September 25, 2024
By Toby Scofield

Have you ever wondered where Ohio pharmacists in the olden days got their medicine? Do you wish to identify poisonous plants and recognize if someone slipped some into your tea? Or maybe you just love history and want to delve into the macabre this Halloween season?

Then, may I recommend to you Elixirs, Poisons, and Cures, an event on October 6, hosted by the Pickerington-Violet Township Historical Society at the Museum (15 East Columbus Street in Olde Pickerington Village).

This special exhibit (funded in part by a generous gift from the Pickerington Lions Club) will explore the history of medicines and natural remedies. The museum collection includes a number of traditional apothecary instruments as well as early 1900s medicine bottles.

Jack Whittiker, who served Lancaster and other local communities for decades as a pharmacist, will be on hand to share his experiences and discuss chemicals including strychnine.

Strychnine, a toxin found naturally in climbing shrubs of tropical Asia, has been used as an animal poison for centuries. It has also been employed as a performing enhancing drug. In the mid1900s, scientists won Nobel Prizes for creating a synthetic form of the chemical.

Another presentation will feature “Professor Nick’s Patent Medicines”. Historian Earl Nicodemus will play the role of a traveling patent medicine salesman and discuss notorious Victorian era tonics.

Downstairs will feature displays on chemicals found in nature that have been used for centuries as poisons and/or medicines. Many toxic plants grow throughout Ohio and bear a familial resemblance to edible cousins that may be growing in the same hedgerow. Can you tell the difference between Queen Anne’s Lace and Poison Hemlock?

Learn from BSA Troop 256 how to identify the venomous creatures of Ohio and how to treat an injury if someone has been bit or stung.

Try your hand at Poison Trivia with questions like, “What shape can be found on the back of a brown recluse spider?” or “what medicine did Alexander Fleming discover when fungus accidentally contaminated a bacterial culture?”

An exceptionally unique item is the journal of an enigmatic fellow known only as “John” who recorded home remedies for everything from cancer treatments to roofing tar. Clippings from scientific journals date the journal to the early 1870s.

Whether John was an apothecary or not cannot be ascertained from his scripted notes. Interestingly, the journal also contains newspaper clippings of a spiritual nature including a psychic medium’s prediction of the Lizzie Borden murder trial.

The free event (which runs from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm) does not follow a schedule, allowing you to walk through the museum and drop into the discussions at your own pace.

Be warned, this exhibit will include discussions of poisons, illness, and death. There will be no graphic imagery, and the written descriptions will be concise, but people who cannot stomach these topics may still enjoy perusing the museum’s permanent collections.

For full disclosure, Elixirs, Poisons, and Cures is the BSA Eagle Project for Toby Scofield, who is also this article’s writer and a junior at Pickerington High School Central.