Victorian Housewives Weren’t Naturally Serene, They Were on Some Pretty Wild Drugs

Picture the ideal Victorian housewife — serene, compliant, presiding over her household with grace and very little complaint. Now picture what was in her medicine cabinet. Bromides. Chloral hydrate. Tully’s powder, which was morphine mixed with camphor. Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, which was advertised as an herbal remedy for “female complaints” and was around 40…