This is a nose ring for a bull. (What? You don’t keep your bull nose rings in your kitchen cupboard? What’s wrong with you!) The little gadget attached to it is like a screwdriver, so you can open the ring, which is hinged, to put it in the bull’s nose. I don’t know how you get the bull to stand still so you can screw it back together, but I’m guessing some kind of headgate and very strong, agile men are involved.
I don’t even know if cattlemen use nose rings these days. The Farmer doesn’t have a cow/calf herd any more so no bull required. But even when we did have a bull, I don’t think he had a nose ring. He was just a happy fellow out in the pasture with his ladies.
Next, this is funny in a really weird and slightly scary sort of way. Nowhere on the box nor the enclosed pamphlet does it say what these pills are for. A cold? Warts? Cramps? The plague? The box assures you however, that there are "Directions Inside."
The enclosed pamphlet advised multiple times that you should “Always ask your Druggist for Chi-ches-ters Pill, the ‘Diamond Brand.’ Take no other.” This was followed by the assurance “Chi-ches-ters Diamond Brand Pills are known everywhere and are sold by all druggists everywhere. Insist on having Chi-ches-ters and refuse all others.”
That was all fine and good but it still didn’t tell me what the darn things were for.
So I Googled it and here’s what I found, according to www.mum.org:
“Chichesters English Pennyroyal Diamond Brand pills for menstruation problems like pain, scanty or no menses (amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea), and probably abortion, 1890s-early 20th century, U.S.A.
“Their [Chichester’s] ads helped start the federal campaign about truth in advertising etc. . . .
“Chichesters first pills were called Chi-ches-ters Pennyroyal Pills. It is argued that they had to change the label because they really did not have pennyroyal [a plant] in them . . . others argue they had both pennyroyal and tansy, and were toxic. Some deaths were blamed on the early pills . . .”
As it turned out, it was a good thing they didn’t have pennyroyal in them because “The essential oil of pennyroyal may act as an emmenagogue (menstrual flow stimulant) and induce abortion. However, it may do so at lethal or near-lethal doses, making this action unpredictable and dangerous.”
Good grief. It’s a wonder any of our grandparents lived through an era when taking unregulated “medicine” could have killed them.
Here’s a chocolate lover’s recipe book that belonged to my grandma. Well, that explains a lot. Clearly chocoholism is passed genetically. I’ll share some recipes from it in future posts.
These are shoe polish tins. Does anyone polish shoes anymore? I can’t remember the last time I polished a pair of shoes. Mink oiled, yes. Polished, no.
How fascinating!! It's like a quirky version of Antique's Roadshow. :) Those pills are CRAZY!!!!
ReplyDeleteI almost said "holy cow" about the bull nose ring, but that's just a little too cute for me. I can't believe how big it is! I guess it'd have to be, seeing how large their noses are, but still. I'm not sure if they're still used. But if I had to move a bull myself from one pasture to another, I don't know if tugging on a ring through his septum will make him want to follow me any easier than any other method.
ReplyDeleteThe pills were funny, but scary. I agree - look what unregulated medicine gets you. If you think about it, heroin was originally used as a cough treatment. Imagine what that did for all the happy pneumoniacs out there.
I heard an old commercial from the 50's (I listen to old radio shows to help me sleep, and they throw in the original commercials too) for these pills that solved headaches, stomachache, backache, runny/stuffy nose, and probably a few other things. I tried looking them up as extensively as I could, and never found out the ingredient because that sounds pretty magical. The stomachache treatment is what threw me off, since all the rest could be ibuprofen or something.
The cookbook looks awesome. My grandparents bought the house that was next door to their old house. They noticed a weird wall so they knocked it down to make something more roomy, and found a whole separate bedroom. I guess when someone died in the room, they'd remove the body (hopefully) and seal off the room to keep it as a shrine. The room was exactly as it was left. My dad found fashion books and other books from the 1850's, which he said were cool. Except one day my Grandma was cleaning and thought that since they were old, nobody would want them..*sigh*. I love the old books though, sometimes I order them off Ebay.
Very cool post and pictures. What a fun trip down history's lane. Scary pills. At least there were none left?
ReplyDeleteFascinating!!!! That nose ring though ... one word entered my mind: PAINFUL. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteI still polish shoes occasionally:)
ReplyDeleteMust have something to do with my mother working in a shoe shop at one point in her life, and she was a bit fanatical about keeping shoes polished.
Really interesting stuff in that cupboard!