If, 25 years ago, someone tried to sell you an adhesive patch, telling you to stick it behind your ear and it would keep you from getting sick on the high seas, you could make a safe bet that you were being sold up the river by a modern-day snake oil salesman.
Today, however, a similar patch can be legitimately prescribed by your doctor. Technological advances over the last 20 to 30 years have enabled scientists to develop new forms of delivering drugs to our bodies, including a transdermal patch containing the drug scopolamine to prevent motion sickness.
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/consumer/CON00112.html


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Note added at 20 mins (2004-11-03 17:51:20 GMT)
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A transdermal patch is a medicated adhesive patch that is placed on the skin to deliver a time released dose of medication through the skin and into the bloodstream.
The most common transdermal patch contains nicotine and is used to quit the habit of tobacco smoking.
Transdermal patches are also in use in the area of hormonal contraceptives.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/transdermal patch