The Indian Territory Pharmaceutical Association

Last week while shopping for some grub, I stopped by the pharmacy to talk a little history with Tim Brinson and David Pittman. We always have to discuss our latest discoveries in the legends of the Arbuckles. We talk about lost troopers, stolen gold shipments, old photographs and the like.

This is usually how I come across ideas for these columns. This time was no different. David showed a couple of magazines on the history of the druggist in Indian Territory. It was very interesting to me and I thought that you might also be interested.

For more than 4,000 years there have been records of medicinal formulas dating from the Egyptians. Usually, the process of becoming a Shaman or medicine man was through the apprentice method.

The old medicine man would teach a young protégée the proper combination of roots, herbs and organics to concoct the "cure all".

If you are not aware of it, aspirin, probably the most wonderful medicine ever discovered, is based on the formula from the bark of the willow tree. That's right, ancient man chewed the inner lining of the willow tree bark to cure his headache. Even the name for the active ingredient in aspirin is from the Latin for the willow tree family.

Early folk medicine used inorganic materials, flowers, and animal parts (eye of newt?) for these early remedies. The seven main animal sources for medicinals were honey, wax, adder, musk oil, coral, ambergris and beaver testicles. It is not known exactly how one relieved the beaver of this appendage without suffering some serious bodily damage themselves.

In the 1800's patent medicines became the rage. Most contained massive quantities of alcohol or cocaine and morphine. Even the early soft drink companies got into the act. Coke added cocaine to their beverage while 7-Up added quantities of lithium to their brew. Today, lithium is used in anti-psychotic drugs. Little wonder you felt so much better after drinking a 7-Up.

World famous psychic Edgar Casey proclaimed that a patent medicine called "Oil of Smoke" would cure the bite of a fiddle back spider.

The introduction of alcohol into Indian Territory was a federal offense and treated as a very serious crime. However, patent medicines were legal. One of the most popular was named "Peruna". It was nearly one hundred percent alcohol. So, what is a thirsty cowboy to do? He goes to a "Peruna joint" and gets himself a bottle of medicine to ease his pain.

Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory became the last State or Territory in the country to pass a pharmacy law.

By the 1890's, it was apparent in Oklahoma and Indian Territory that some control over these snake oil salesmen had to be made. On May 23, 1895, the druggist and pharmacists of Indian Territory met in Muskogee to form some type of governing body for the craft.

Qualified applicants were issued a certificate from the Indian Territory Pharmaceutical Association. The certificate had two emblems on it showing an Indian boiling medicine in a pot over a wood fire and the other was a period druggist in his shop. This could be signifying either the joining of two cultures or the progress of the medicinal craft.

Persons wishing to join the association would have to present a certificate from any other state or a diploma from a college of pharmacy to be admitted without examination.

Others would take the necessary exam to prove competency. Those not possessing the educational requirements were tested on a practical basis if they had been a practicing druggist for at least ten years. In other words they were "grand fathered" into the organization.

One might wonder about the competency of this latter druggist. Well, it is a fact that many of the "doctors" in Indian Territory never received any formal education. Many of these doctors were self-taught, interned under another doctor for a few years and many were little more than a medical corpsman during the Civil War. A real medical doctor was so revered in Indian Territory in the 1870's that even the outlaws refused to shoot them for an indiscretion. They might need them again for a wounded comrade.

The pharmacy law in Indian Territory required the candidate to be morally and intellectually fit to be a druggist. Applicants for the license must furnish sworn statements testifying to their freedom from demoralizing habits and the use of alcoholic liquors and narcotic drugs.

It would be of interest to note here that the last president of the Indian Territory Pharmaceutical Association and the first president of the Oklahoma Pharmaceutical Association was E. K. McGinnis of Sulphur in the year of 1907. Also of interest is to note that one hundred years later, David Pittman of Sulphur is the new president of the Oklahoma Pharmacists Association. Congratulations to him!

Another point of interest is to note that in 1906, the Indian Territory Pharmaceutical Association held its annual meeting in Sulphur. Perhaps, with the building of the new hotel and convention center in Sulphur by the Chickasaw Nation, a future meeting of the OPhA will again be held in Sulphur.

For those of you who are looking for interesting tourist destination this summer, we could suggest that a trip to the Oklahoma Frontier Drug Store Museum in Guthrie, OK would be a good choice. They have recently completed an addition called the Apothecary Garden where medicinal plants will be grown.

© - Contributed by Dennis Muncrief, August 2006.