0:00:02 > 0:00:04Blists Hill Victorian Town in Shropshire
0:00:04 > 0:00:07revives the sights, sounds and smells of the 19th Century.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10- Morning.- Morning.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13At its heart stands the pharmacy,
0:00:13 > 0:00:19a treasure house of potions and remedies from a century and a half ago.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Now, in a unique experiment, Ruth Goodman, Nick Barber
0:00:22 > 0:00:27and Tom Quick are opening the doors to the Victorian pharmacy,
0:00:27 > 0:00:33recreating a high-street institution we take for granted, but which was once a novel idea.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35How can I help?
0:00:35 > 0:00:41They'll bring the pharmacy to life, sourcing ingredients, mixing potions and dispensing cures.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44But in an age when skin creams contained arsenic
0:00:44 > 0:00:49and cold cures were made from opium, the team will need to be highly selective.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52They'll only make safe versions of traditional remedies
0:00:52 > 0:00:55and try them out on carefully selected customers.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59The start was like the Wild West.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03- People didn't know what was good and bad.- Try and get a bit of speed up... Oh, there we go.
0:01:03 > 0:01:09The pharmacy was something that affected everybody's lives in one way or another.
0:01:09 > 0:01:15They'll discover an age of social transformation that brought healthcare
0:01:15 > 0:01:18within the reach of ordinary people for the very first time,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22heralding a consumer revolution that reached far beyond medicine
0:01:22 > 0:01:28to create the model for the modern high-street chemist as we know it today.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43The Victorian pharmacy opens its doors in 1837,
0:01:43 > 0:01:47the year when the teenage Queen Victoria ascended the throne.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Wow, look at this place!
0:01:50 > 0:01:52This is fantastic.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56- Ooh, that smell!- It's much bigger than I thought it would be.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58There's a heck of a lot of stuff here, isn't there?
0:01:58 > 0:02:00There's a tremendous amount of stuff.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Fresh from her time on the Victorian farm,
0:02:05 > 0:02:09Ruth Goodman will now be applying her skills in new areas -
0:02:09 > 0:02:11from medicines to cosmetics.
0:02:11 > 0:02:17As a domestic historian, she knows just how important the pharmacy was to ordinary people.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24Doctors were expensive. Really, on a day-to-day basis, only the rich were using doctors.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27Occasionally a poor person might be able to save up for a consultation,
0:02:27 > 0:02:30maybe a doctor might offer some free consultation, but in general
0:02:30 > 0:02:34most people in the 19th Century turned to the pharmacist
0:02:34 > 0:02:37for the majority of their healthcare.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39Oh!
0:02:39 > 0:02:44It's a beautiful place to be in. We're going to be able to make this work really well.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46Nick Barber is professor of the practice of pharmacy
0:02:46 > 0:02:48at the University of London's School of Pharmacy.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52Parrot Brand polishing soap and Monkey Brand.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Things like Sloan's Liniment, which people use nowadays, and Zam-Buk.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58As the pharmacist, he will be responsible for recommending
0:02:58 > 0:03:02and preparing all the remedies and medicines that his shop dispenses.
0:03:02 > 0:03:08It's a unique opportunity for Nick to learn how his profession evolved.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10It's a fantastic chance to recreate what it was like to be
0:03:10 > 0:03:15a Victorian pharmacist at a time when pharmacy was completely different to how it is today.
0:03:15 > 0:03:21Pharmacists were creating new things. Lots of innovation happening then - the growth of chemistry -
0:03:21 > 0:03:25and pharmacists were experimenting and developing new sorts of treatments as well.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27We're going to have fun with this!
0:03:27 > 0:03:31- I'm going to see how this sign's getting on.- OK, see you.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38There's old pill-rolling devices here.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42Look at these liquids up here, this is a tincture of zingib.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45No Victorian pharmacy would be complete without an apprentice.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49And these are all the Latin names I'm going to have to know about.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51That job falls to Tom Quick.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56A PhD student in the history of medicine, he's hoping to put theory into practice.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01The natural products were all in their Latin names.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03And so much equipment as well, right?
0:04:03 > 0:04:05It's remarkable, isn't it?
0:04:05 > 0:04:10Really, what I think of as history isn't about just seeing things behind glass cases.
0:04:10 > 0:04:16It's about people's lives and what people did on a day-to-day basis.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21We've got all the kit here, which was all needed in those days. We've got, erm...
0:04:21 > 0:04:23We've the balance there, right?
