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Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
Development
Development and
and Dissemination
Disseminationofof
Women's
Women's Sanitary
SanitaryProducts,
Products,1880—1940
1880—1940
JANE FARRELL-BECK and LAURA KLOSTERMAN KIDD
i.
I.Blanche
Blanche Payne, Geitel
Geitel Winakor,
Winakor,and
andJane
JaneFarrell-Beck,
Farrell-Beck,
The
The
History
History
of of
Costume
Costume(New(New
York:
York:
HarperCollins,
HarperCollins,1992),
1992),pp.
pp.581—82.
581—82.
Vern
Vern
L. L.
Bullough,
Bullough,
"Archives:
"Archives:
Merchandising
Merchandising
the sanitary
the sanitary
napkin:
napkin:
Lillian
Lillian Gilbreth's
Gilbreth's1927
1927survey,"
survey,"Signs:
Signs:
Journal
Journal
of of
Women
Women
in Culture
in Culture
and and
Society,
Society,
1984,1984,
10, 615-16.
10, 615—16.
Anon.,Anon.,
"Modern
"Modern hygiene,"
hygiene,"Vogue,
Vogue,76,
76,1313
October
October
1930,
1930,
p. 120.
p. 120.
Autumn
Autumn
Stanley,
Stanley,
Mothers
Mothers
and Daughters
and Daughters
of of
Invention:
Invention: Notes
Notesfor
fora aRevised
RevisedHistory
Historyofof
Technology
Technology
(Metuchen,
(Metuchen,
NJ:NJ:
Scarecrow
Scarecrow
Press,
Press,
1993),
1993),
p. 313.
p. Vern
313. Vern
L.
L. Bullough,
Bullough, "Female
"Femalephysiology,
physiology,technology,
technology,
andand
women's
women's
liberation,"
liberation,"
in Dynamos
in Dynamos
and Virgins
and Virgins
Revisited:
Revisited: Women
Womenand
andTechnological
TechnologicalChange
Changein in
History,
History,
ed. ed.
Martha
Martha
M. Trescott
M. Trescott
(Metuchen,
(Metuchen,
NJ: Scarecrow
NJ: Scarecrow
Press, 1979),
Press, 1979), p.
p.246.
246.Janice
JaniceDelaney,
Delaney, Mary
Mary Jane
Jane Lupton,
Lupton, andand Emily
Emily Toth,
Toth, The The Curse:
Curse: A Cultural
A Cultural History
History
of
of Menstruation
Menstruation(Chicago:
(Chicago:University
Universityofof
Illinois
Illinois
Press,
Press,
1976),
1976),
p. 116.
p. 116.
This research is a part of the Family and Consumer Sciences Research Institute, College of Family and
Consumer Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames IA 50011. Further support was given by the American
Institute for the History of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin and the Francis Clark Wood Institute,
Philadelphia College of Physicians.
© 1996 BY THE JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND ALLIED SCIENCES, INC.
ISSN 0022 — 5045 VOLUME 51 PAGES 325 TO 352
[ 325 ]
2. Elizabeth Emma Cobb, The Medical Advisor (Decatur, IL: Hostetler Printing House, 1903), p. 384.
3. Joseph Brown Cooke, M.D., A Nurse's Handbook of Obstetrics, 7th ed., revised and reset by Carolyn
E. Gray, R.N. and Mary Alberta Baker, R.N. (Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott, 1915), p. 45.
Gray was Superintendent of City Hospital School of Nursing, Blackwell's Island, NYC; Baker was for
mer Superintendent of St. Lukes [sic] Hospital, Jacksonville, FL. They described Cooke's text as one
that had been in favor since 1903. Howard A[twood] Kelly, Medical Gynecology (New York and London:
D. Appleton and Company, 1909), pp. 82-85. Kelly, Gynecologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital and
Professor of Gynecological Surgery at Johns Hopkins University, was a much-published and widely
honored physician with a broad knowledge of abdominal surgery and medicine. After citing the opin
ions of various other authorities, Kelly emphasized that . . precocious menstruation is frequently the
manifestation of some morbid condition of the uterus or its appendages . . (p. 82). Henry J[acques]
Garrigues, A Text-Book of the Diseases of Women (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1894), pp. 114-15.
Garrigues was Professor of Obstetrics in the New York Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital and
Gynecologist to St. Mark's Hospital in New York.
