Last week I installed the first exhibits in the lower level of Cushwa Hall near the auditoriums. This is a busy hallway and I noticed many students looking at the displays as soon as I finished them. I am very excited to have these spaces to feature cool stuff from the museum's collection. In the… Continue reading New exhibits in Cushwa Hall
Tag: prescriptions
Medical treatments in the late 19th century
Travel back to a time when two thirds of Americans lived on farms or rural villages. Indoor plumbing was rare and homes were heated by sooty wood burning stoves and kerosene lamps. Work was physically difficult and accidents happened often. Serious diseases like cholera, yellow fever, typhoid fever, diphtheria, malaria, and tuberculosis are common. These… Continue reading Medical treatments in the late 19th century
Medicinal alcohol and Prohibition
The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which banned the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors," took effect on January 16, 1920. It became known as the National Prohibition or Volstead Act. This new law required physicians to obtain a special permit from the prohibition commissioner in order to write prescriptions for liquor. The patient… Continue reading Medicinal alcohol and Prohibition
1890 Rx
Last week, while leafing through a 1890s medical book from the museum's library, I found a small slip of paper between the pages. It was a prescription recipe for the pharmacy of H. Waterman in Ravenna, OH. As I looked over the neat handwriting, I realized that the drug names were written in Latin and… Continue reading 1890 Rx
Interesting Smithsonian exhibits on medicine
Common Threads exhibit by Jean Shin at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art: This exhibit is made out of a collection of similar everyday objects. For example, "Chemical Balance III" makes lighted stalactite- and stalagmite-like sculptures out of empty prescriptions containers. According to the artist, this part of the exhibit speaks to a dependency on… Continue reading Interesting Smithsonian exhibits on medicine
Melnick Medical Museum 