0:00:02 > 0:00:04Blists Hill Victorian Town in Shropshire
0:00:04 > 0:00:09revives the sights, sounds and smells of the 19th century.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12At its heart stands the pharmacy - a treasure-house
0:00:12 > 0:00:15of potions and remedies from a century and a half ago.
0:00:15 > 0:00:23Now, in a unique experiment, historian Ruth Goodman, professor of pharmacy Nick Barber
0:00:23 > 0:00:29and PhD student Tom Quick have opened the doors to the Victorian Pharmacy.
0:00:29 > 0:00:35Recreating a high street institution we take for granted, but which was once a novel idea.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40They're bringing the pharmacy to life, sourcing ingredients,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43mixing potions and dispensing cures.
0:00:43 > 0:00:48But in an age when skin creams contained arsenic and cold medicines were based on opium,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51the team need to be highly selective.
0:00:51 > 0:00:57They're only trying out safe versions of traditional remedies on carefully selected customers.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02The start was like the Wild West. People didn't know what was good and bad.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04Get a bit of speed up. There we go.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09The pharmacy was something that affected everybody's lives in one way or another.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14They're discovering an age of social change that brought healthcare
0:01:14 > 0:01:17within the reach of ordinary people for the very first time.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Heralding a consumer revolution that reached far beyond medicine
0:01:21 > 0:01:26to create the model for the modern high street chemist as we know it today.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39By the mid-19th century,
0:01:39 > 0:01:44the pharmacy was becoming more trusted by the Victorian public.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49But the remedies they sold could do nothing to combat the most serious disease of the day -
0:01:49 > 0:01:57cholera, a water-borne infection whose main symptom is violent diarrhoea.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02Cholera was an appalling illness, because they were just shrinking and wizening
0:02:02 > 0:02:06and dying from dehydration, ultimately.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11With major cholera epidemics in 1849 and 1854 claiming the lives
0:02:11 > 0:02:16of almost 100,000 Britons, the race was on to stop the spread of the disease.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19But at first, they didn't even know about germs.
0:02:21 > 0:02:26A fundamental breakthrough in medical science came in the 1860s when the existence of germs -
0:02:26 > 0:02:32the invisible causes of disease - was established by scientists like Louis Pasteur.
0:02:32 > 0:02:38A number of researchers, and particularly Pasteur, said this is actually tiny animicules,
0:02:38 > 0:02:45tiny organisms which they could begin to see under microscope and which affected people.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48Now that they understood that germs existed,
0:02:48 > 0:02:50they could develop products to kill them.
0:02:50 > 0:02:58In a consumer revolution, the public finally gained access to effective methods of preventing disease.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03You begin to find for the first time that products are being advertised
0:03:03 > 0:03:09as antiseptics, as disinfectants, things to kill these new-found dangerous germs,
0:03:09 > 0:03:11things that might have been there anyway, for different reasons,
0:03:11 > 0:03:16but now were being valued for their germ-killing properties.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21The first chemical to be used as a disinfectant was carbolic acid,
0:03:21 > 0:03:26previously used as a deodoriser to mask the smell of raw sewage.
0:03:26 > 0:03:32Delighted with a new use for this previously undervalued chemical, enterprising pharmacists were quick
0:03:32 > 0:03:36to create a vast new range of household cleaning products.
0:03:40 > 0:03:46To make his own disinfectant, Nick's asked scientist Mike Bullivant, who is running the lab,
0:03:46 > 0:03:52to help him extract some carbolic acid from its unlikely source, coal tar.
0:03:52 > 0:03:58It's horrible stuff to work with. It's viscous, it's thick, it's black...it smells.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03It's obnoxious. It was always regarded by the early Victorians as a waste product,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05which was difficult to get rid of.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08What I'm doing is heating the coal tar up.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13The vapours will pass through here and they'll start to condense - this is an air condenser.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16It condenses on the cold surface. You'll see droplets forming.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21I'm interested in the components that come off between 170 and 230 degrees Celsius.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26Anything else is just rubbish, because that's where the carbolic acid is.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31- The magic of chemistry. - The magic of chemistry, yeah!
0:04:31 > 0:04:34Here we go! Can you see?
0:04:34 > 0:04:36We've got one or two drops in here now.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39Yep, there's liquid in the bottom.
