). The alcohol amount is
partially obscured by the “X” overprint. It appears it may be “45 to 46 percent
by vol.” It was to be taken “1 teaspoon 1 – 3 times a day. Not to be given to
children except upon the orders of a physician.” It also included the warning:
“May be habit forming”.
Next, we see the “youngest” bottle in the collection.
This one was also for Paregoric but, whereas the smaller, older, bottle
appears to have been purchased “over-the-counter”, this one required a
prescription (my, how things have changed). It was prescribed to Harry Drum by
Dr. Laczi. The prescription was filled on 12/14/85 by Johnson’s Pharmacy, 580
Alter Street, Hazleton, PA and was to be taken “2 teaspoonfuls every 4-6 hours
for pain.” The prescription could have been refilled three more times,
according to the label.
I was given Paregoric as a child. I liked it! With a
little sugar, this stuff tasted GREAT! At least, I think it was the flavor I
liked…
Next is a bottle of Forni’s Magolo. Its
ingredients included Potassium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Peppermint,
Golden Seal, Rhubarb, and Alcohol (20%). For 65 cents, the label says this
“effective, pleasant-tasting alkaline medicine” would offer you “temporary
relief” from “heartburn and acid indigestion and sour stomach due to functional
disturbances. Not laxative.” It was manufactured by Dr. Peter Fahrney & Sons
Co., Chicago Ill., U.S.A.; Winnipeg, Man., Can. What I can’t figure out is if
the company was Dr. Peter Fahrney & Sons, who was “Forni”?
Manufactured by the same company is Forni’s Heil-Oil
Liniment. As a child, I LOVED the smell of this stuff! Contents: 72% Alcohol,
Chloroform (18 minims per fluid oz.). For External use only. Keep away from
fire or flame. “This valuable time-honored liniment, in use for over fifty
years, owes its effectiveness to these well recognized ingredients: Camphor, Chloroform,
Oil of Cloves, Oil of Sassafras, Oil of Turpentine.” Seeing as how it came
in the same style bottle as the Magolo, I wonder how many folks took it for
heartburn!
Phenol Sodique.
According to the label this stuff won a prize from the Institute of France in
1861: the Montyon Prize of Encouragement (although I’m not sure that sounds
like such a great prize, now that I think on it). And there it is on the label,
that big red badge! Its active ingredients are listed as: “Phenol Sodium
(Sodium Carbolate)”. And it does say “carbolate”; not “carbonate”. The stuff
was “not more than 96% water” and was to be used as a “prompt and effective
detergent” for “external use as a dressing for wounds, cuts, burns, scalds,
excoriations, stings, or bites of insects and as an astringent and styptic
application after extraction of teeth.” So, I guess, be careful and don’t
swallow if you use it for that last thing. It was sold by Hance Bros. &
White Co., Philadelphia, PA. It appears
that this bottle was never opened. The plastic seal (safety seal?) is still in
place, although it has split apart over time.
The next little bottle is Tincture of Iodine, 2%
Iodine, 47% Alcohol by vol. The label shows two skull-and-crossed-bones emblems
with the word “Poison” between them. It was an antiseptic for external use sold
by Purpac Corp., New York and Los Angeles. An
antidote is printed on the side.
The little cone-shaped bottle was Mercurochrome,
2% solution Merbromin, 15% Alcohol. This was an antiseptic for minor cuts and
abrasions distributed by Acme Cotton Products Co., Inc., Valley Stream, NY
11582.
The third little bottle (McKesson) was Iodine Tincture.
This bottle held stuff that was 46% alcohol by volume, it was also marked as
Poison, this time with only one, but larger, skull-and-crossed-bones emblem.
The label gives “instructions for treatment if ingested” that begin “Call a
Physician” followed by “give starch paste or mashed potatoes.” This bottle is
marked “Expires 6/80”. It looks like it cost 79 cents.
I can’t recall if it was the Mercurochrome or the Iodine
or both that I liked to use to make smiley faces on my hand. Don’t tell Mom.
