Summary
These two single dose, glass medicine bottles were excavated at the Commonwealth Block site between 1988 and 2003. They are of Chinese origin.
Health and hygiene.
'Cleanliness is next to Godliness'. This is a difficult maxim to follow when 'there is not one bath in sixty', when sewerage gathers in cesspits and open drainage channels line the streets.But the residents of Little Lon did practice personal hygiene. Archaeologists have uncovered toothbrushes and toothpaste pots, scent bottles, soap dishes, combs and hairbrushes.
Clean teeth and neat hair did not guarantee good health however. Doctors were expensive, so ordinary people had to rely on medicines like Holloway's Ointment and Hall's Vegetable Pain Conqueror as well as Chinese herbal remedies. Children were dosed weekly with the laxative castor oil, to keep their bowels regular.
Physical Description
These are two clear glass single dose medicine bottles from China. One of is complete and has a triangular body, and the other has a rectangular body and the neck is broken, they both have a shear top.
Physical Description
Clear glass Chinese medicine phials (2), shear top. One complete, neck of second phial broken. Chinese
More Information
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Collection Names
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Collecting Areas
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Acquisition Information
Transfer from Heritage Victoria, Industry Superannuation Property Trust, 03 May 2005
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Context Number
23/05
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Site
[TCS] Australia, Victoria, Commonwealth Block, Melbourne
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Activity
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Classification
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Exhibition Collection Management
7 mm (Length), 7 mm (Width), 59 mm (Height)
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Keywords
