Doctors and independent pharmacists had to mix their own medicines during the nineteenth century. Solid ingredients could be ground into powders and mixed with other ingredients using a mortar and pestle. Powders could be mixed with liquids to make liquid medicines, or rolled into pills and lozenges.
Mortar and Pestle
Bibliographic Information:
Mortar and Pestle, 20th Century, Standard, wood, stoneware, mortar H:3 x W: 5.75, D: 5.5 in, pestle L:6 x D: 1.25 in. The Farmers’ Museum, Cooperstown, New York, The Farmers’ Museum Teaching Collection, Gift of Mrs. Minnie Elinson, P0008.1986a-b.