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Yeah, you'd be weighing things out carefully.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31You know, careful being the key word, because you killed people if you got these things wrong.
0:04:31 > 0:04:37Some of these things I was taught when I was an undergraduate, but I've never used them professionally.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41So actually to do these sorts of things, to go back to mixing,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45to pounding, to compounding things is an enormous challenge.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52The front of shop is where they will come face to face with the public.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55In the early Victorian age, new ideas on how to treat illness
0:04:55 > 0:04:58were beginning to filter through to the high street,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02but in this moment of change from traditional to scientific medicine,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04many of the cures the pharmacy will sell
0:05:04 > 0:05:08are based on old beliefs and remedies.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Poison of lance-headed viper. Oh, my giddy.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15In 1837, despite the dangerous products on the shelves,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18anyone could trade as a pharmacist.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22Even grocers were setting up as chemists.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26Hee-hee, look at that!
0:05:26 > 0:05:27Wow!
0:05:27 > 0:05:32That looks so good. It's just fantastic to see your name above a shop like that.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37Yeah... You'd want a good standing within the community to be a pharmacist.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41It was a hub of the town, really, and people used to come here...
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Everybody's ill, everybody comes to the pharmacy.
0:05:44 > 0:05:50Opening a new shop was a massive investment, and pharmacists needed to be entrepreneurs to survive.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52Marketing was everything.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Like many of their predecessors,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02the new Barber & Goodman pharmacy is having a grand opening.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05BAND PLAYS: "Blaze Away"
0:06:18 > 0:06:23In order to understand how people responded to 19th Century remedies,
0:06:23 > 0:06:28Barber & Goodman will dispense authentic but safe Victorian medicines
0:06:28 > 0:06:30to carefully chosen volunteers.
0:06:32 > 0:06:38The pharmacy's first customer is Sue Dodd, who has worked as a nurse for 35 years.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40Hello, Mr Barber.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44I have a very bad cough, is there anything that you can help?
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Well, have you tried modern cures for a cold? Do you think they work?
0:06:48 > 0:06:57Some do, although you can't beat natural local honey and lemon for sore throats.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00Generally things like that.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04Well, in Victorian times what we'd have given you
0:07:04 > 0:07:07is Dr John Collis Browne's Chlorodyne.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09I've got the Chlorodyne here.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14It was invented when he was an Indian army doctor for cholera.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17It didn't treat cholera, but it became a very popular treatment
0:07:17 > 0:07:22for coughs, colds, chests and things like this. It's got in chloroform,
0:07:22 > 0:07:28it's got, er...opium in it and it's got cannabis in it.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Why would they put those things in?
0:07:31 > 0:07:34Well, it makes people feel better, as you might imagine.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38Many pharmacists made up their own versions of Chlorodyne,
0:07:38 > 0:07:45but the high opiate content made these medicines addictive, and death from overdose was a real risk.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50Collis Browne's mixture is still on sale today, but with a low, non-addictive dose of morphine.
0:07:50 > 0:07:57Opium suppresses cough, so if people do have troublesome coughs, then it would help bring that down.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00We'll knock out something for you which is a bit safer.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04And will it have the opium and things like that in?
0:08:04 > 0:08:07- No, we'll find one without those sorts of things.- Oh, good!
0:08:07 > 0:08:10- Just natural herbs we'll use for this one.- That sounds wonderful.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Before his customer returns for her authentic Victorian cough medicine,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Nick will need to find a less risky recipe.
0:08:16 > 0:08:22Horehound and aniseed. Try that, see what that looks like.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26- Balsam of horehound and aniseed. - That's it, so what have we got in?
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Paregoric elixir...
0:08:29 > 0:08:32The chemist's bible was the Pharmacopoeia,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35which listed all the remedies and potions of the day.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The one we can't use, definitely, is paregoric,
0:08:38 > 0:08:43and paregoric is camphorated opium - it's a form of opium -
0:08:43 > 0:08:45so, again, we've got the morphine in.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49So we need to take that balsam of horehound and aniseed and try and reformulate it
0:08:49 > 0:08:55using current knowledge and using things which are a bit safer than some of the ingredients.
0:08:55 > 0:09:01- My goodness, it's gorgeous at this time of year.- Isn't it?
0:09:01 > 0:09:07Nick's chosen remedy, balsam of horehound, was made up largely of natural herbs and flowers.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10- Cleavers - this is what we're after, yeah?- Perfect, exactly.
