Read ads for Pond medical
tampons, 1910, U.S.A. See a stock certificate
(1916) for probably a company that made medical tampons used in World War I. Read a meaning
of the word tampon from a 1900 nurses' dictionary from the U.K. Read also
a discussion of the word with examples.
Medical tampons mentioned in newspapers, U.S.A.,
1894-1921
 
|
MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH
Draghi Detection Tampon (submitted by the
patient to a doctor or
laboratory for the detection of cervical cancer)
Tampax Inc. (U.S.A., date?)
Tampons have plugged holes in the body
probably for thousands of years. They absorbed bodily fluids - pus for example
- and carried medicine to the cavities.
The Draghi tampon - Andre Draghi invented it - allowed women to
insert it themselves into the vagina to pick up cells, which a laboratory
or physician then examined for abnormalities like
cancer. It spared women and doctors the time necessary to accomplish
the same thing in the doctor's office.
From the patent
(1959):
This invention relates to a tampon for detection
of cancer [all color and bold face added]. More particularly
it relates to a tampon as a means for mass screening and detection of cancer
of the pelvic region.
The frequency of advanced cancer of the pelvic region presents to the
medical profession a disturbing picture. One author states that only a
relatively small percentage of the cases of cancer of the cervix is detected
in the early stage of the disease. This is in spite of the various methods
to detect cancer of the cervix which have been developed and are being
used by gynecologists today. Among the practical barriers to prompt diagnosis
is the inability and the reluctance of many women
to present themselves periodically to a physician for a gynecological
examination whereby early evidence of cancer may be detected; this inability
and reluctance is a direct cause of the high percentage of advanced cancer
which occurs or develops in the pelvic region and particularly in the region
of the cervix uteri. Furthermore the protracted gynecological examination
of the patient which is necessary to obtain full diognostic information,
is time consuming for the physician and nurse and accordingly any such
routine periodical examination may be prohibitively expensive for the patient,
and the medical organization undertaking it.
Complete diagnosis to determine whether and to what extent one has cancer
must require a thorough gynecological and pelvic examination and biopsy.
Preliminiary diagnosis to determine if there are present any indicia of
cancer however, may be asserted by taking a sample of cells which are present
in the cervical canal and the vagina and the subsequent microscopic analysis
of these cells. While a thorough gynecological examination and biopsy should
be performed in those cases in which the preliminary diagnosis indicates
cancer, the preliminary diagnosis can serve to screen many women and thus
initiate the early treatment of those who have indications of cancer.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a means for mass screening for cytological detection of carcinomas
of the pelvic region.
A further object of this invention is to provide through the cooperation
of the patient herself, an accurate, inexpensive means by which cells present
in the pelvic region can be collected and thus screen large numbers of
women thereby reducing the percentage of cases having advanced pelvic cancer.
It seems to me that Tampax was probably not
the only maker of the tampon but I have no proof of this.
Dr. Robert Dickinson wrote in a famous report
that medical (not menstrual) tampons "used to
pay the office rent," something to think about during a battle
to improve health care. By the way, the doctor wrote that of women who used
tampons in 1942, 37 percent made their own. The
paper insert for an early commercial American menstrual
tampon mentions this practice and the long-standing use in Europe of
homemade tampons among actresses.
Tampax, the first menstrual tampon with an applicator,
has been the number one tampon in America for decades and quite possibly
the first commercial menstrual tampon in Europe.
Read ads for Pond medical
tampons, 1910, U.S.A. See a stock certificate
(1916) for probably a company that made medical tampons used in World War I. Read a meaning
of the word tampon from a 1900 nurses' dictionary from the U.K. Read also
a discussion of the word with examples.
Medical tampons mentioned in newspapers, U.S.A.,
1894-1921
Tampon directory.
I thank Procter & Gamble, current owner of
Tampax tampons, for donating the box!
|
Below: The front of the cardboard box.
The other sides are blank. I guess Tambrands
didn't feel doctors had to be seduced by color and fancy graphics.
|
|
NEXT | the tampon -
box
© 2009 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
of the work on this Web site
in any manner or medium without written permission of the author. Please
report suspected
violations to hfinley@mum.org\
|