19th Century Medicine Cabinet or Growing Your Own Drugs.

By Wade Toth, Bellamy Mansion Interpreter & Volunteer Committee Chair

When we think of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, their aromas are usually setting a mood by wafting from the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day. Herbs are primarily thought of as culinary today by most Americans, but that was not always the case.

In the 1800s English folksong "Are You Going to Scarborough Fair," made famous in 1966 by Simon and Garfunkel's version, each herb represents a virtue. Parsley=Comfort. Sage=Strength. Rosemary=Love. Thyme=Courage. These four herbs, native to the Mediterranean basin, were used for centuries to treat a variety of afflictions. Parsley was thought to cure digestive disorders, bronchitis, and cure urinary tract problems. Sage was taken for ulcers, a sore throat, and to stop bleeding. Rosemary was seen as a memory enhancer, relieved migraine headaches, and thwarted nervousness. Thyme was a pain reliever, an antidote for poison, and had antiseptic properties. Even today, thymol, the active ingredient in thyme, is used in mouthwashes, toothpaste, and hand sanitizers.

Theophrastus

Jonas Salk

Albert Sabin

In fourth century Greece, the scientist and philosopher Theophrastus (371-287 BC), known as the “the Father of Botany,” classified 500 medicinal plants known at the time in his Historia Plantarum. Plants in his list included cinnamon, the rhizome of the iris, mint, pomegranate, and cardamom. He noted that some species had toxic levels and encouraged people to gradually increase dosing as they became more accustomed to the plants’ effects on the body.

Nineteenth century Americans relied on herbs for culinary purposes in backyard kitchen gardens, but also as cure-alls because current knowledge of medicine was only in relative infancy. An influential early book on the subject was American Medical Botany by Jacob Bigelow, published between 1817 and 1820. Throughout the 20th century advances in medicine skyrocketed. Penicillin, the first naturally occurring antibiotic drug, became available in limited quantities in 1928. Erythromycin, a sulfa drug combating bacteria, was developed in Germany in 1935. Jonas Salk (in 1955) and Albert Sabin (in 1961) introduced their polio vaccines to Americans. The first measles vaccine was licensed for public use in 1963. Smallpox, one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases, was first vaccinated against by Englishman Edward Jenner in 1796. It persisted, killing some 300 million people in the 20th century alone, but was declared eradicated in the United States in 1980 thanks to the widespread adoption of the smallpox vaccine.

​Dr. John D. Bellamy (1817-1896) was a trained medical physician who studied at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and graduated in 1839. The subject of his essay (a thesis today) was 'Hysteria'. The first known mention of hysteria as a female-specific medical issue dates back to ancient Egypt, around 1900 BCE, in the Kahun Papyrus. This medical text describes symptoms believed to be caused by a displaced or "wandering" uterus, a concept developed further by Hippocrates (5th–4th century BCE) that influenced medical thought for centuries. Hysteria as a diagnosis, therefore, was the first mental disorder attributed to women, and only women. It was a catch-all term for symptoms including, but by no means limited to, nervousness, hallucinations, emotional outbursts and various sexual urges thought to be caused by this movement of the womb to various parts of the body. The 'condition' remained as part of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association until it was eliminated in 1980.

The kitchen garden in the backyard of the Bellamy mansion is filled with herbs that would have been used for cooking, and also for medicinal purposes. Dr. Bellamy may well have studied the efficacy of such herbs while apprenticing under his future father-in-law Dr. William Harriss and thereafter in medical school. 

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Medicinal Plants in the Bellamy Herb Garden
Click here for a complete list in our garden brochure:
 https://www.bellamymansion.org/uploads/2/3/2/1/23216980/gardentourbrochurefinal.pdf

Garlic: Medieval folk believe that vampires were frightened of garlic, so this garden staple was worn around the neck as a talisman. Records also indicate that as late as the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, a garlic posy was worn for protection. More likely some individuals were repelled by the fragrance of the herb and kept their distance from others. While garlic is much revered in cooking today its uses in 19th century medicine included curing infections and colds, easing coughing, ridding you of worms, working as a diuretic, and improving asthma.
​Joe Pye Weed: Doctors promoted its use to dissolve gall stones, for dropsy (more commonly known as edema), neuralgia, and impotence.
Marjoram: If diagnosed with tension or headaches take marjoram for relief.
Savory: Oil derived from this herb was a treatment for toothaches.

Dill: Chewing the seed of this herb was said to freshen breath, and the green of the plant was prescribed for new mothers to increase the flow of breast milk.
Hops: We associate this traditional herb with beer making, but it too was considered a medicine. A tea made from hops was used commonly for relaxation and considered helpful for insomnia.
Butterfly Weed: The plant, though not thought of today as an herb by most people, was considered to have a curative use for diarrhea and rheumatism. Its benefit came from the root of the plant.
Lavender: It was used to treat insomnia and as a relaxing agent. Crushed leaves and flower heads were tucked in bed pillows or oil of lavender was applied directly to the specific locations on the head, arms, and feet.

Valerian: As noted, Dr. Bellamy’s essay at the University of Pennsylvania was on female Hysteria. One plant grown in the Bellamy kitchen garden is valerian. It was widely used in the 18th, 19th & 20th centuries for symptomatic treatment of hysteria.
Turpentine from Long Leaf Pines: Certainly not an herb but plant-derived, turpentine was considered to have medicinal qualities. Turpentine was made from the resin of pines including the Long Leaf Pine found in coastal NC. Smelling the vapors was believed to ease chest congestion. 

Internally, turpentine was prescribed to treat worms, especially tapeworms. The belief was that it was a natural insecticide and, therefore, it would kill internal worms too. ​Used as a topical liniment, it was applied to the body for relieve muscle and joint pain. Turpentine was widely used during the American Civil War for these various purposes. North Carolina was a leading exporter of pine derived products ("pine tar", hence Tar Heel state) in the 18th and 19th century. Dr. Bellamy made a great deal of his fortune from their production.

​Photo: This bottle of mentholated white pine compound syrup was the 19th century equivalent to modern day cough syrup. The mixture in this bottle was prepared specifically for one of Dr. and Mrs. Bellamy's sons, Robert Bellamy, who became a pharmacist. It contained ingredients like chloroform, alcohol, three kinds of tree bark, and of course, pine tar.

Finally, The Unusual: SNAKE OIL
​A discussion of 19th century medicine would not be complete without Snake Oil remedies. One was Hamlin’s Wizard Oil (1861) and another Clark Stanley’s Snake Oil Liniment (1893). These cure-all elixirs were so named for the belief that fatty oils from various vipers, especially the rattlesnake, could cure illness. The deceptive marketing practices made no use of actual snake oil but rather mineral oil.

The Wizard’s advertisement lists supposed curative qualities. Active ingredients included: alcohol, camphor, sassafras oil, clove oil, turpentine, ammonia, and chloroform. The company even went so far as to promote its use for cancer. A case was brought against Hamlin’s in Illinois for that cancer 'treatment.' The company was found guilty of false claims and fined $200.