4. Anna M. Galbraith, Hygiene and Physical Culture for Women (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1895),
p. 172; Cobb, (n. 2) Medical Adviser, p. 383; Montfort B. Allen and Amelia C. McGregor, The Glory of
Woman (Jersey City, NJ: Star Publishing Co., 1896), p. 84.
5. Ibid.
6. Galbraith, (n. 4) Hygiene and Physical, p. 172.
7. Cobb, (n. 2) Medical Adviser, p. 383.
8. Laura Klosterman Kidd, Menstrual Technology in the United States, 1854-1921. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, Iowa State University, 1994. Laura Klosterman Kidd and Jane Farrell-Beck, "Menstrual
product design and women's dress, 1854 through 1921," Proceedings, International Textiles and Apparel
Association, 1994, p. 77.
9. Galbraith, (n. 4) Hygiene and Physical, p. 172; Cobb, (n. 2) Medical Adviser, p. 383.
ίο. Catherine Macfarlane, A Reference Hand-Book of Gynecology for Nurses (Philadelphia and London:
W. B. Saunders, 1923), p. 21.
11. A. P. Barer, W. M. Fowler, and C. W. Baldridge, "Blood loss during normal menstruation," Proc.
Soc. Exper. Biol. &Med., 1935,32,1458. Paula Weideger, Menstruation and Menopause: The Physiology and
Psychology, the Myth and the Reality (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975), p. 33.
12. Joan Jacobs Brumberg has argued that physicians became involved in instructing women about
menstruation during the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Middle-class mothers, unwill
ing to broach to their daughters a topic connected with sexuality, and lacking the vocabulary and con
cepts to explain reproduction, readily consented to the "medicalization of menarche." '"Something
happens to girls': Menarche and the emergence of the modern American hygienic imperative," J. Hist.
Sexuality, 1993, 4, 108-11.
13. Thomas Addis Emmet, Principles and Practice of Gynecology, 3rd. ed. (Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea's
Son & Co., 1884), p. 20; J. M. Baldy, ed., An American Text-Book of Gynecology, Medical and Surgical, for
Students and Practitioners (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1894), p. 97. Edward Clarke, Sex in Education:
Or a Fair Chance for Girls (Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1873).
14. Baldy, (n. 13) American Text-Book, p. 97.
15. Bache McE. Emmett, "Outline of gynaecological therapeutics," in Clinical Gynaecology, Medical
and Surgical, by Eminent American Teachers, John Marie Keating and Henry C. Coe, eds. (Philadelphia: J.
B. Lippincott, 1895), p. 172.
16. Julia Ward Howe, ed., Sex and Education: A Reply to Dr. Ε. H. Clarke's "Sex in Education" (New
York: Arno Press, 1972). Original work published 1874.
17. Mary Putnam Jacobi, The Question of Rest for Women During Menstruation (New York: Putnam,
1877).
18. Prudence Β. Saur, Maternity: A Book for Every Wife and Mother (Chicago and Philadelphia: L. P.
Miller & Co., 1888), p. 33.
19. Georgia Merriam, M.D., "Do women require mental and bodily rest during menstruation; and
to what extent?" Columbus M.J., September 18, 1894, 13, 294-301; October 2, 1894, 13, 346-52;
October 16, 1894,13, 397-401.
20. Horatio R. Bigelow, "The hygienic and dietetic regimen of uterine therapeutics," Am. J. Obstet.,
1882, 15, 135.
21. Allen and McGregor, (n. 4) Glory of Woman, p. 87; R. L. Robb.J. V. Bean, and M. Lucretia Robb,
Robb and Company's Family Physician (Burlington, IA: Robb and Company Book Publishers, 1880), p.
601.
22. H. Law and H. E. Law, Viavi Hygiene, rev. ed. (London: The Viavi Company, Inc., 1908), p. 212.
23. Kelly, (n. 3) Medical Gynecology, p. 73.
24. Cooke, (n. 3) Nurse's Handbook, p. 45.
2$. Clelia Duel Mosher, Womans Physical Freedom (New York: The Woman's Press, 1923), pp. 43-44.
26. Macfarlane, (n. 10) A Reference Hand-Book, p. 22. The first edition of this book appeared in 1908,
but was not available for study. It is possible that Macfarlane simply retained a conservative position in
later editions.
27. Rachel Lynn Palmer and Sarah K. Greenberg, Facts and Frauds in Women's Hygiene (New York:
The Vanguard Press, 1936), pp. 88-89.
