The Apothecary’s Wife By Karen Bloom Gevirtz — Review

This engaging book recounts how the deep problems in the current pharmaceutical and medical industries in the United States stem from changes that occurred centuries ago.

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Men in a Laboratory. (Rawpixel / CC0 / common domain)

Before the Scientific Revolution began in the 1500s, medicine and healing were domains that belonged solely to women. Based on recipes for herbal or herbaceous remedies that women developed through generations of trial-and-error and freely shared with their daughters, families, friends and nearby neighbors, these recipes were considered to be public property. Even today, we benefit from the legacy that these women left behind. For example, willow bark was administered for pain relief; and willow bark contains acetylsalicylic acid — aspirin.

This system of healing persisted for hundreds of years before it was replaced in less than a century with something that was radically different. Between 1650 and 1740, women were pushed out of their historic and traditional role by men who set about establishing the modern for-profit medical system. Using the exact same ingredients and recipes for their own medicines, “professional” apothecaries and physicians convinced the public that their remedies were superior to domestic medicines created by women. Within a short period of time, medicines were…