Victorian Pharmacy concludes with the pharmacy moving into a new era of understanding.  Modern medicine is starting to be birthed.  Ruth Goodman kicks off the episode by dressing up in a “woman’s suit.”  A “woman’s suit” demonstrated to the customer that they were professionals.  Now, the pharmacy is stocking branded products and they did not have to make many products anymore.  It could be possible that the pharmacy was an early grocery store.

Photography started to take off in the 1880s and the pharmacy could provide the chemicals that were needed for the hobby.  Nick and an herbalist go out and pick herbs for the pharmacy.  Ruth cleans the sheep intestine to make condoms and then explores the history of contraception.  Although Victorian Contraception was more about protecting the man from STDs, Ruth wants to make the effort to make the condoms.  There were female pills available to help women regulate their periods.

Tom explores the history of dentistry and how the pharmacy offered dental service.  A dental historian trains Tom up in dentistry.  Surgeons often had dentistry as a side hustle.  Tom practices pulling and drilling teeth.  Nick makes an early forerunner of toothpaste, dental powder.  If a person was rich they could afford to take better care of their teeth and they bought tooth powder.  A development that happened during the Victorian Period was the invention of the tooth drill and fillings.  This was an alternative to pulling teeth.  Tom tries out an old drill and concludes that he would have been an over-enthusiastic dentist.

Salicylic acid is discovered during this period.  Meadowsweet and Willow Bark have salicylic acid, which kills pain.  Nick and a chemist extract salicylic acid from willow bark and meadowsweet.  They explore the history of natural remedies as well as the history of extracting the chemicals in those plants.  The druggist and pharmacists had to have one foot in the natural world. 

To discover more about the Victorian Pharmacy, keep watching the documentary.

The series as a whole is an excellent primer on the development of the pharmacy.  You may want to show the whole series in a science classroom or a history classroom.  You could even use clips of the series in an agricultural classroom.  Or if there are time constraints, show clips of the series to your students as part of a lecture.  Teacher, you are only limited by your imagination as to how to use this series in the classroom.

For use in the classroom, just highlight, copy and paste into a Word or Google Document.  You can format it how you like.  All questions can fit on one page.

You can access the video here.

Victorian Pharmacy Questions

1. What did Ruth get dressed in? 
2. What took off in the Victorian Period? 
3. What did Nick look for in the field? 
4. What was the meadowsweet used for?  List three.   
5. What did Ruth use to make condoms? 
   
6. This service was offered through the pharmacy. 
7. Who was in charge of the tooth pulling? 
8. What caused bad teeth in the Victorian Period? 
9. List three ingredients Nick used in the tooth powder. 
10. What was used to control pain? 
    

Victorian Pharmacy Answers

1. What did Ruth get dressed in?  - Woman’s suit
2. What took off in the Victorian Period?  - Photography
3. What did Nick look for in the field?  - Meadowsweet
4. What was the meadowsweet used for?  List three.  Digestive calming issues, pain relief, fever reducer, rheumatism
5. What did Ruth use to make condoms?  -  Sheep intestine
6. This service was offered through the pharmacy.  – Tooth pulling
7. Who was in charge of the tooth pulling?  - Tom
8. What caused bad teeth in the Victorian Period?  - Sugar
9. List three ingredients Nick used in the tooth powder.  – Peppermint oil, myrrh, chalk, orris roots, soap flakes
10. What was used to control pain?  Willow and meadowsweet
    

Victorian Pharmacy moves into episode three.  The pharmacists continue to experiment with new products in their shop.  The Pharmacy was the most dangerous shop on High Street.  A group of pharmacists came together and formed a Pharmaceutical Society to regulate pharmacies.  There were little to no regulations for the pharmacy.  Our Victorian Pharmacists kick off the episode by removing the poisonous items off their shelves.  Chemists and druggists continued to experiment with the chemicals in their pharmacy.

Tom experiments in making matches.  This would prove dangerous to the early pharmacists due to the chemicals that were used in making matching.  Sulfuric acid was used to light the matches and if you dropped the bottle of sulfuric acid there were explosive results.  It was surprising to Tom that pharmacists were making matches.  Due to the high number of chemicals, they have available, pharmacists were at the forefront of experimenting with making matches.

Ruth sets up a baby weight service and explores the baby products that were available through the pharmacy.  A lot of poison products targeted at babies were on the shelf.  A customer who brought a baby into the pharmacy did not buy any products.  Ruth also explores the poison in the cleaning projects that were on the shelf.  Mercury was used in hats.  Arsenic was used in cleaning products and was used to turn things green.

Accidental arsenic poisoning was a high cause of death in the Victorian Period.  There were a few regulations on how arsenic was sold to the people.  The number one product sold from the pharmacy was fly-paper and rat poison.  This led to parents deliberately poisoning their children for the insurance.  The Arsenic Act helped curb the poisoning.  The Pharmacy Act lead to pharmacists having to be qualified for their jobs.  Pharmacists were eventually required to take exams.

