Read 1930s criticism of douche
products Zonite and Lysol.
See Lysol information
in old newspapers
and Lysol ads from 1948
and 1934.
Visit the odor page.
 
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Lehn & Fink New Improved [menstrual,
birth control?]
Tampon with hydroxyquinoline
(1930s-1940s? Lehn & Fink Products Corporation [Lysol],
U.S.A.)
Lehn & Fink, which made Lysol, supplied
this tampon in two forms in one box: with and
without an applicator, possibly unique at the time. The applicator looks
suspiciously like the patented Tampax applicator
and I'm sure it caught lawyers' attention.
Unable to let well enough alone, L & F treated the cotton absorbent
plug with hydroxiquinoline, an antiseptic and disinfectant,
which the company hoped would kill menstrual odor
(and not the user). Safety data for
8-hydroxyquinoline at http://msds.chem.ox.ac.uk/HY/8-hydroxyquinoline.html
indicate that
"[hydroxyquinoline is] [h]armful by ingestion,
inhalation and through skin contact. CNS [central nervous system]
stimulant. There is evidence that this material can cause cancer
in laboratory animals. May act as a mutagen
in humans. May act as an irritant." [I added the red.]
Just what women needed in their vaginas! Unless they wanted to kill
sperm - birth control.
And the same company advertised another disinfectant, Lysol, for douching - squirting up vaginas - for "marriage hygiene,"
which could mean birth control as well as
the emphasized odor control.
Was this tampon also intended as a contraceptive? More: Birth control and religion | Birth
control drugs, old | Birth control douche &
sponges
Procter & Gamble kindly donated the box and contents as part
of a gift of scores of menstrual products.
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Below: The cardboard box measures 3 1/2
x 4 1/4" x 1 3/8" (9 x 10.5 x 3.5 cm) and a brown
color appears throughout the material.
Active principle: I wonder what the INactive
principles were if there were any.
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Below: The ends and front and back
of the box are identical but not the sides.
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In a practice that some companies have revived recently this
box contained both tampons with applicators
(suspiciously Tampax-like) and those with none,
to be inserted with fingers. I haven't seen other boxes of the era with
both types. But it seems to me that was mistake:
I would guess most women of that era (and today) are firmly of one camp
or the other. But this was an introductory package;
maybe the company was trying to get an idea of what the customers wanted
and what it could offer them.
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Below: The side opposite to the one below
is blank except for PRINTED IN U.S.A. in lower
center.
It's rare to see any mention of patents in
early American tampons, Tampax being the
great exception. It knew what it it had.
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Below: I enlarged the text from the lower
right part of the box to show the beautiful typeface.
But see a surprise below this.
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Below: I ENLARGED all the E's
from the darker text and compared them line by line.
Aren't I industrious?
Do I have too much time on my hands as a British
paper, I think News of the World, long ago wrote? But
this is interesting!
Look how the E's from the first line are very similar but not identical,
the second-line E is different and the third-line one radically so.
I believe this shows the effects of the hand-placed
metal type that was used to print the box, a process as old as Gutenberg,
and how the different metal letters wear down with use - and how tough it
was to cast the metal type exactly alike. (But it doesn't explain why the
E's in the first line are so similar and the others are not.)
Most of you know the uniformity of electronic (digital)
type (compare), something not available
when this box appeared.
Below, the RED ARROWS
point to the white edge of the mark the metal type
made and the GREEN ARROW to the ink
that has spilled outside the correct area -
at least that's my interpretation (I spent years as a graphic
designer.)
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NEXT: The tampons |
Applicator tampon in detail | Applicatorless
tampon in detail | Instructions (side 1) (side 2)
Birth control and religion | Birth
control drugs, old | Birth control douche &
sponges Read 1930s criticism
of douche products
Lysol & Zonite and.
See Lysol information
in old newspapers
and Lysol ads from 1948
and 1934. All
tampons on this site.
© 2008 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
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in any manner or medium without written permission of the author. Please
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