0:09:10 > 0:09:17The job of sourcing the essential ingredients falls to Ruth and herbalist Eleanor Gallia.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Eleanor is an expert in plant medicine.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25A Victorian pharmacist would have needed her knowledge of the natural world.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28So why do we want cleavers in a cough medicine, then?
0:09:28 > 0:09:33They're the most wonderful immune stimulant, and they're very cleansing for the body.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37With respiratory catarrh conditions, the first thing you need to do is
0:09:37 > 0:09:40encourage the phlegm away from the chest,
0:09:40 > 0:09:45so the body is very good at cleansing itself and draining itself.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49A pharmacy needed to maintain a healthy stock of medicinal plants.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52So do we need anything else, as well as the cleavers, while we're out?
0:09:52 > 0:09:56- Plantain.- Oh, that's quite a common thing.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01The surrounding countryside was a valuable and free resource.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05They like to be stood on, planted into the ground.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10While Ruth is gathering the ingredients for the cough medicine,
0:10:10 > 0:10:15at the back of the shop, Nick and Tom open up the pharmacy's laboratory.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17Wow! Look at this place.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20This is going to be amazing, isn't it?
0:10:20 > 0:10:23The nerve centre of their business, this is where the pharmacist would
0:10:23 > 0:10:27experiment with new cures and manufacture drugs and potions.
0:10:27 > 0:10:34It's halfway between an alchemist's cave and a kitchen and a storeroom and all sorts, really.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Yeah, this is a really interesting space for me.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41This is the place that probably changed the most dramatically
0:10:41 > 0:10:44over the time period we're looking at - 1840s, '50s.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47This is kind of like a kitchen, right?
0:10:47 > 0:10:52You've got all these ingredients over here, these sort of herbal things.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57And you'd be here at the bench, making your latest concoction to sell in the shop.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Yes, to sell to the lucky public out there.
0:11:00 > 0:11:08But by the end of the century, this is kind of more a place of chemical experimentation.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11We've even got a hammer for pounding the herbs.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14What I hope to learn is some of the techniques
0:11:14 > 0:11:19which Victorian pharmacists used to use, the manual skills which some of us have forgotten.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24I also hope to learn some of the different sorts of approaches which they had to medicine in those days.
0:11:26 > 0:11:32The Industrial Revolution was at its height and half the population of Britain lived in towns.
0:11:32 > 0:11:39Overcrowding, poor sanitation and grinding poverty left many people vulnerable to disease.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44Hundreds of thousands died in the crowded, sewage-ridden cities.
0:11:44 > 0:11:50But Victorians had only the haziest of ideas about what caused illness or how to treat it.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55And so they often fell back on traditional remedies...
0:11:55 > 0:12:02as Nick is about to discover as he prepares a bruise medicine made from earthworms.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10Well, I didn't think I'd be doing this when I was doing a Victorian remedy -
0:12:10 > 0:12:13digging, rather bizarrely, for earthworms.
0:12:15 > 0:12:21Earthworms were part of an old remedy which was around
0:12:21 > 0:12:26before Victorian times, from medieval times, really,
0:12:26 > 0:12:27in which people would
0:12:27 > 0:12:32take the earthworm and they would boil up earthworms
0:12:32 > 0:12:35with olive oil and some form of wine
0:12:35 > 0:12:40into oil of earthworms, which they put on bruises.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Here's one.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45Another one to add to my haul.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49There must be easier ways to treat bruises than this.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54Customers would often ask a pharmacist to make up favourite traditional remedies like this.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58You can always say, if people believe in things, then things do work.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03The power of belief on health is very great.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08Oil of Earthworm - who would have thought that was a Victorian recipe?
0:13:08 > 0:13:13It's obviously something that has come from long before, an old idea, one of those things
0:13:13 > 0:13:19that has hung on into the early part of the Victorian medical experience.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23In the proper recipe we use real earthworms and boil them in oil.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25But, in the interest of worm welfare, we're not going to do that.
0:13:25 > 0:13:32We're going to use these dried worms, exactly the same species, which we've obtained.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35In the pharmacy at this time, you took things which were whole
0:13:35 > 0:13:38and you had to break them up by physical force.
0:13:42 > 0:13:43I've always been fond of earthworms.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Charles Darwin spent a lot of his life studying them.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49And I think he'd be upset by this.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54I don't think the worms would have been any use at all in their bruise.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57I think probably
0:13:57 > 0:14:03it just came from the old days when people saw things that looked similar and related them.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06So, for example, the skin of an earthworm,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09when you take it out of the soil, does look a bit like a bruise.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13They didn't understand what a bruise was as we do now, of course.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16In those days, there wasn't much science around,
0:14:16 > 0:14:21so if things looked similar, that was probably good enough for most people.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23We can add some red wine.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24It seems rather a waste, but...