0:04:39 > 0:04:46- It won't be a clear liquid, because it's impure, but obviously we want as pure a product as possible.- Yeah.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50It took the Victorians over 30 years of trial and error
0:04:50 > 0:04:52to uncover the benefits of this mysterious substance.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56First extracted from coal tar in 1834,
0:04:56 > 0:05:01its germ-killing properties were finally realised in 1867.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06One of the first people who sort of used this for health was Joseph Lister, the surgeon.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10He'd reduced the death rate in operations by using this.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12- Carbolic acid?- Yeah, yeah.
0:05:12 > 0:05:18A patient lying on an operating table had a less chance of living than a soldier at Waterloo.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23It's true! A 35% death rate from infection after surgery.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28After amputation, two-thirds of them died by from an infection.
0:05:28 > 0:05:35What Lister did was, he got carbolic acid and he made it into a paste and he also had a spray.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38- He sprayed the theatre? - He sprayed the wounds.
0:05:38 > 0:05:44Everyone was working in this mist of carbolic acid, which, as you know, is really nasty stuff...
0:05:44 > 0:05:46- It's corrosive. - ..when it's concentrated.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50But they would be spraying this into the wound in surgery, and the death rate dropped.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54One in seven people died after he introduced this.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58So, a big improvement from two out of three.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Come on! Come on!
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Give us your carbolic acid.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Here it comes. Look at that! Look at that go.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15- That's gorgeous, isn't it? - This is all profit!
0:06:18 > 0:06:20I think you've hit your upper limit there.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22I think we'll call that a day.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26- It's a matter now of letting it cool down...- OK.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30..then we'll come back and we'll have a look a bit more closely at what's in here.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34- Let's go for a bite to eat while that's doing.- Yeah, it's safe enough.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42The shop has a new customer who's in search of a cure.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49Local council worker Maria Morris has a bad back.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53It's mainly across the shoulder blades.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57I've had physio in the past, but it hasn't really done a lot.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59- It's muscle...- It's muscle, yes.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Mainly between the shoulder blades.
0:07:01 > 0:07:07Yeah. Well, I think in the Victorian period, there would have been several options available to you.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09There would have been all sorts of creams you could have rubbed in,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13but there was a brand-new treatment that you might be interested in.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16- Tom!- Yeah?- Have you got that electrotherapy machine?
0:07:16 > 0:07:19- Yeah, just here. - He's quite into this, so...
0:07:19 > 0:07:21Right.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Big boys' toys, isn't it?
0:07:24 > 0:07:26So, here we go.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33This little contraption would be designed to give you an electric shock.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37- Oh, right.- Or, sorry, to electrify your muscles.
0:07:38 > 0:07:45Invented in 1862, this precursor to the modern-day TENS machine was the height of technology.
0:07:45 > 0:07:52Pharmacists either charged money to use the machine or offered it for free to draw people into the shop.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Does it actually work?
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Well, there's plenty of evidence to show that it works in pain relief.
0:07:58 > 0:08:04However, the main body of 19th-century use for it is not for pain relief at all.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09So, not really for things like your back - more for conditions associated just with being female.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11- Oh, right.- Hysteria.
0:08:11 > 0:08:12Oh, right! Yes!
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Your womb would get out of control and cause you to go mad.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20This is the idea of shocking you in some way to cure your hysteria...
0:08:20 > 0:08:25Any sort of mental unhappiness or distress that a woman was suffering -
0:08:25 > 0:08:30or that other people thought she was suffering - could be, therefore, cured by electrotherapy.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34Although, there were a number of patients who were coming
0:08:34 > 0:08:37- for the same problems that you're experiencing.- Oh, right.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40- Shall we give it a go, then? - Yes, definitely.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45- Are you all right there?- Yes.
0:08:45 > 0:08:46- Sure?- Yes.- OK. Here we go.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50- Give me a shout if it gets too much or anything, all right?- Yep.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56- All right?- Yeah, nothing.- Nothing?
0:08:56 > 0:08:58Try a bit faster.
0:09:00 > 0:09:01Nope.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03- OK.- Go on - as hard as possible.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Nothing.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15Oh, no! Ah... It doesn't look like it's going to work, does it?
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Shall I have a go?
0:09:18 > 0:09:20I'll just do that.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22As fast as you can.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25I don't think...