The Victorian Pharmacists take part in the exam.  They have to identify several natural products and make suppositories.  Women could participate in the pharmacy exams since there was no law that said they could not.  Widows took part in the exams.  It was the first time women could have a career and that they could be qualified for the career.  This lead to other women pressing forward in other areas of society.  While practicing for her exam, Ruth continues to make products for the pharmacy.
To find out who passed their exam, continue to watch the documentary!

For use in the classroom, just highlight, copy and paste into a Word or Google Document.  You can format it how you like.  All questions can fit on one page.

You can access the video here.

Victorian Pharmacy Episode 3 Questions

1. What did the pharmacists take out of the window? 
2. What was used to light the matches? 
3. What was the potential to be a big seller? 
4. Ruth set up this service to entice customers to the store? 
5. How much did Billy weigh? 
6. What was in Mrs. Winslow’s’ Soothing Syrup? 
7. What poison was used to color things green?
8. Who felt that she had the most to prove?
9. Who could take part in the pharmacy exams? 
10. What did the pharmacists have to make as part of the exam? 

Victorian Pharmacy Episode 3 Answers

1. What did the pharmacists take out of the window?  - Poisons
2. What was used to light the matches?  - Sulfuric Acid
3. What was the potential to be a big seller? - Products for babies
4. Ruth set up this service to entice customers to the store?  - Free baby Weighing
5. How much did Billy weigh?  - 14 pounds, 2 ounces
6. What was in Mrs. Winslow’s’ Soothing Syrup?  - Opium
7. What poison was used to color things green? -  Arsenic
8. Who felt that she had the most to prove? - Ruth
9. Who could take part in the pharmacy exams?  - Women
10. What did the pharmacists have to make as part of the exam? - Suppositories

The Pharmacy brought medicine to the masses.  Pharmacists experiment with new medicines and tried to come up with one medicine that will cure everything.  Ruth and Tom go out into the community to do market research to determine the needs of the community.  With market research in hand, Nick comes up with a cure-all with the ingredients he has on hand.

Nick tries to find safe ideas for his cure-all.  During the Victorian Period, there was little to no understanding of what causes diseases.  There was a strong belief if miasmas, bad clouds spread around the disease.  They concluded that where there was a stink, there was illness. 

Ruth carefully gets the supplies stored up and Nick struggles to find the ingredients to make his cure-all.  The Cure-Alls were the way people cut out the middle man to avoid going to the doctor.  Nick and Tom make their cure-all and make pills for their cure-all.  Ruth makes a hair loss remedy.  She makes a hair oil.

Nick comes up with an advertisement for his cure-all and was advised not put a reward to put a reward on his poster if his cure-all did not work.  It was during the Victorian Period where the precedent for false advertising was set.  A lady sued the company behind the carbolic smoke ball for giving her influenza.  He changes it to his cure-all cures insomnia, low spirits, and consumption.  The lack of rules in the Victorian Period is something new Nick is experiencing.

Tom works on publicity for Nick’s Cure-All.  He was the pharmacist’s apprentice.  In the Victorian Period the parents of the apprentice would pay the pharmacist to take on their child and teach them the trade.

Ruth and Tom eventually make their way through town distributing Nick’s Cure-All.  The citizenry is a little bit shy about trying the cure-all.  Ruth and Tom sell all the cure-alls around town.  They also explore how electricity was used in cures. 

This would not only be a good show to present to a history class but a science class.  It discusses scientific advances in what causes diseases.  It was during this period that products were advertised as disinfecting and antiseptic.  Pharmacists developed cleaning products. 

To find out more about the Victorian Pharmacy, continue to watch the episode.

For use in the classroom, just highlight the questions, copy and paste them into a word document.  You can format it the way you want to.  All questions fit on one page.

You can access the YouTube Video here.

Victorian Pharmacy Questions

1.       Who did market research in the community? 
2.       What did the Victorians believe cause diseases?
3.       Who deliberately mislead the public?   
4.       How many pharmacies went bankrupt every year?
5.       What did Nick put in his cure-all? 
6.       How many pills did they make?
7.       What was seen as an illness? 
8.       How long did the hair loss mixture have to heat?
9.       What took off during the Victorian Period? 
10.   What device set the precedent for false advertising? 

Victorian Pharmacy Answers
1.        Who did market research in the community?  - Ruth and Tom
2.       What did the Victorians believe cause diseases?  - Miasmas
3.       Who deliberately mislead the public?  Pharmacists
4.       How many pharmacies went bankrupt every year?  100
5.       What did Nick put in his cure-all?  -  Soap powder, Licorice root, rhubarb root, glucose syrup
6.       How many pills did they make?  1,000
7.       What was seen as an illness?  - Hair loss
8.       How long did the hair loss mixture have to heat?  An hour
9.       What took off during the Victorian Period?  - Advertising
10.   What device set the precedent for false advertising?  - Carbolic Smoke Ball