0:14:31 > 0:14:33That's now ready to heat up.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36I've got the stove lit over here. I'll put it on there.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46I'll bring them over here to cool and take these lucky ones back to the garden.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51There's a strong placebo effect with all sorts of treatments.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56Even in modern days, we can get 20 to 30% effect size from a placebo treatment.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01We know that if the doctor is very positive about it and says it will work, it is more effective than not.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03That's a nasty bruise, how did you get that?
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Playing around with a tennis ball.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08James Scott is a pharmacy student.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11...common throughout history and there have been lots of remedies for it.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15We're going to try the oil of earthworm.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19- How literally...? - Literally earthworm, Mixed with olive oil and some red wine.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22We're just going to put that on the top.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Now, we're going to leave that.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28I think tomorrow you should try applying this again,
0:15:28 > 0:15:33probably morning and evening, and then we'll see how you do in a few days' time. Come back then.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35OK, thank you very much.
0:15:35 > 0:15:36Bye.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47Pharmacist's apprentice Tom is hard at work setting up the carboys.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51So that's the iron oxide, I believe.
0:15:51 > 0:15:57I'm going to try and make a lovely purple colour so that we can...
0:15:57 > 0:16:00The idea would be to attract as many people in
0:16:00 > 0:16:04by demonstrating your pharmaceutical skill in some way, basically.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06I think we'll just see what happens for the moment.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11At a time when many customers couldn't read, these tall, colourful
0:16:11 > 0:16:15storage bottles were a clear sign that this was a chemist's shop.
0:16:17 > 0:16:18So, very red.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23This is a washing soda. Mix them together.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25The mixture's slightly purple.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27We're just going to have to see what happens.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Learning how to mix the chemicals precisely enough to produce a successful colour
0:16:31 > 0:16:35was a fundamental test of a young apprentice's skill.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39Half purple, half red now. You don't want to mess up this.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47How can you trust a chemist who can't even make the colours
0:16:47 > 0:16:50that enable you to recognise them as a druggist, you know?
0:16:50 > 0:16:55I don't know what to do here.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Yeah, it's not really working that well, is it?
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Am I looking at the right thing?
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Yes. Plantago lanceolota, that's the lanceolate plantain.
0:17:07 > 0:17:13Ruth and Eleanor have found another wild plant, the common plantain, for Nick's cough cure.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15So what's good about this for a cough medicine?
0:17:15 > 0:17:18It's used in all sorts of allergies and irritations in the lungs.
0:17:18 > 0:17:24Once the lungs are irritated, then they become inflamed and then they produced more mucus.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29So, plantain soothes and tones the mucus membrane.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34The mucosa is incredibly important because it's where the oxygen that you breathe in
0:17:34 > 0:17:37dissolves from gaseous form into a liquid form.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40And you can actually take it in a tea, you can use it in hay fever
0:17:40 > 0:17:43when you have that problem, the allergy problem.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46So it's a very useful plant to befriend.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50So what about the more exotic ingredients, those things from
0:17:50 > 0:17:56- foreign parts?- You'd buy those in, maybe from London.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01So I suppose they are being gathered by herbalists in other parts of the world, for sale.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Herbalists and collectors.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05And they still are.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08It's really interesting, how, at the beginning of the 19th Century,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12there's this sort of body of herbal knowledge. I mean,
0:18:12 > 0:18:16- people like John Boot... - And his son, Jesse.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18And his son, Jesse, exactly.
0:18:18 > 0:18:23Boots the Chemists, the founders, they begin as a little medical herbalist shop,
0:18:23 > 0:18:30selling botanicals in one form or another, inspired by all sorts of different people.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35Jesse himself, Jesse Boot, John's son, was very interesting.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40He studied pharmacy in his spare time, and then they employed a chemist.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44And the herbalist business was no longer making money. Moving into....
0:18:44 > 0:18:48And the druggists were so big at the time, and they were very much about making money.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51And so it was in their interest not to be....
0:18:51 > 0:18:53..encouraging too much.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Well, not to be encouraging people to be using their own medicines.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01The word "drug" derives from the Dutch "droog" for "dried plant".