28. Law and Law, (n. 22) Viavi Hygiene, p. 219. Jane E. Lane-Clapon, M.D., Hygiene of Women and
Children (London: Henry Froude and Hodder & Stoughton, 1921), p. 107.
29. Robb, Bean, and Robb, (n. 21) Family Physician, p. 601; Saur, (η. i8) Maternity, p. 33.
30. Anne Perkins, M.D., "Disorders of menstruation," Trained Nurse, 1920, 65, 510; Perkins' article
continued into the January 1921 issue.
31. Robb, Bean, and Robb, (n. 21) Family Physician, p. 602.
32. Cobb, (n. 2) Medical Adviser, p. 386.
The periods of the menstrual flow in the healthy girl require no marked devi
ation from her normal hygienic habits. Great cleanliness of person and of cloth
ing must be enjoined, in opposition to the prevalent idea that bathing and
changing of underclothing must be avoided. The daily bath must not be inter
mitted; a cold sponge bath may be substituted for a cold plunge, but there is no
necessity for changing the habit of daily bathing, while the underclothing re
quires more frequent changing than at other times. Girls should not be taught
to use a vaginal douche after each menstrual period.34
33-Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, M.D., What a Young Woman Ought to Know (Philadelphia: The Vir
Publishing Co., 1913), p. 148. The identical information appeared in the 1905 edition. She perceived a
soiled napkin as irritating, but did not mention its septic potential, perhaps because she was more moral
istic than clinical in her orientation to medicine.
34. Kelly, (n. 3), Medical Gynecology, p. 72.
35. It has long been assumed, as Schroeder stated in his 1976 article, that information on menstrua
tion and menstrual products were part of the "great feminine underground." (p. 103) Our review of
nineteenth- and twentieth-century health literature confirms this assessment. Drs. Joel Shaw and
Elizabeth Blackwell, writing in 1852 and 1858 respectively, agreed that mothers were responsible for in
structing their daughters in matters of health. As late as 1930, the anonymous writer of "Modern hy
giene," described sanitary pads, and claimed that "Mothers had taught their daughters how to make
them." (p. 122). Fred Schroeder, "Feminine hygiene, fashion, and the emancipation of American
women," American Studies, 1976,17, 101-110. Joel Shew, M.D., Midwifery and Diseases of Women (New
York: Fowler and Wells, 1852). Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D., The Laws of Life, with Special Reference to the
Physical Education of Girls (New York: A. O. Moore, 1858). Anon., (n. 1), p. 122. Brumberg perceived
that mothers monitored menstrual hygiene even as they ceded the role of initial teaching about menses
to medical authorities, (n. 12), p. 112.
36. Emmett, (n. 13) Principles and Practice, p. 105.
37· These were exhibited at the University of Iowa Medical Museum in February 1995. The cotton
knit napkin was lent by the Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA; the linen piece was from the collec
tion of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
38. Cobb, (n. 2), Medical Adviser, p. 386.
39. Saur, (η. i8) Maternity, p. 46.
40. Wood-Allen, (n. 33) What a Young Woman, p. 149.
41. Baldy, (n. 31) American Text-Book, p. 97.
42. Dugald Scott, "Surgical Bandage," U.S.P. 598,016, awarded 25 January 1898. Scott specified in
his claim that the bandage was a "towel for use by women during periods of menstruation," using
"towel," a still-current British term for "napkin."
43. Lawrence Foster, in his official history, A Company that Cares. One Hundred Year History of Johnson
& Johnson (New Brunswick, NJ: Johnson & Johnson, 1986), p. 44, explained that salesmen would dis
Menstrual Pad.
Figure ι. Menstrual pad and belt. From J. M. Baldy, ed., An American Text-Book of Gyne
cology, Medical and Surgical, for Students and Practitioners (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1894),
p. 97, Fig. 87.
cuss ideas for new products with physicians. Successful ideas were often named for the originating physi
cian. "A maternity kit suggested by Dr. Joseph Brown Cooke, surgeon at the New York Maternity
Hospital, was more elaborate and more expensive (than "Dr. Simpson's Maternity Packet") and con
tained sanitary napkins for the mother, a relatively new product at the time."Foster mentioned no date,
but Johnson & Johnson had sanitary napkins on the market by 1899, according to the company Price
List; "Dr. Cooke's Maternity Packet" appears in the A. Kiefer Drug Co. catalog of 1904, p. 262. It was
indeed "more expensive" at $13.00 than "Dr. Simpson's Maternity Packet," which cost $4.50.
55- India Rubber World, 10 December 1895, p. 75. Gregory Higby and Teresa C. Gallagher noted that
women whose families owned drug stores often participated in running the business, even without for
mal education in pharmacy. Women also graduated with professional degrees from schools of pharmacy,
but usually engaged in institutional pharmacy, rather than becoming proprietors of drug stores.
"Pharmacists," in Women, Health and Medicine in America, ed. Rima Apple (New York and London:
Garland Publishing Inc., 1990), p. 504.
56. W. F. Braun & Co., Price Current, 1900, p. 631; 1901, p. 817.
57. Jerman, Pflueger, & Kuehmsted Co., Wholesale Druggists, 1901, Prices Current, p. 911.
58. Des Moines Drug Company, Twentieth Century Illustrated Catalog and Price Current, 1901-03, p.
824.
59. Langley and Michaels Co.'s Prices Current, 2 January 1902, p. 331.
60. The A. Kiefer Drug Company, Drugs, Chemicals, Patent Medicines, Druggist's and Stationers'
Sundries, Vol. I, 1904, pp. 255, 262.
61. Meyer Brothers Drug Co., Prices Current, 1909, p. 310.
62. Companies that advertised by catalogue to consumers dropped lines that did not sell well. This is
made clear in Boris Emmet and John E. JeucJc, Catalogues and Counters. A History of Sears, Roebuck
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950), p. 223.
63. George S. Cole, Cole's Encyclopedia of Dry Goods (New York: The Economist Press, September
1900), p. 374.
64. M. Attie Souder, Department Store Merchandise Manuals. The Notion Department (New York: The
Ronald Press Company, 1917), pp. 109-10.
65- The only explanation the writers can suggest is that products specific to drug stores were rarely
promoted through women's magazines; newspaper ads promoted the store as a whole or focused on
medications or cosmetic products.
66. The Delineator, July 1913, 82, p. 58.
67. Johnson & Johnson, Household Hand Book, 1916, p. 45.
68. Elisabeth Robinson Scovil, Preparation for Motherhood (Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1896), p. 29.
69. Cobb, (n. 2) The Medical Adviser, p. 386; Wood-Allen, (n. 30) What a Young Woman, p. 149.
Brumberg also recognized that in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries middle-class women
purchased disposable components such as cheesecloth to make into napkins. Brumberg, (n. 12), p. 114.
70. Palmer and Greenberg, (n. 27) Facts and Frauds, p. 40.
71. Advertisement by Cellucotton Products Co., December 1920, pp. 8-9.
72. The lesson Kotex seems to have taught other companies was the need for a discreet name to ease
the purchase of pads for embarrassed women. Veldown, Nupak, Curads, Venus, and Modess became
nationally advertised brands in women's magazines during the 1920s and 1930s. In their reference work,
Trademarks, Labels, Prints to the Textile Industry, the patent attorneys Munn & Co. listed nineteen com
panies that were producing sanitary napkins in 1921. Kotex (now Kimberly-Clark) is the only one of
these firms still in the business of making napkins.
73. Kotex sold in drug, dry goods, and department stores, as stated, for example, in the advertisement
in Good Housekeeping, March 1922, 74, p. 160. Venus brand pads sold in department stores, as stated, for
example, in advertisement in Vogue, 1 February 1930, 75, p. 111; Johnson & Johnson's Nupak could be
found in the reader's "favorite drug store" where she "probably will see it displayed," advertisement in
Harper's Bazar, September 1926, 60, p. 157. By 1928 J &J had adopted the name Modess for their san
itary napkins. Delnaps pads were sold in dry goods and department stores, as stated, for example, in the
advertisement in Vogue, March 1924, 63, p. 171.
74. Kotex cost 50^ for six large pads, postpaid, for example, in Vogue, 1 February 1922, p. 86.
75. Kotex advertisement, Good Housekeeping, May 1922, 74, p. 103; Kotex offered a test sample free
(no postage charged) to nurses in Am. J. Nursing, June 1924, p. 593. Modess advertisement, The Home
Magazine, April 1930, p. 105.
76. Canton flannel is a woven cotton cloth with a napped surface.
77. Joseph C. Benzinger, "Improvement in Catamenial Sacks," U.S.P. 57,665, awarded 4 September
1866.
78. "Thin, plain-woven silk impregnated with boiled oil and thoroughly dried . . . This treatment
renders the texture semi-transparent and waterproof." Cole, (n. 63) Encyclopedia of Dry Goods, p. 394.
79. H. W. Libbey, M.D., "Improvement in Catamenial Sacks," U.S.P. 75,484, awarded 10 March
1868.
80. Hiram C. Farr, "Menstrual Receptacle," U.S.P. 300,770, awarded 24 June 1884.
81. Stephen K. Ellis patented a "Suspender" to support sanitary napkins; U.S.P. 169,245, awarded 26
October 1875. Itwas advertised in a booklet of the Queen City Suspender Co., which bore no date but
whose other images suggest the mid-1870s. "Dr. Gray's Monthly Friend," advertised by the Lewis Stein
Company in the mid-i88os was patented not by a physician, but by Stein himself, U.S.P. 395,011,
awarded 25 December 1888. The advertisement appeared in Harper's Bazar, 20 May 1885,18, p. 558.
82. Albert L. Gray, "Catamenial Sack," U.S.P. 626,159, awarded 30 May 1899.
83. Meyer Brothers, (n. 61), Prices Current, p. 310.
84. William D. Berry, "Catamenial Appliance," U.S.P. 857,019, awarded 18 June 1907.
85. Clovis Gamache, Jr. and Walter S. McNear, "Tampon applicator." U.S.P. 1,224,735, awarded 1
May 1917.
86. The writers have found at least 16 patents for tampons and one for a tampon applicator, granted
between 1890 and 1921. The information in his patent text demonstrates that Anthony E. Magoris was
a physician, who had ". . . given the appliance (tampon) a thorough test in my own private practice and
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Figure 3. Advertisement for Farr's Flexible Uterine Supporters and Menstrual Receptacles,
The American Druggist, November 1884, p. 30.
find that it works most successfully." U.S.P. 688,188, awarded 3 December 1901. One physician was lo
cated by his publication cited in Index Medicus: Charles C. Fredigke, "Vaginal Tampon," U.S.P. 435,491,
granted 2 September 1890. Four other physicians were listed in the American Medical Directory 1909 (1923).
A Register of Legally Qualified Physicians of the United States and Canada (Chicago, A.M. A. Press): Anthony
E. Magoris, "Tampon," U.S.P. 688,188, awarded 3 December 1901; Franklin P. Gates (co-patentee
with John D. Cogswell and Henry L. Grant), "Surgical Package," U.S.P. 907,331, awarded 22
December 1908; Edmond Morse Pond, "Medicated Tampon," U.S.P. 1,395,295, awarded 1 November
1921; and Guy S. Peterkin, "Tampon," U.S.P. 1,401,358, awarded 27 December 1921. Because all of
the patents awarded from 1890 to 1921 referred to surgery or the application of medication, they are
not germane to sanitary protection.
87. Earle C. Haas, "Vaginal Powder Applicator," U.S.P. 1,878,513, awarded 20 September 1932.
88. Earl C. Haas, "Catamenial Device," U.S.P. 1,926,900, awarded 12 September 1933. Haas'
plunger was not the first for domestic use: Gamache and McNear assigned to Nur-Pon Company a
"Tampon Applicator" that women could use to insert medically prescribed tampons at home.
89. Haas himself reported this in a Chicago Tribune interview, published 5 May 1981, p. 8. Tampax
advertisement, Good Housekeeping, November 1937, 103, p. 234.
90. Earl C. Haas, "Catamenial Device," U.S.P. 1,964,511, awarded 3 July 1934; and "Catamenial
Device," U.S.P., 2,024,218, awarded 17 December 1935.
91. Frederick S. Richardson, "Catamenial Plug," U.S.P. 1,932,383, awarded 24 October 1933 but
filed 28 January 1931. Wix advertised that it was "perfected by two physicians," Vogue, 1 October 1935,
86, p. 153. However, the patent was secured only by Richardson. Wix continued to be advertised
through 1940, but no later.
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92. A Wix advertisement in Harper's Bazaar, July 1937, 71, p. 93, claims "Successfully used for more
than six years by American women." This harmonizes with Richardson's filing date and assertions of
priority and market testing. (Note that the spelling of Harper's magazine for women changed from Bazar
to Bazaar in December 1929.)