In the bottom row, first up is the bottle I think may be
the oldest of the bunch, Spinol (3 fl. oz.). Much of the stuff is still
in the bottle. It is made of “Menthol, oil Eucalyptus, oil Amber, Ti Tree oil
(Australian), Methyl Salicylate, oil Sassafras synthetic, cottonseed oil. For
relief of nasal congestion associated with colds.” I think it is interesting
that they informed the reader that the Ti Tree oil was from Australia. It is
also interesting that the Sassafras oil was “synthetic”. There are instructions
for using it as a vapor treatment, for rubbing it on the skin for relief of
muscular aches, and it could also be applied with a “gentle massage for burning
tender feet.” The Spinol Company was located in Pottsville, PA at 213
Mahautongo Street, or so the label says.
Castor Oil, is next (yuk!). “For use as a
laxative”. The label indicates it was purchased at Gildenberg’s Drug Store “The
Rexall Store”, L. Gildenberg, Ph. G;
Phone 7171, 1 North Broad Street, West Hazleton, PA. I’m surprised I didn’t
find a bottle for Cod Liver Oil as well!
Glycerin. “An emollient or skin softener. Apply
locally” (Drums, as opposed to New York? Kidding.). This was also a product of Purpac
Corp., New York & Los Angeles, but this time Chicago was added to the list.
Camphorated Oil. “For external use only. For the
chest, throat, and back and for sprains, strains, bruises, muscular soreness
due to exposure, cold, and fatigue.” This bottle was purchased from the “Wyoming
Pharmacy, next to the Feeley Theatre, 34 North Wyoming Street. Phone 3547,
Hazleton, PA”
Spirit Ammonia Aromatic. I’m not sure if the label
says it is 63% alcohol or 6.3%. It is manufactured by Rexall Drug Company but
the locations across the label’s bottom are unreadable. It was to be used as a “Reflex Stimulant –
useful as a first-aid in fainting.”
The final bottle of the collection is the McNess
Aromatic Compound. This stuff was to be used to cure “Diarrhoea and Summer
Complaint caused by improper diet and colic and cramps due to gas.” It was “4
fl. oz” that were 13.5% alcohol. That big, red badge on the label is not an
award like was seen on the Phenol Sodique bottle. This one is just the company
name and location. It sure LOOKS like an award, though, doesn’t it? And no, I
did not misspell “diarrhea” above. That’s how they spelled it: “Diarrhoea”.
There are instructions for how to take it (with water),
how often, and various dosages: under 2 yrs., 2 to 5 drops; 2 to 6 yrs., 5 to
15 drops; 6 to 14 yrs., 15 to 30 drops; older children and adults, 1 to 2
teaspoonfuls. Across the bottom it restates the company name and location:
Furst-McNess Company, Freeport, Illinois, U.S.A., est. 1908.
This one, more than any of the other bottles, reminds us
of the home remedies of earlier times. The ingredients listed are: Extracts of
Blackberry, Sassafras, Rhubarb, Cloves, Cinnamon, Ginger, and Alcohol. I wonder
how it tasted. Sounds like it might have been pretty good over vanilla ice
cream.
The thing that catches my attention with these bottles,
as well as some of the older home remedies, is how knowledgeable our ancestors
must have been. For many of the terms that these medicine containers toss
around, I had to turn to Google to find out what they were! They didn’t have
Google. Somehow, they came to know what terms such as: excoriations,
astringent, styptic, abrasions, rheumatic, neuralgic, antiseptic, emollient meant!
Medicines, however, do not all come in bottles. Tins work
sometimes, just as well. The brown tin in the photo holds DeWitt’s Witch
Hazel Salve. The “old folks” will tell you witch hazel is good for a
number of ailments, but specifically for soothing dry, cracked skin, usually
caused by exposure of your hands to cold weather, a common complaint of anyone
who milks cows on a cold winter morning by hand. It is, however, good for so
much more as the link above explains.
At the bottom of the photo is a tin of Tums. Move over Magolo. Tums is
here! Anyone who suffers from stomach acid (heartburn) knows the benefits of anti-acids
such as Magolo and Tums.
In between them is a collapsible, plastic cup. Inside the
lid is a small compartment one can put their pills into. The idea is for you to
not only have your pills with you when you need to take them, you have a cup
for water to help swallow them down, as well (although, I think the cup may
have been used, at times, for liquids other than water – for medicinal purposes
only, of course!!). On the cap it says, “Drink for your health.” It was handed
out by Dinkelacker’s Service Station, Drums, PA. Dad hung out there a lot!
