Pharmacy Museum

Yet another item on my NOLA Bucket List was to visit the Pharmacy Museum located in the French Quarter. They offer a "tour" on the days they are opened so we made a point to be there in time for that. The guy spoke and showed us different drugs and contraptions for over an hour! He was very knowledgeable about 19th century pharmaceutical practices in New Orleans. After hearing everything he had to say I honestly do not know how anyone survived their first year of life in that disease infested swamp town! It is absolutely mind blowing how far medicine has progressed in the last few decades compared to the non-sense they thought they knew two hundred years ago.

There were lots of displays for interesting "medicines".

Hundreds of jars filled with herbs, leaves, minerals, dead animals (beetles, butterfly wings, etc.), and more were displayed on tall shelves. These ingredients were combined and ground up with a mortar and pestle then administered various ways. Because the concoctions didn't taste very yummy, pharmacists were constantly coming up with new ways to make their medicines palatable. The affluent could afford to have their prescriptions encased in gold or silver. There was just one problem with that method: the human body cannot break down gold or silver so the pills passed right through folks! We were told that these pills were often procured once passed and re-taken numerous times. Nasty. Less well-off people could get their remedies wrapped in chocolate, a much tastier option and one that actually allowed the medicine to be absorbed. They eventually began using thin rice paper to create little packets for the doses: this too could be absorbed.

A cool poster you could purchase.

A soda fountain that was used to mask the bitter and unpleasant tastes of the concoctions the pharmacists created. It was also seen as more acceptable for women to partake in drug use when in the form of a flavorful beverage!

I cannot begin to remember everything we heard while listening to the man talk, but the overall gist was that mosquitoes were bad, sanitation was next to non-existent, and if people couldn't figure out how to get better they just made the symptoms "in style". I highly recommend anyone visiting NOLA who has an interest in history or medicine to check this place out. $5 was a steal!