0:19:01 > 0:19:07Today, there are more than 7,000 medical compounds derived from plants.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14Tom is edging closer to a near-perfect colour.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17It looks an all right colour now. All we need to do, really,
0:19:17 > 0:19:23is dilute it so, hopefully, a little bit of light comes through it. It's very thick.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27So I'm just going to go for it and pour this straight in, try not to
0:19:27 > 0:19:30make too much of a mess, and see what happens.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38Having achieved a reasonable purple, Tom moves onto the yellow carboy.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42One explanation for the fixed colours of the carboys
0:19:42 > 0:19:46reveals an ancient theory that still influenced early Victorian medicine...
0:19:46 > 0:19:48Yeah, that's about right, I think.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52- ..that each of the colours represented one of the four elements...- Job done.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55..or humours, that made up the body.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00The four humours were black bile, blood,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03phlegm and yellow bile.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08And those really equated to things which could be seen coming out of the body, to put it basically.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10And this was how they understood the body.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13The body had too much of things inside it,
0:20:13 > 0:20:18and therefore things would come out when it had too much of that humour. So it could be kept in balance.
0:20:19 > 0:20:25Belief in the four humours persisted well into the 19th Century and an excess of blood in particular
0:20:25 > 0:20:29was thought to be the cause of many illnesses.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32Bloodletting was big business and a jar of healthy, voracious leeches
0:20:32 > 0:20:37was a real money-spinner for the Victorian pharmacist.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Horrible looking things, aren't they?
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Carl Peters-Bond runs a leech farm in South Wales.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47What did they use them for in Victorian times?
0:20:47 > 0:20:51Basically, where they used to cut people to remove blood, which is
0:20:51 > 0:20:55obviously very painful, the leech can bite.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57It sort of cuts a little Y-shaped hole.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02A leech this size would probably take about 8ml, and you'd probably lose about 50 afterwards.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06It's almost a luxury because it's painless - fairly painless.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09And were they luxury items or were they everyday items?
0:21:09 > 0:21:11They would probably have been a very expensive item.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13I would consider them a luxury.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17Go on then, let's see what they're like.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Well, it feels a bit like a slug.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23It feels very leech-ish.
0:21:23 > 0:21:29So these would be picked out and they would be put on to a patient... Whoops!
0:21:29 > 0:21:35Not too keen on getting stabbed by that end, I must admit. I'm a bit nervous about it, I have to say.
0:21:35 > 0:21:41Carl's partner, Christopher Peters-Bond, has bravely volunteered to befriend the leech.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44Quite a bit smaller than the other leeches.
0:21:44 > 0:21:50These have been starved for almost two years, so their gut is completely empty of blood.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55- You just lay them on the skin?- Yep.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59- Oh, it's really arched its head, hasn't it?.- Yes.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04That very different to when they were just holding on my skin.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08It's just tasting about. Yeah, there he goes. He's sort of having a bit of a nibble.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11I can feel like a little bee sting.
0:22:11 > 0:22:17But apart from that, no, it's next to nothing at all.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22That's what they've evolved over millions of years to do. Bite painlessly and remove the blood.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27It's a natural pharmaceutical tool, really.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30This is a really medieval sight, isn't it?
0:22:30 > 0:22:34We've got 2,000 years of history here.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38This great long Western European tradition of bloodletting.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40Here's one of its sisters that have....
0:22:40 > 0:22:46What a contrast! One hungry leech, one leech three-quarters of the way through his dinner.
0:22:49 > 0:22:54The leech injects an anti-coagulant when it bites and the wound can
0:22:54 > 0:22:58bleed for up to 10 hours after the leech has dropped off.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03Even modern first aid can do very little to stop the bleeding.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06It will just keep on going. It's about 50ml.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10It shows how potent the chemicals are in its saliva
0:23:10 > 0:23:13to really produce that effect for such a long period of time.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16How do you feel after it?
0:23:16 > 0:23:17I feel fine, to be honest with you.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22- I don't really feel any different to before.- A pleasant experience, do you think?
0:23:22 > 0:23:26It's certainly not as unpleasant as it looks, perhaps. It's...
0:23:26 > 0:23:27All a bit more straight forward.
0:23:27 > 0:23:33Yes. I'm surprised that there's no pain at all or anything like that.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37I can completely understand how someone might sit through several of these,
0:23:37 > 0:23:39thinking that they were doing themselves some good.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43Yeah, it certainly beats all the other bloodletting methods, doesn't it?
0:23:43 > 0:23:46It's so much better than being cut with knives or....
0:23:46 > 0:23:49I don't think I would have volunteered for
0:23:49 > 0:23:51having a knife cut into me.