But (no pun intended; you’ll understand why this is a pun
in a few more sentences) here is a bit more about the Witch Hazel salve.
I found a smaller container of that same salve among our
“stuff”. This tin is a little larger than a quarter.
It wasn’t until I turned it over that I discovered why
the ancestor had it.
Oh. Piles.
Right. Well, there you have it (and by now understand the above “but” pun),
Witch Hazel is also, apparently, good for Piles. The
link I embedded here for Piles information gives lots of information. I read
the whole thing. It focused my attention on places I’d rather not be so focused
on. However, nowhere in the whole thing do they mention Witch Hazel; not even
once. But (there I go again) I bet whatever it is in witch hazel that made
witch hazel supposedly good for this ailment, it is one of the ingredients of
one or more of the modern meds that the webpage DOES mention!
Which brings us right back where we started; Witch Hazel,
Blackberry, Sassafras, Rhubarb, Cloves, Cinnamon, Ginger, Menthol, Peppermint,
Golden Seal, Anhydros Morphine, Methyl Salicylate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Cottonseed
oil, Eucalyptus oil, Amber oil, Ti Tree oil (Australian), and some “oil of
turpentine” (for external use only) to boot. Gosh, I’m feeling better already!
Wait. You know, I don’t think I mentioned one pill in
this whole post!
And that was how I was going to end this post, that is until
I remembered this little bottle that I kept in Grandfather’s Corner
Cabinet.
Yes, it is a bottle that once held 100 Carter’s
Little Liver Pills. These little guys have been rolling around medicine
cabinets since they were first introduced by Samuel J. Carter; an Erie,
Pennsylvania patient medicine developer; in 1868 (the same year Nathan A. Drum
was born, by the way). Oddly enough, they have little to nothing to do with the
Liver. Even the little bottle says, “Not for diseases of the Liver...” So, what
ARE they for? Apparently, as the previous quoted sentence from the label
concludes, “…except those helped by better bile flow.” Apparently, if your bile isn’t flowing well,
chomp down on one of these little babies and you’ll be good!
I have no idea what ANY of this means! However, someone
once did, or thought they did, because lots of people used Carter’s Little
Liver Pills. These little things were so heavily marketed; therefore, one
assumes, heavily used; that people started saying things like, “He has more
money (or kids or problems or, well, you get the idea) than Carter has Little
Liver Pills!”
The bottle says they are “A Laxative Aiding Bile Flow.”
The ingredients listed on the label are Podophyllum Resin and Curacao
Aloes. Curacao Aloes are Aloe plants from Curacao. Easy enough, but what is
“Podophyllum Resin”? The sources I could find about this tell
me that Podophyllum Resin is a resin derived from plants such as American Mandrake.
The problem with this answer is that, first of all, Podophyllum Resin is poison
if taken internally and, second, one uses it to remove vaginal and anal warts.
You see the problem.
Anyway, whatever it is, the label says the pills should
be taken “1 to 3 pills as directed in the accompanying booklet” (darn. no
booklet.). Next on the label is an “Important Warning: In cases of symptoms of
Appendicitis DO NOT take these pills or any laxative. These pills are to be
taken only when needed.”
Ok. So many questions!
The pills were produced by Carter Products Company of New
York, NY after 1938 (according to the National Museum of American History.[7]
I guess Carter produced them himself earlier than that!).
Well, now that we are all feeling better, let’s get all
keyed up in our next post. It is called “John’s Keys” so it might have
something to do with the Drums Hotel, maybe. I’ll unlock this mystery, or not,
when the next post appears July 14, 2020! Join us again then.
[1]
Drum, Eleanor, My Recipes Book and Stories (unpublished manuscript)
2010, Chapter 10.
[2]
Drum, Eleanor, Chapter 11.
[3] This
Fabulous Century, series by the editors of Time-Life Books (NY: Time-Life
Books, 1970)
[5]
“Bathe them in TIZ” (advertisement), The Plain Speaker, May 9, 1928,
afternoon edition, p. 5.
[8] Bundy, J. M., The Life and Public Service of James A. Garfield, (NY: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1880)
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