1890s Drug Stores

These photos were taken at the Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago's in the apothecary exhibit. I worked as a pharmacy tech for several years in the 90's and found this display quite interesting.

: Before the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, apothecaries were not legally required to list ingredients or prove that their products actually worked.

​: Beyond raw drugs and patent remedies, 1890s pharmacies often stocked household items—such as writing ink, oil lamps and glass chimneys, and soaps,—making the neighborhood apothecary a central fixture of daily community life.

Will it Cure or Will it Kill?

Due to lack of knowledge in human physiology and biochemistry, drugs distributed by early pharmacists could not be tested. Pharmacists used deduction and speculation to create medicines. A mere trial and error system gave them the indication of success or failure. Many Western European and American physicians in the 18th century theorized on what caused disease and struggled to find a cure. Obscure beliefs about the origin of the body's sickness caused pharmacists to prescribe drugs and treatments that failed to cure and in some cases were lethal to the patient. Even in the early 1900's, additive drugs such as opium and other harsh substances were dispensed for minor sickness without a physician’s prescription. Ceramic Mortar and Pestle c. 1890

Pharmacy continued to gain respect as education became required The pharmacist and the physician. now work together to provide us with the advances of medical science.

All photos are from my family albums

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