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| Found in our old barn's timbers |
We like to think that life was good in the "old days", when our grandparents were young and WW1 was on the horizon.
Telephones that hung on the wall? Water hand pumped in the kitchen? Wood burning stoves?
Some of those old days were good in the sense that social life was simpler. The old days were more community oriented.
But medical care? My mom once told me how Dr. Wells performed her appendectomy on the dining room table. House calls were the only time most people saw the doctor. Prescriptions? Home remedies and readily available self-medications for the most part, although the doctor had some legitimate prescriptions at his home.
At
the farm, our barn had been built late 1800s, and was leaning by 1970s
When the barn was torn down, an untold number of medicinal bottles were
found, all of which were long empty and those few still had small amounts of amber liquid, sealed in by caps melded to the glass. (owner of our farm was a doctor and had the liquid analyzed. It was alcohol.)
Telephones that hung on the wall? Water hand pumped in the kitchen? Wood burning stoves?
Some of those old days were good in the sense that social life was simpler. The old days were more community oriented.
But medical care? My mom once told me how Dr. Wells performed her appendectomy on the dining room table. House calls were the only time most people saw the doctor. Prescriptions? Home remedies and readily available self-medications for the most part, although the doctor had some legitimate prescriptions at his home.
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| Order form $95 · A rare (Heroin) original 1915 government issued "Order Form for Opium, Etc". A similar form from the 1920s was recently shown on the History Channel during a program on illegal drugs. |
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| one dose should be enough |
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| Found treasure We look at the contents of these cures for common colds and we are horrified by its contents. "Good old days" take on a new view when we think of people of that era. They must have felt pretty good/well after a few doses Doctors had absolutely no control what his patients took for what ailed them. Did he have any idea about the contents? Did he even know the effects of the miracle tonics, elixirs? What about the prescription below? Did Dr. George Nichopolous realize the results of the prescribed meds he gave Elvis Presley? I am betting he did.
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I can't even imagine the pain...
ReplyDeleteMedicine was a crap shoot a hundred years ago and yes, I imagine most of it was just alcohol.
But alcohol was illegal back for a while, but was acceptable for medications.
DeleteI'm with you! This is really interesting (and I love your visuals as well). There are a lot of things I wish we had "less of" now (fewer channels/streaming choices, less pressure in life for kinds, etc.) but when it comes to medical care I'm all for modern medicine. I will soon be doing a post about my great grandfather's recipe book with a recipe for opium lozenges (he was a confectioner and they were for medicinal purposes). I will say I do miss my old cough syrup with codeine!
ReplyDeleteModern meds have extended the life span of adults. My grandma lived to be 91, my parents to 84. Knowing the ailments that affect them, those meds would help them.
DeleteI am constantly thankful I live now and not then and that the world i was born into on sept 5 of 1944 is not longer like it was then. no way would i go back in time... of course the issues with heath care have my hair falling out from stress and doctors still have no clue what they are doing, but I am free to own property, vote even if there is no one I want to vote for and I can wear pants and not have to give what I own to a man if i married, I could go on but you by now know how I feel
ReplyDeleteThere is so much in the medicines that will some day be considered dangerous. Vent away!
Deletei have 9 bottles of my collection that numbers about 30 old bottles.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get them?
DeleteThese days, right now, are the good old days, Susan. I would never want to go back in time where medical treatments were horrid to say the least. And I most certainly love indoor plumbing like we have now. Just the idea of an outhouse makes me ill. Have a beautiful day!
ReplyDeleteThe good old days. When the old days were the 50s for me, is now the 90s.
DeleteIt is fascinating to know that most methods of treating an illness are now considered to be so dangerous. My mother used to tell of a girl she knew who had parasitic worms. The doctor prescribed three large tablespoons of strychnine to be taken orally. It killed the worms which were expelled in the way one would expect and the girl was fine.
ReplyDeleteThat is certainly unique. Gotta look that up!
DeleteThankfully medical care has come on leaps and bounds.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
People in our retirement community are in their 90s and still active. Meds made that possible.
DeleteI treasure a few elixir and medicinal bottles from long ago. I do think that some folks really understood the benefits to be found from local herbs and plants, many of which were later processed into medications we take today.
ReplyDeleteMy great grandmother was an herbalist in the 1930s and 40s. Mom said that people from around sought her help. She had a book she made about the herbs, which went missing after her death.
DeleteHadacol was popular here. Someone once asked the maker, "What's Hadacol good for?" and his response was, "About 2 million last year."
ReplyDeleteJust looked this up. There were interesting meds back then.
DeleteOf course Dr Nichopolous knew, but when someone thta rich and famous demands help, he gets it in whatever form he wants it. Ditto Michael Jackson.
ReplyDeleteSad. There were no persons who watched and helped.
DeleteI feel fortunate to have been born in the early fifties and to have had the advantages my parents never had from health to education.
ReplyDeletethe 50s were my era as well. We were lucky to have had the meds that were reasonably safe.
DeleteGod bless.
ReplyDeleteand to you as well.
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