0:23:51 > 0:23:59I hope you still feel as positive in 10 hours' time when you've changed the bandages six times!
0:23:59 > 0:24:07After use, the leech goes back in the jar and the bloody bandages are dried out, ready to use again.
0:24:07 > 0:24:12It wasn't until the mid-19th Century that Victorians understood the dangers of cross-infection,
0:24:12 > 0:24:15so disease spread easily.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17Right, next job.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22All the ingredients for the balsam of horehound cough medicine
0:24:22 > 0:24:25have been brought to the lab, where herbalist Eleanor joins Nick.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30- This is horehound, is it?- Yes. - Where does horehound live?
0:24:30 > 0:24:35- Is it a big plant or a little plant? - It's a shrub. It's a kind of bluey-green shrub.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37She's soaked the herbs in alcohol.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41- In your original recipe, you had syrup of squill.- Yes.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44- Now, I'm sure you're familiar with squill.- Yes, yes.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46Can be rather toxic, but very old medicine.
0:24:46 > 0:24:52A member of the lily family, squill has been used for centuries to loosen mucus from the lungs.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55So another tincture that we've got is cleavers,
0:24:55 > 0:24:59which is a really common herb, as Ruth and I discovered.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04Plantain, this is an interesting one. Again, a very common herb.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07And then the final herb we've got is the elecampane,
0:25:07 > 0:25:12a huge, tall, yellow, golden flower, a bit like a sunflower
0:25:12 > 0:25:14but with enormous leaves.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20So that is our preparation ready to go.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24A couple of teaspoons of treacle.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28- Hence "the spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."- Absolutely.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Slow job of stirring this in.
0:25:31 > 0:25:37The more patience that you can work with, like cooking, the better.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42So that's lovely.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45- Ready to bottle it now?- Yes.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50Early pharmacists put art and skill into the medicines they created.
0:25:53 > 0:25:54Thank you, Doctor.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Thank you very much.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01But in order to make a profit, it was essential that the customer was satisfied,
0:26:01 > 0:26:06and that word got out to the local community that here was a medicine that could be trusted.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09It smells fantastic, I have to say.
0:26:09 > 0:26:10Have a smell.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14It smells quite nice.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18It's half a teaspoon, three times a day in a glass of water.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20See how it is.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27- It's very, very strong.- Mm.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31- Oh, yes. - HE LAUGHS
0:26:31 > 0:26:33It's clearing something.
0:26:33 > 0:26:38Here's the bottle. We'd like you to give that a try. Come back in a few days and we'll see how you feel.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40- I'll let you know.- Bye-bye.- Bye-bye.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45To celebrate their first week in business,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47Barber and Goodman are holding an open evening,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50a chance to offer catch up on how their customers are doing.
0:26:50 > 0:26:56- I've still got the bruise, unfortunately.- Let's have a look.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00It's gone shades of yellow.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03It's changing, like they do.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06I would say those remedies have had no effect whatsoever.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09- What do you think? - I would tend to agree.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14I have found this, seeing how the Victorians approached pharmacy, fascinating.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18There's a spirit, adventure, an entrepreneurism there.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21I can actually say, yes, it has helped a lot.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24- Has it eased your breathing? - It's much better.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28Before, as I breathed out, it was very crackly, it was very difficult,
0:27:28 > 0:27:33a typical asthmatic-type feeling.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37It has helped, I can feel as though I can breathe normally again,
0:27:37 > 0:27:39for the first time in more than three weeks.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42By the end of the 1840s, scientific advances
0:27:42 > 0:27:47were beginning to filter down to the high street pharmacist.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52Old ideas of bloodletting and purging gave way to exciting new techniques and cures.
0:27:52 > 0:27:58Pharmacists would spearhead a whole new range of consumer experiences.
0:27:58 > 0:27:59Nipple shields.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Blood and stomach pills. Wow!
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Next time on Victorian Pharmacy,
0:28:07 > 0:28:12as the Industrial Revolution spread, so too did breathing-related illnesses.
0:28:12 > 0:28:13What sort of cough is it?
0:28:13 > 0:28:16A bronchial sort of cough.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Are you getting any benefit from that there?
0:28:19 > 0:28:22It's also a time of diversification for the pharmacy.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25It is different - the business of making stuff and selling it.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27Agh!
0:28:27 > 0:28:29Ruth takes the waters...
0:28:29 > 0:28:33and the pharmacy recreates the T in G&T.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36ALL: Good health.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:44 > 0:28:47Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk