The first page of The Household Hand Book had spaces for families to write the addresses of their doctor, hospital, local pharmacist and police, with instructions to send a quick messenger to request assistance if needed. (In that era, many homes did not yet have a telephone.) The Hand Book explained infectious diseases and how they were spread, as well as how to avoid them, while cautioning readers that treatment should always be carried out by a doctor. Among the specific illnesses covered in the book were scarlet fever, typhoid, smallpox, whooping cough, chicken pox, diphtheria, measles and mumps, all of which took an immense toll on the population each year. With oral hygiene having been added to the national public health agenda in the 1910s, the book also included a section on oral health, called “The Everyday Care of the Teeth,” advising people to brush their teeth at least twice daily and see a dentist regularly, since good oral health was imperative to help maintain overall health, a concept that was not widely understood by the public in the 1910s. Johnson & Johnson’s advice in The Household Hand Book was based on germ theory, the scientific advancement behind many of the company’s early innovations: “It is known beyond question,” stated the Hand Book, that germs from untreated chronic dental abscesses and other conditions “may find lodgement in some remote part of the body where conditions are favorable for their propagation, and there produce trouble that has never through ordinary diagnosis been traced to the mouth or teeth for its origin.” [The Household Hand Book, Johnson & Johnson, 1917, p. 23]
The first aid section of The Household Hand Book covered basic first aid and also provided advice on how to avoid accidents. Some of the advice, like always looking in the direction in which you are moving, is timeless; other advice, like “Have your horse rough shod as soon as the ground freezes,” reflected daily life for many people in the 1910s. Interspersed with the public health information was information about Johnson & Johnson’s public health and wound care products, along with information on where to find them. (Hint: it was your local retail pharmacy.)
Ad and bottles of Camphenol, a Johnson & Johnson public health product, circa 1900-1905.
Image courtesy: Johnson & Johnson Archives