When I have time to spare I go on Ebay and search:
"pharmaceutical"
"apothecary"
"medical advertising"

There are so many arcane things there ! Lots of rep pens, and assorted junk, but on every page or so are some very old, and some European treatment tools, and containers.

I am embarking on some watercolor/drawings, based on old prescriptions (I have 4 files from the long past I've purchased at antique sellers), so I visit Ebay and copy photos that I cannot afford to buy to use as subject reference photos.

This is one of my older works, with REAL cocaine RXs from long ago...it is gone...purchased by a doctor. At one time before topical anesthetics like benzocaine and lidocaine, cocaine was all there was and it was used for topical pain, and rectal problems.

It provides some perspective of where we are today compared to in the late 1800's and early 1900's. One can see the development of Big Pharma which abandoned some useful remedies for what we have now, some of which are less useful.

I remember when I was in college, in the late 1960's and was very ill with spells of pain etc. , with what turned out to be a congenital malrotation of the GI tract, leading to obstructions and pain. I was given an RX then for 100 Atropine tab triturates, which cost me 90 cents a semester! They dissolved under my tongue for fast relief and prevented further GI damage and surgeries. The stress and the dorm food were very hard on my GI tract...esp coffee! Last week I found the original bottle from those times.... going for $15.00 + shipping..empty of course.
I just saved the photo.

For those here who enjoy vintage things, history, and have a curiosity beyond their own painful situation, may find some diversion in visiting the Ebay site and reading.

I now have a small collection of arcane objects, old tins and containers of remedies, and some old apothecary weights (some look like coins). I only can afford some things, but over the past year my collection is growing and my photo files are growing too.

I read a very good book this summer:
The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...ary-s-daughter
While it begins like a "chick" book, it is filled with detail about
a mid 1800 Victorian England life and apothecary including the trials of survival. I found it really an interesting read, once I got past the superficial beginning. It is a "sleeper" book that sneaks up on you!

Thanks for reading. I hope some do check out what I am posting about, as it really puts our current lives in a sort of perspective.

I've come across some interesting things over the years along those lines. I have a couple of series/sets of prints put out by Parke-Davis in the early '70s; one dipicting the History of Medicine (45 prints); the other depicting the History of Pharmacy (40 prints). Never got around to framing them; still new in the original pkging.

I spoze like lots of folks, I've picked up a few century+ old medicine/pharmacy bottles (no cocaine though).

Doc

Nice collage Mrs. D. I love well done mixed media pieces. You really to have to be a collector to get enough materials to put one together.

Have you ever looked at Joseph Cornell's collages and shadow boxes? We were fortunate to see a retrospective exhibit in 2006 at the Smithsonian. Well over 100 pieces.

Oh, yes. I love Cornell's collages. I am sure they are influencing me even today. They were quite the rage back in the '70's. I used to go to NYCity fairly often then, visiting my hubby who was stationed in New Jersey, and then for various art trips from college. I attended fine art school after my professional training, in the 70's. I saw alot of Cornell's works in galleries then and also a few in museums.
You can buy old stuff on categories on Ebay called Steampunk, or Vintage art supplies, to use in collages, etc.

There is a place in Canada making DVDs with vintage topics, hobbies, everything ...I bought 4 of them for my reference material.
Here is their site:
http://www.vintageliterature.ca/cat-medical.cfm
There is something for EVERYONE there! Every interest, hobby--everything. You might like looking at that site.

I am less collage oriented but more a drawing and watercolor specialist to add to the RX's. Today with all the glitzy computer art, I think an antique re-examination of a not well known subject (like my history LOL), may be interesting and different enough to attract some sales for me now that I am retired. I just bought a file of 1000 RXs from 1951... What a blast from the past that was.
Average price cash was around $4.00 per RX with many much less than that. Very limited choices too. Not much blood pressure, and very limited antibiotics. Few heart drugs. These were from Indiana...and I guess that area didn't have many people seriously ill. Things have really changed therapeutically today. (digitoxin was available, and so was peritrate (a nitrate), just few RXs for them. Diuril for blood pressure and reserpine. But lots of antibiotics for children.
Sulfonamides and penicillin, mostly. I was very captivated with it when it arrived last month! Not much in the way of heavy duty pain control, either. Benadryl was in there, though.

I just bought a good condition empty AlkaSeltzer tube LOL Gotta do that one somehow. When I do I'll put it up on PN.... for all to see there! LOL