About the Event
A Look Back at Old-Time Medicines at Mandurah Museum
During the 19th and early 20th Century drugs and medicine were nothing like they are today. From medical practitioners who insisted that electrical shocks were wonderful for improving your health to those that thought exposure to radioactive radium in drinking water were the medical ways of the future. Some treatments were concocted to make money, while others were legitimate treatments that had major benefits.
Patent remedies and questionable treatments were the stock-in-trade of the less reputable medical practitioners of the era. The term patent remedy referred to the combination of ingredients and active substances that the ‘doctor’ used. This could be registered at the patent office and for a set period only the inventor or his nominated company could make and profit from that remedy.
The evolution of medicines we use to treat people has changed significantly, however; many “old-fashioned” medicines are still in use and very useful today.
While visiting Mandurah Museum have a look at the display of popular treatments used in the past for skin infections, chest and head colds, burns, muscular sprains and other ailments. You may remember these being used and use something similar today.