0:09:25 > 0:09:28- Oh, dear! Right, OK.- Nothing.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32- We going to have to take this away to the workshop.- Yeah.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34- Oh, that's a bit disappointing.- Yes.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Haven't we got anything else electric?
0:09:37 > 0:09:41The pharmacy has one of Dr Hoffmann's electric brushes,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45which claimed to cure everything from skin disease to paralysis.
0:09:45 > 0:09:50It's...got like a zinc plate on the back...
0:09:50 > 0:09:53You'd soak that in acid, wouldn't you?
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Yeah, and that's copper. So, it's sort of working like a battery.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59How rough is that brush, though?
0:09:59 > 0:10:00That is rough.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03That is rough, isn't it?
0:10:03 > 0:10:08It was important to Victorians to feel an effect in order to believe the remedy was working.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12I mean I don't think you were supposed to do very much with that.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15- Just gently... It's wire in order to carry the charge.- Yes.
0:10:15 > 0:10:23So, you'd be doing a tingly stimulation all over the surface of the skin. A body brush!
0:10:23 > 0:10:25It's amazing, isn't it?
0:10:25 > 0:10:30- It doesn't look like electrotherapy is going to work for us today for you!- No.- I'm really sorry.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35We do, however, have a very good line in liniments.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39- We've got some good ones, haven't we? I'll go and find some. - Thank you very much.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51In the lab, things are going more smoothly, and the distilled liquid
0:10:51 > 0:10:56from the coal tar is one step away from becoming pure carbolic acid.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00Once the temperature starts registering 180 to 183,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03I know that's pure carbolic acid coming over.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07The chances of two things being in there at that boil at the same temperature are slim,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09so we assume it's carbolic acid.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11It's 181.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13Here it comes dropping through.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18181, which is smack on the boiling temperature of carbolic acid.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20It's nice and clear, isn't it?
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Chemicals that killed germs became so popular that many
0:11:24 > 0:11:28over-relied on them, neglecting the importance of basic cleanliness.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Lister the surgeon didn't believe in hygiene.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33He believed that carbolic acid did it all.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36He was filthy and he had a blue frock coat,
0:11:36 > 0:11:42which he used to do dissections in of dead bodies and he would also to his surgery in the same coat.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46There was another movement which believed that hygiene was the answer,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50and they were just having clean, open wards and making everything washed and so on.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53- Keeping the windows open. - Yeah, and their death rate was much better than Lister's.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56They got it down to 1 in 50 dying.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59He ignored them for a long time until it was so clear
0:11:59 > 0:12:03that their method was better and he said he'd thought about that all along.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07It's a bit like what's happened recently in hospitals.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11We've trusted chemicals so much, people had sort of forgotten about the importance of hygiene.
0:12:11 > 0:12:17Nick will dilute the pure acid to turn it into a saleable cleaning product.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19I am a happy bunny, because can you see that?
0:12:19 > 0:12:22I think we'll leave it at that.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24There is our carbolic acid. Beautiful!
0:12:26 > 0:12:32In a boiling tube over there, there's some of the material we started out with earlier on.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36- Coal tar.- Wow! - So, we've gone from that to that.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38- Wow!- Magical, isn't it?
0:12:38 > 0:12:40An amazing difference, yeah!
0:12:40 > 0:12:44I'm going to dilute it down, and then we can sell disinfectant as well.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46This is going to be your best seller, mate!
0:12:46 > 0:12:47Thanks very much.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00Animals played an important part in 19th-century commerce.
0:13:00 > 0:13:06Despite industrialisation, most local transportation was still horse-driven.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Many people still relied on livestock to make a living.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13With the veterinary profession in its infancy,
0:13:13 > 0:13:18animal health provided pharmacists with a lucrative sideline.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24If your livelihood depended on your horse, as it did for the farmer, and your food supply depended
0:13:24 > 0:13:27on the animals as well, then clearly you wanted them to be healthy.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31Horseman Steve Leadsham has asked Nick if he can provide
0:13:31 > 0:13:35something to soothe the aching muscles of his shirehorse, Casey.
0:13:35 > 0:13:41Luckily for Nick, there was little distinction between animal and human medicines.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45He can use the same chemicals and techniques as he would in making a human remedy.
0:13:45 > 0:13:51The way they think about animals' bodies is the same as what happens to humans.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56A horseman would demand something that was similar to a medicine he had applied on himself.
