Pharmacy History
The plague doctor
Plague and pandemics have been with us for as long as humans have been on the earth. Ralph Tapping looks at some historic examples and how the current pandemic fits …
When the bark is worse than the bite!
Ralph Tapping takes a look at more of the questionable treatments offered in pharmacies in days gone by, including a rather toxic snake bite remedy Following upon my previous article …
Health follies
Pharmacy historian Ralph Tapping has been looking into some of the questionable treatments sold in pharmacy in the recent past Laudanum and other preparations containing tincture of opium, for example …
Health follies of last century
A look back at some of the ‘health misadventures’ common in the earlier years of the 20th century, by Ralph Tapping Health follies’ of the last century might otherwise be …
Pharmacy’s sporting heroes: Part 2
A look at even more pharmacists who have excelled in sports, as well as the dispensary AJP recently published a feature looking at nine pharmacists who have gone on to achieve …
Pharmacy’s sporting heroes
We take a look at some pharmacists who have made a name for themselves on the sporting field Jane Crafter Golf champion Jane Crafter was a pharmacist for three years …
Four of the most lethal infectious diseases of our time and how we’re overcoming them
Four of the most lethal infectious diseases of our time and how we’re overcoming them Spanish flu killed more people than the Great War that preceded it. And tuberculosis even …
Artefact: Wawn’s Wonder Wool
For around sixty years “Wawn’s Wonder Wool” was a familiar over-the-counter item in pharmacies throughout Australia, says Ralph Tapping Victor A. Wawn was one of the younger generation of …
Artefacts: Putting a lid on it
Ralph Tapping looks back at the long and detailed history of ceramic pots in pharmacy These days creams, ointments, gels and many foodstuffs are presented in glass screw-capped jars with …
Artefacts: plasters & poultices
One hundred years ago preparations to soothe and medicate the skin were regularly prescribed and compounded, including ointments, creams, plasters and poultices Preparing a plaster involved spreading a pliable base …
Only in the USA!
A very strange product ad emerges from the past. It could only come from the home of the brave, writes Ralph Tapping With all the political turmoil going on in …
Losing our bottle
Whatever happened to those fancy dispensary stock bottles that were so familiar sixty years ago, asks Ralph Tapping? The Whittal Tatum & Co jars and bottles, with their glass labels, …