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Old ways to get well on exhibit

FIELD TRIP
By Karen Goldberg Goff
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
February 4, 2007


For years, even centuries, a cold was relieved with a mix of herbs and an ache was soothed by a mixed-on-the-spot salve.
    There were no over-the-counter remedies. There weren't even prescriptions as we know them today, just a doctor's written orders about what ailed the patient.
    This mixture of science and commerce has a well-preserved home at the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum in Old Town Alexandria. The museum, operated by the city of Alexandria, reopened in November after being closed nearly three years for renovations. It formerly was a private nonprofit operation.
    The bricks have been repaired and the floors smoothed, but the original fixtures, bottles and bins that give this place its historic charm are the same as they have been for generations.
    A young Quaker pharmacist named Edward Stabler opened his apothecary at 105 S. Fairfax St. in 1792. For 141 years, the shop helped cure the maladies of local residents, including, legend has it, George and Martha Washington and Robert E. Lee.
    "Robert E. Lee used to come here to get lavender seeds for his headaches," says museum manager Paula Spitler. "They didn't call it aromatherapy back then."
    Ms. Spitler leads tours of the apothecary every half hour. She gets behind the counter and explains the process of making a tincture, salve or potion. In the first-floor retail shop, the marble counters are still in place, as are the dozens of apothecary drawers and the cork press that would seal a jar of medicine.
    Visitors will get a kick out of some of the old advertisements behind the counter, such as the one for Rice's Worm Destroying Drops.
    "Actually, pumpkin seeds would help expel a tapeworm," Ms. Spitler says. "Not taken straight, though."
    Ms. Spitler says that remembering the traditions of old-fashioned medicine are important because many people are interested in natural medicine and herbal alternatives. Herbs and plants made up the bulk of remedies in the 18th and 19th centuries.
    "The tradition is still alive," she says. "Go to the other end of King Street, and you've got the health-food store. People want natural medicines. The pendulum is swinging back."
    Visitors can purchase potpourri and penny candy in the museum gift shop, but actual natural medicine is not for sale here.

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