0:13:56 > 0:14:02Nick's making a liquid embrocation, or muscle rub, that will be applied externally.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06The white of egg and then oil of turpentine.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09And then we've got acetic acid as well...
0:14:09 > 0:14:10just vinegar.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15People were likely to have more confidence in a medicine if its effects were noticeable.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20It's what's called a rubefaciant. It gives you a warming effect when you rub it in. And it feels good.
0:14:20 > 0:14:27They worked to some extent. People would certainly have felt that they were working.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31I think this is getting ready to pour.
0:14:32 > 0:14:37Nick has an appointment to see the horseman later in the day.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41That should be enough for one. And that's ready to rub on the horse.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45With the public's confidence in pharmacists growing,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49they began to expand their range beyond traditional products.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54Inspiration came from their neighbours on the high street.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58I think I could probably go in another inch and a half.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01- Yeah?- I think.
0:15:01 > 0:15:07In the drapers shop, Ruth is helping her daughter Eve with a new corset,
0:15:07 > 0:15:12a source of several marketing opportunities for a pharmacy.
0:15:12 > 0:15:18For a start, they sold corsets - medical and health corsets, which were pretty much the same except
0:15:18 > 0:15:22they had eyelet holes punched in them to let the air breathe.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25- That was supposed to make all the difference.- Yeah.
0:15:25 > 0:15:31You also get a range of creams and powders, special nipple shields and suction cups...
0:15:31 > 0:15:36to help counteract the effects of a corset.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40Most young, healthy women were looking to take their waists
0:15:40 > 0:15:43down to something between 20 and 22 inches.
0:15:43 > 0:15:49Slatterns, sluts, those with loose morals wore loose corsets.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53Because it's pressing your ribs, your diaphragm can't move,
0:15:53 > 0:15:55so all your breathing happens up here.
0:15:55 > 0:16:02- Yeah, definitely.- Many people think that this led to enormous numbers of fainting incidents, and it can do.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06So, one of the things that people would...
0:16:06 > 0:16:11sell, use, carry as a result were smelling salts to sort of bring you round when you fainted.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15I've got the ingredients here.
0:16:16 > 0:16:17There we are.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22Smelling salts are one of the easiest products to produce in a pharmacy.
0:16:24 > 0:16:25Ooh, that's powerful stuff.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29It's not about curing anybody - it's about profit.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32I'll just need to sieve it.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35This is THE ingredient, really.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38This is all smelling salts are - ammonia.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43Ammonia proper can, in fact, be produced by stale urine.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47- This gives you some idea of the smell we're talking about here. - Ooh, not nice.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51Swooning was considered to be very feminine, and even if you didn't
0:16:51 > 0:16:55faint every five minutes, the fact that you had your smelling salts and you might pull them out
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and say things like, "Oh, I don't know. I feel a bit faint..."
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Actually, you didn't at all, but it was all part of the paraphernalia.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13Rather than filling up that whole bottle with liquid,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17I'm basically going to fill it up with liquid-impregnated sponge.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20So, yet again, a bit cheaper.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25For quite a long period of time, policeman actually carried smelling salts,
0:17:25 > 0:17:29so that they could deal with women who had fallen down in the street or fainted.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33So, as part of your equipment... truncheon, whistle...smelling salts.
0:17:33 > 0:17:39Most smelling salts had essential oils or something in them
0:17:39 > 0:17:43to just make it all a bit nicer. This is oil of lavender.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Give it a really good shake.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Are you ready for your first whiff? Imagine yourself...
0:17:50 > 0:17:56It's a hot day, somebody has overlaced your corset, and, besides which, your boyfriend is watching.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58All right!
0:18:00 > 0:18:04So, you've just faked a little swoon to look lovely...
0:18:04 > 0:18:08and some kind person takes your beautifully, beautifully
0:18:08 > 0:18:12presented scent bottle and waves it beneath your nose.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20Yeah, that's the right effect. Oh, that's horrible!
0:18:20 > 0:18:23It's like smelling a badly cleaned toilet.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27However, somebody has sprayed some lavender all over it.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32The link between wellbeing and the proper fitting of corsets
0:18:32 > 0:18:38saw what had once been solely a fashion accessory become the preserve of the pharmacy.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54As apprentice, it's Tom's job to disinfect the shop.
