Schlotterbeck's Compound Mixture Helonin
notes: label: Description
content: Green cardboard box containing a glass bottle with white metal screw cap and green paper label. Label on box and bottle reads in part: "SCHLOTTERBECK'S / Compound Mixture Helonin / U. S. Trade Mark, Nov. 13, 1906, No. 57544" and "PREPARED BY / SCHLOTTERBECK & FOSS / Manufacturing Chemists PORTLAND, MAINE."
label: Description
content: In 1866 Augustus George Schlotterbeck (1844-1921) established a business at 501 Congress Street, Portland, Maine, and Charles S. Foss joined him the following year. Schlotterbeck was born in Germany and emigrated to the United States with his family around 1854. His pharmacy training was through apprenticeships and assistanceships in Springfield, Massachusetts, during the Civil War years.
label: Description
content: The label "Compound Mixture Helonin" was registered in 1887 and the product was advertised in medical journals for menstrual dissorders -- menorrhagia (heavy bleeding), dysmenorrhea (severe pain), and amenorrhea (absence of periods). In 1915 the American Medical Association condemned the remedy as "a vicious and a worthless nostrum--unless we regard the alcohol as of value." [JAMA, December 14, 1915] The alcohol content at the time was recorded as 45%.
label: Description
content: Both Liferoot and False Unicorn Root have been used historically to treat menstrual problems and menopausal symptoms.
label: Description
content: This object is part of a collection donated to the museum in 1989 by James P. Cragg, Jr. and Marie S. Cragg, owners of the Irvington Pharmacy located at 4123 Frederick Ave., Baltimore, Maryland. Pharmacist James P. Cragg, Jr., known as “Dr. Tim” to his customers, worked at the pharmacy from the 1940s until his retirement at the end of 1988. The business had been in the family since 1926 when Cragg's uncle, John F. Wannenwetsch, and pharmacist Walter Patterson purchased the old Knight & Andrews drugstore. In 1959 the Irvington Pharmacy became a Rexall franchise, and two large orange and blue Rexall signs were added to the art deco façade of the drugstore. The Cragg’s sold the store when Dr. Tim retired and one of the exterior signs along with several pharmaceutical products and drugstore labels were donated to the Smithsonian.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Maine, Portland
label: associated place
content: United States: Maryland, Baltimore
topic: label: Subject
content: Women's Health Products
label: Subject
content: Menstruation
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of James P. Cragg, Jr. and Marie S. Cragg
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0091.06
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0091.06
label: accession number
content: 1989.0091
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pharmaceutical
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass; metal; paper (container material)
label: Physical Description
content: cardboard (packaging (box) material)
label: Physical Description
content: extract helonias (false unicorn root), 2.3 grains per fl. oz.; extract senecio (life root), 3.4 grains per fl. oz; extract avena sativa (cultivated white oats), 0.25 grain per fl. oz.; alcohol, 34% (drug active ingredients)
label: Measurements
content: box: 8 1/8 in x 3 in x 3 in; 20.6375 cm x 7.62 cm x 7.62 cm
label: Measurements
content: bottle: 7 in x 2 5/8 in x 2 5/8 in; 17.78 cm x 6.6675 cm x 6.6675 cm