Summary

This small medicine bottle was excavated at the Commonwealth Block site between 1988 and 2003. The medicine it contained was used for pain relief. It was manufactured in the early to mid 19th century.

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

This is a small light green glass medicine bottle. It has a two-piece Perry Davis type finish, with a rounded lip, cylindrical neck and sloped down shoulders. The body is rectangular with flat chamfers. It has a flat resting point with a rectangular shaped, shallow concave basal profile. It has a maker's mark on the base which is illegible

Physical Description

Light green colour medicine bottle. Two-piece Perry Davis type finish, rounded lip, cylindrical neck, sloped down shoulders. Rectangular with flat chamfers body horizontal, straight body vertical. Marks on body read, 'HALLS' on front, 'VEGETABLE' and 'PAIN CONQUEROR' on either side. Flat resting point with rectangular shaped, shallowconcave basal profile. Medicine, for pain

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