After many yrs in pursuit of my history/archeology , which has meant everything from digging in a burned out basement in Troy NY to digging into old farmers landfills long forgotten. It also means finding interesting items along the way a garage sale or even helping a relative clean out their home as she thins out items of her life. Such is the case with several pocket medicines I discovered while "helping out". Pocket tins of medicine were common 35 plus yrs ago. Usually aspirin or a product called Anacin for headache or muscular pain. There were about 20 of them , filled with buttons she kept for sewing. A couple pocket tins were of a popular product in the 50's and 60's. It was called Compoz. I looked briefly at the ingredients. This pharmacological compound had interesting sounding names attached to it. Extract of Passion Flower and Valarian root. It was essentially an OTC tranquilizer. You can google an old compoz commercial from the early 60's. It talks about a mother becoming a raging stranger to her children or a man who's career is in trouble because of"simple nervous tension." Back then they referred to it as "that gentle blue pill." The radio commercial had harp music playing in it which I suppose sounded soothing. It was also billed as a mild sedative for relief of simple nervous tension. Back then it appears the term sedative and tranquilizer were used as the same thing. Back then we also had and still do sleep aids that use Diphenhydramine , which is a first generation antihistamine that has among other qualities the ability to make one feel tired. Nytol was one of the most popular back then in the 50's 60's. As best as I can research some of the ingredients of compoz was that they had mild sedative affects with mild muscular relaxation properties. By the way extract of passion flower as an example can still be purchased in health food stores. When this formulation was finally taken off the market circa 1970's most of those sort of herbal medicines were taken up by health type of stores in this country and Europe.
So what does this little find suggest. Well , it once again shows that societies have for thousands of yrs self medicated. Whether through the cultivation of hops for beer of grapes for the fermentation of wine to the discovery of poppy plants we have searched for something to make an attitude adjustment or relax or kill pain. Ancient Greek doctors had women during the child birth process suck on willow branch. We derived aspirin from willow bark. Patient medicines were sold widely into the early 20th century , some had morphine or cocaine in them. It also suggests that the good old days may not have been so "good" for as many as some think. The 20th Century was filled with war , economic depression , the move from a more rural to urban / suburban world. The need for higher amounts of education increased as the century moved on. Social pressures did mount for those of all socio-economic groups. From my interview with a retired Albany College of Pharmacy graduate Compoz was a big seller. According to him especially among females. He suspected women often bought them for their husbands as well. What began to lessen the sales of this and similar OTC preparations was what the research drug companies began to pour their research dollars into. In reality as the fifties and sixties rolled on psycho pharmacology began to pay big dividends for the Drug Companies. According to my interview the drug that really set the pace was Diazepam known better as Valium. Marketed in it's initial sales as more of a mild muscle relaxer it began to be seen as a major boost for a relaxed state. It became I believe the most widely used prescription of the 60's into the 70's in USA and Europe. These sales started a research revolution which has led to a revolution in the treatment of various psychological disorders and difficulties. Prozac and other drugs for ADHD being one of the most famous and perhaps overused. drugs in the last 20 yrs. So Compoz has given way to other prescription medications unless one goes on line or visits a "health food store". But it's popularity was a sign post of what the 60' s and the next 50 yrs would be searching out. A continuation of thousands of yrs for that gentle blue revolution. My thanks to Paul Reinhardt for additional information on that era.
So what does this little find suggest. Well , it once again shows that societies have for thousands of yrs self medicated. Whether through the cultivation of hops for beer of grapes for the fermentation of wine to the discovery of poppy plants we have searched for something to make an attitude adjustment or relax or kill pain. Ancient Greek doctors had women during the child birth process suck on willow branch. We derived aspirin from willow bark. Patient medicines were sold widely into the early 20th century , some had morphine or cocaine in them. It also suggests that the good old days may not have been so "good" for as many as some think. The 20th Century was filled with war , economic depression , the move from a more rural to urban / suburban world. The need for higher amounts of education increased as the century moved on. Social pressures did mount for those of all socio-economic groups. From my interview with a retired Albany College of Pharmacy graduate Compoz was a big seller. According to him especially among females. He suspected women often bought them for their husbands as well. What began to lessen the sales of this and similar OTC preparations was what the research drug companies began to pour their research dollars into. In reality as the fifties and sixties rolled on psycho pharmacology began to pay big dividends for the Drug Companies. According to my interview the drug that really set the pace was Diazepam known better as Valium. Marketed in it's initial sales as more of a mild muscle relaxer it began to be seen as a major boost for a relaxed state. It became I believe the most widely used prescription of the 60's into the 70's in USA and Europe. These sales started a research revolution which has led to a revolution in the treatment of various psychological disorders and difficulties. Prozac and other drugs for ADHD being one of the most famous and perhaps overused. drugs in the last 20 yrs. So Compoz has given way to other prescription medications unless one goes on line or visits a "health food store". But it's popularity was a sign post of what the 60' s and the next 50 yrs would be searching out. A continuation of thousands of yrs for that gentle blue revolution. My thanks to Paul Reinhardt for additional information on that era.
1 comment:
I love compose have used it for years. Never wake up groggy from it and get a great nights sleep. Hate to not be able to get it at K-mart any longer. I have 2 boxes left in my stash.
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