We are offering
four items
relating to the use of heroin as a medical remedy.  (1.)
a page from the 1898 Philadelphia Medical Journal that contains several interesting advertisements.
One ad is for
Farbenfabriken of Elberfeld Co., agents for Bayer Pharmaceutical Products,
specifically mentioning:
Heroin
– Sedative for Coughs;
Guaiacol Carbonate
– Anti-tuberculous Alterative and Internal Antiseptic;
Quinalgen
– the Anti-malaricum [to treat Malaria];
Creosote-Carbonate
– the Anti-tuberculous Alterative and Internal Antiseptic; and
Salophen
– the Anti-rheumatic and Anti-neuralgic.  [
Creosote-Carbonate, according to what we have read, is made by distilling coal tar or wood tar.]
There is also an ad for
Platt’s Chlorides,
a powerful disinfectant, that was used to isolate a sick-room.
The illustrations shows a nurse applying Platt’s solution to the sheet that separates the sick-room with the infected patient from the rest of the house, in order to keep the infection isolated.  The other side of the page advertises the
Bazzi-Bianchi Phonendoscope
(a type of stethoscope)
that was invented by two Italian physicians by these names in 1894; and an ad for
Frank E. Morgan Rare Drugs
– for Diphtheria, for thyroid and for spleen.
CONDITION: Excellent Condition.  Due to the fragile nature of the paper, the edges have been reinforced with archival mending tape.
(2.)
a 1914 prescription for “Heroin Hydrochloride 1/12 gr. tablets. No XX (Non repeated)” –
[in other words “no refills”].
“One tablet ev. half-hour for two or three doses if needed for difficult breathing.”  Signed “Macdougall M.D.”
(The prescription was filled at B.C. Hale, Registered Pharmacist, Haverhill, Mass.)
CONDITION: Very Good –
appears to have been pasted on a scrapbook page.  (3.)
a blotter advertising Glyco-Heroin, a medical remedy produced by Martin H. Smith Pharmaceutical Co., New York, for treatment of coughs, phthisis, bronchitis, pertussis, laryngitis, and asthma.
“Dosage for adults – one teaspoonful every two hours; children 10 or more years – a quarter to a half a teaspoon; and children 3 years or more – five to ten drops. Samples and literature free upon application”.  This little gift of a blotter would have been given to doctors, who in turn would have written prescriptions for the medicine for their patients, who would then get the medicine from their local pharmacist just as we do today.
CONDITION: Good Condition; shows its age with wear along the edges.
(4.)
1972 book “
Heroin”
by Clive Matson (1960s Greenwich Village Beat poet, who later moved to the San Francisco Bay area).
35 pages; 8 poems relating to the use of heroin, addicts’ experiences and behavior, the sensation of the high, their need to get high, etc.  Written beautifully, brilliantly, literally and sometimes philosophically.
CONDITION: Excellent.