93. A review of more than 200 patents for menstrual products, issued from 1854 through 1921, sug
gests that Richardson's statement is correct in regard to a tampon developed for menstrual use. However,
his claim that his "catamenial device" was the first to be "intended and adapted for use inside the vagina"
is incorrect. At least 13 patents were issued for menstrual retentive cups, small cups that were inserted
into the vaginal cavity to catch and contain the menstrual discharge. Kidd, (n. 8) Menstrual Technology.
94. Dowling Benjamin, "Aseptic and antiseptic obstetrics," Trained Nurse, 1895,14, 79-80.
102. Ibid., p. 54. Davis estimated that the cost of such "simple dressings . . . will approximate two
dollars."
103. Joseph B. DeLee, "The technique of the Chicago Lying-in Hospital and Dispensary," Am. J.
Nursing, May 1907, 7, 612.
104. During the nineteenth century, maternity hospitals provided "... poor, homeless, or working
class married women ..." the opportunity for medical treatment and "... a chance to recuperate in an
atmosphere of moral uplift." By the 1880s, birthing in a hospital was more acceptable, as the danger of
puerperal fever abated and physicians became more skillful at obstetrics. Less than 5 percent of women
delivered in hospitals in 1900. "By 1939, half of all women and 75 percent of all urban women were de
livering in hospitals." Richard C. Wertz and Dorothy C. Wertz, Lying-in: A History of Childbirth in
America, Expanded ed. (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 1989), pp. 132—33. Judith
Walzer Leavitt also described "... the poor and largely immigrant or black community in the inner city
of Chicago at the turn of the twentieth century . . ."as the clientele of the Chicago Maternity Center.
Brought to Bed. Childbearing in America, 1750 to 1950 (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1986), pp. 82-83.
105. Hulda Osterlund, "The nurse's use of the five senses in obstetrics," Trained Nurse, 1912, 49, 152;
Mary Anna Howard, "Temperature in obstetric cases," Trained Nurse, 1912, 49, 292. W. Reynolds
Wilson, M. D. also cautioned ". . . it is here well for the nurse to protect herself from the responsibil
ity of infecting the patient through imperfect disinfection and sterilization. The risk is doubly great in
the parturient woman . . . ," "The surgical aspect of obstetrical nursing," Training Nurse, 1909, 42, 17.
Wilson was Visiting Physician to the Philadelphia Lying-in Charity.
106. Waste consists of "By-products created in the manufacture of fibers, yarns, and fabrics." Isabel
B. Wingate, Fairchild's Dictionary of Textiles, 3rd ed. (New York: Fairchild Publications, 1979), p. 663.
107. Mary L. Keith, "Preliminaries of obstetric nursing," Am. J. Nursing, 1901, 1, 257.
108. Louella Adkins, "The care of an obstetrical patient, "Am.f. Nursing, 1903, 3, 710. Adkins was a
graduate of the Women's and Children's Hospital, Kansas City.
The vulva pads should be changed as often as they are soiled. Four a day is an
average number, and six or eight in the first three days is not unusual. . . Every
109. Helen M. Stewart, "Obstetrics in private nursing," Trained Nurse, 1907, 39, 294.
no. Elizabeth Burttle, "Obstetrical nursing," Am. J. Nursing, 1915,16, 196.
in. Sinah File Kilzing, "An inexpensive outfit for an obstetrical case," Am. J. Nursing, 1908-09, 8,
14·
112. Jennie M. Putnam, "An obstetrical case at home," Am. J. Nursing, 1910,10, 469.
113. Ibid., p. 471.
114. Scovil, (n. 68) Preparation for Motherhood, pp. 206-07.
115. Wood wool was defined as "Fine shavings made from pine wood, specially prepared and used
as surgical dressing." The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (New York: The Century Company, 1895),
p. 6970.