0:18:54 > 0:19:00Well, Tom, these are pure crystals of carbolic acid.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04Extremely corrosive, but in the right dilution, a really good disinfectant.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09So, we're going to put some water in and dissolve the crystals...
0:19:09 > 0:19:13It's a really powerful smell. You can feel your eyes running a bit already.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15You can see it dissolving.
0:19:15 > 0:19:21So, what we would be doing before we sold this was adding some more colourant, just to keep it safe
0:19:21 > 0:19:26so people knew it was disinfectant and also it shows you it's not just water. You can't mistake it.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29You don't want to try and quench your thirst with this stuff!
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Absolutely. You'd be in hospital very rapidly if you did that.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37This is still very strong, so we are going to dilute it down to a 3% solution.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41We're just about ready to put it into something bigger, and then that's something
0:19:41 > 0:19:43which you will be able to add to a bucket
0:19:43 > 0:19:47and then you can get on with your chores as an apprentice.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50So we're using it in the shop to show that we're cleaning the place?
0:19:50 > 0:19:56That's right. Hygiene was one of the most important things to come out of this understanding of germ theory.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00So, we need to be seen to be doing it as well as actually doing it.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03Shall I go and get to work then, I suppose?
0:20:03 > 0:20:06Absolutely. Earn your keep! Get on and do some work.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15I imagine it would be a really unusual smell when it first came out.
0:20:17 > 0:20:22By using this disinfectant, it's kind of a way of taking control of health in your own home.
0:20:22 > 0:20:29You're fighting all these germs that the doctors keep talking about as a new cause of disease.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34In some ways empowering, but, at the same time, it ties you into having to buy the disinfectant all the time.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37So, it's great for our business.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39You've got to spend your money to do it.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46The apprentice would be a really important part of a chemist's and druggist's in the 19th century.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51Not only are you doing all the dogsbody work,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54but you're actually a source of income.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58You wouldn't be paid by the pharmacist, your parents would pay for you to learn off them.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06You'd join this place at 14.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10So you're sort of looked after as a member of the family, in a way.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Of course, it's not a normal parent-son relationship
0:21:14 > 0:21:19because, actually, you've got to work really hard for your living.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21You know, it'd be a tough life.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Nick is keeping his appointment with horseman Steve Leadsham
0:21:46 > 0:21:49to apply the muscle rub to his horse.
0:21:49 > 0:21:55Vet John Broberg will check that Nick applies the embrocation correctly and should be able
0:21:55 > 0:21:59to shed light on some other products Nick has brought from the pharmacy.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04So, John I've brought a Universal Medicine Chest, which would have been brought to farms.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07- It's animal medicines. - General farm box.- Yep.
0:22:07 > 0:22:13In the absence of affordable vets, pharmacists sold these DIY medicine kits to horse and cattle owners.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16They contained a vast range of medicines.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21In Victorian times, there were all sorts of chemical mixtures - herbal mixtures, chemical mixtures.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25It may be the wrong shape, but that's a horse ball
0:22:25 > 0:22:28for the horse's general conditions.
0:22:28 > 0:22:29Was it a bit of a cure-all, really?
0:22:29 > 0:22:33- Yes.- So, which end did they go in? - These go in the front end.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35- Thank goodness for that! - Yes, indeed!
0:22:35 > 0:22:39- If you have hands the size of mine, it can be more difficult, but I will show you.- Will you demonstrate?
0:22:39 > 0:22:43- I will show you what was done, yes. - Show us how it was done.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47I am quite happy with the table between me and this enormous animal.
0:22:47 > 0:22:52He's a nice big chap, which means he has a nice big mouth, which suits me better.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57Come on, fella.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59You are a big chap, aren't you?
0:23:04 > 0:23:06Oh, rather you than me.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08Use the tongue as a gag.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10Take the tongue to one side...
0:23:10 > 0:23:16- Your hand goes up to the back of the mouth, pops the ball down, and that's it.- Wow.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Not everybody would want to do that. How many vets have 10 fingers?!
0:23:20 > 0:23:23Did you get danger money as a vet?