116. Myer Solis-Cohen, Life Knowledge (Philadelphia: Uplift Publishing Co., 1909), p. 177.
dirt sensitive, in the highest degree, both personally and professionally. ... In
this case (delivery of a child), cleanliness is next to godliness but the cleanliness
must come first, lest the godliness of the patient be suddenly and undesirably
acquired elsewhere.118
In the 1920s and early 1930s, the literature on obstetrical nursing con
tinued to stress sterile dressings, with a shift toward the ready-made va
rieties, which might "be obtained from any one of a number of firms
. . ,"119 Dr. Charles Sumner Bacon explicitly equated the vulvar dress
ing to "A large, thick napkin," when discussing care of the mother im
mediately after giving birth.120 A less invasive approach to cleansing the
perineum was emerging, one which employed warm water and soap,
rather than "antiseptic solutions" and extensive douching.121 Louise
Zabriskie, R.N., listed among "Supplies for the Mother" "four to six
dozen sanitary pads." Pads could be purchased sterilized or unsterilized,
the latter requiring ironing to render them sterile.122
There was also a trend toward reliance on the puerperal woman her
self. Nurse Nellie Perry prepared the vulvar dressings from cotton and
gauze at the patient's house, then instructed her how to boil batches of
dressings and dry them in the household oven.123 Elizabeth Wickham,
117. Charles Β. Reed, Obstetrics for Nurses (St. Louis: C. V. Mosby Co., 1917), p. 159.
118. Charles B. Reed, "Teaching obstetrics to student nurses," Am. J. Nursing, 1923-24, 24, 1211.
119. Carolyn Conant Van Blarcom, R.N., Obstetrical Nursing (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1923),
p. 159.
120. Charles Sumner Bacon, Obstetrical Nursing. A Manual for Nurses and Students and Practitioners of
Medicine, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia and New York: Lee & Febiger, 1924), p. 220. Beacon was medical di
rector of the Chicago Lying-in Hospital and professor of obstetrics at the University of Illinois and the
Chicago Polyclinic.
121. Everett Dudley Plass, "The perineal toilet," Trained Nurse, 1924, 72, 70. Plass was assistant ob
stetrician at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
122. Louise Zabriskie, R.N., Nurses [sic] Handbook of Obstetrics (Philadelphia and London: J. B.
Lippincott, 1934), p. 208.
123. Nelly E. Perry, "Hints for maternity nurses," Trained Nurse, 1917, 6, 278.
124. Elizabeth Wickham, R.N., Maternity Nursing in a Nutshell (Philadelphia: F. A. Davis, 1924), p.
47. Wickham was the former supervisor of the Maternity Department at Lebanon Hospital, New York.
125. Zabriskie, (n. 122) Nurses Handbook, p. 209.
126. Standard Curriculum for Schools of Nursing, 3rd ed. Prepared by the committee on Education of the
National League of Nursing Educators, January 1920, p. 65.
127. Ibid., p. 105.
128. A Curriculum for Schools of Nursing, 6th ed. Prepared by the Committee on Education of the
National League of Nursing Educators, New York, New York, 1927, p. 81.
129. Ibid., p. 135.
130. Ibid., p. 136.
131.Ibid.
132. Ibid., p. 138.
133. A Curriculum Guide for Schools of Nursing, Committee on Curriculum, National League of
Nursing Educators, 2nd revision, 1937, pp. 441-44.
134. Ibid., p. 446.
Whether the nurse visited the patient's home or conferred with her at
the doctor's office was not mentioned.
An "hourly nurse," did not live in the patient's home but instead vis
ited patients, including parturient women in their homes. She was
not a charity worker, nor is she the nurse of the well-to-do. Her field lies
among families with incomes from $600 to $1,500 a year, or even $2,000 to
$3,000. . . . Payments are nominal, but vary $.50 to $1.00 an hour.139
The specially trained nurse who goes into the families of the rich, with their
well-oiled household machinery, does not have to face the same problems as
. . . the nurse who possesses conscience, courage and tact certainly may do
much toward lessening the cares which have fallen on the puerperal woman.
This is especially true in the poorer homes, in some of which the patients know
nothing of the luxury of "being cared for."141
148. Palmer and Greenberg censured International Cellucotton Products Company for fixing the
price of their product with wholesalers. These authors anticipated similar actions by other manufactur
ers resulting in "keeping the selling price of these articles entirely disproportionate to their cost of man
ufacture." (n. 27) Facts and Frauds, p. 39. This analysis overlooks the cost of research and development
which, as suggested by the increasing complexity of machinery to manufacture napkins, was not trifling.
In fact, the cost of napkins declined steeply in the 1930s.
149. Anon., (n. 1), p. 124.
150. Palmer and Greenberg, (n. 27) Facts and Frauds, p. 38.
151. U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Census of Manufactures: 1947. Volume II.
Statistics by Industry (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1949), p. 783, Table 6.