0:23:23 > 0:23:27You probably adjusted your fee according to the beast.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31Constitution Balls are still administered to horses today,
0:23:31 > 0:23:36often with the safer balling gun method, similar to this Victorian model.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38This, you just push it.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Basically, it's a tube with a stick in the middle.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45I won't put it up him, but you can see that would reach to the back of his mouth.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48- Pop it in!- Amazingly trusting horse.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51If I was that horse, I wouldn't let you near me again.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54As with humans, there are two ends you can get medicine in.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59- We've looked at the front end, and I gather there's an alternative. - Yes.
0:23:59 > 0:24:00- This is the other end, isn't it? - Yeah.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05What would they insert into the backside of a horse?
0:24:05 > 0:24:09A simple enema if you thought the horse was bunged up. That goes up the back end.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11Shall I turn him round now, John?
0:24:11 > 0:24:14I'm not going to bother, actually. I haven't got any stuff with me.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17LAUGHTER
0:24:17 > 0:24:21- Well, Steve, we've got some embrocation that was made earlier. - Fire away!
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Let us get stuck, then.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25This is a test of Nick's credibility.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30He needs to impress if his new line of veterinary medicines is to succeed.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32- Here we have some of the finest embrocation.- Right.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Where am I putting it on?
0:24:34 > 0:24:38- Just around this shoulder area. - This shoulder area.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40- Let's have a go. - A bit of a rub around.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44That's it.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46It just goes straight into the hair, doesn't it?
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Yep, then it will work its way through to the skin,
0:24:49 > 0:24:53just to warm the skin, increase blood flow,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56then warm the muscles underneath - again, increasing blood flow.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58I suppose it's massaging the muscle as well, isn't it?
0:24:58 > 0:25:00It all helps, yes.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04Lovely! You're ready for work tomorrow.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25Having finished his cleaning duties, Tom has returned to electrotherapy.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29He's changed some parts around and uncovered the problem.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39- How's it going? - Finally got it working.- Oh, really?!
0:25:39 > 0:25:40- Yeah.- What was wrong with it?
0:25:40 > 0:25:42A really silly mistake.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47- You know we attached them there? - Yeah.- Well, it was the wrong one.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51- We had to do it to that one.- Oops!
0:25:51 > 0:25:53- Do you want to try it?- Yeah, go on.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Hang on. What do I do?
0:25:56 > 0:25:58- Make sure you hold it tight. - OK, go on.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Tell me if it's too...
0:26:11 > 0:26:13- Hold it tight.- I am. I am.
0:26:19 > 0:26:20Ah!
0:26:25 > 0:26:26Yes!
0:26:33 > 0:26:40By the late 1860s, huge advances in the scientific grasp of illnesses enabled the pharmacy to come up
0:26:40 > 0:26:46with products that didn't just claim to cure, but were actually proven to kill germs dead.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49The pharmacy was progressing towards a more professional era.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54Blind trust was being replaced by scientific certainty.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57What's been amazing is the growth of scientific
0:26:57 > 0:27:03knowledge during this period and how the chemists and druggists have picked it up and been applying it.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08Start of the 1850s, some of them were borderlining on quackery, really.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10They didn't know what they were doing, but the chemists
0:27:10 > 0:27:13and druggists have taken their knowledge and been able to apply it
0:27:13 > 0:27:19to their medicines and really begin to make things which are much more likely to work.
0:27:19 > 0:27:25That feeling of giving a customer a product you really believed worked must have been great.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29I imagine that many pharmacists must have felt a real boost of confidence, you know?
0:27:29 > 0:27:33A slightly stronger position in the community, and that must have
0:27:33 > 0:27:37helped them to expand out into a whole new range of products.
0:27:39 > 0:27:45Next time on Victorian Pharmacy, as their trade diversifies and they attract some younger customers,
0:27:45 > 0:27:50Ruth realises that some products are not as safe as they appear.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53- This stuff, Mrs Winslow's Soothing Syrup.- Oh, yeah?
0:27:53 > 0:27:57- For a child under one month old. They've got opium in them.- Right.
0:27:57 > 0:27:58Oh, wow!
0:27:58 > 0:28:03Tom faces the dangers of making some Victorian matches.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06- This is what happens when they get together.- Oh, wow!
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Come on out of there, you.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Jelly and custard are added to their stock in trade.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16Mmm, that's really nice.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21- And Nick learns the fine art of pyrotechnics...- Whoa!
0:28:21 > 0:28:24..ensuring everything goes off with a bang.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:37 > 0:28:40E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk