Mercury Chalk – Treatment for Syphilis
Antique amber glass bottle, with a boxwood and cork stopper.
Handwritten label, pen inscription ‘Mercurial Chalk’, neat calligraphy with its thick and thin strokes.
Bottom band ‘TO BE SEPARATED’, instructing the pharmacist to store it in the cabinet for toxic substances, the famous poison cabinet.
It comes from the former cellar-laboratory of a Parisian pharmacy. The bottles had not been moved from the shelves since the late 1950s. The cellar had served as a medical analysis laboratory and a laboratory for the pharmacy’s compounded preparations from 1900 until around 1950.
Period: Judging by the handwriting, late 19th century
EMPTY
Mercury Chalk – Treatment for Syphilis
Antique amber glass bottle, with a boxwood and cork stopper.
Handwritten label, inscribed in pen with ‘Mercury Chalk’, in neat calligraphy, with its thick and thin strokes.
Lower band reading ‘TO BE SEPARATED’, instructing the pharmacist to store it exclusively in the cabinet for toxic substances, the infamous poison cabinet.
Mercury, and therefore mercurial chalk, was for a very long time the primary treatment for syphilis; there were no other alternatives. Yet it was completely ineffective... . And it caused the patient untold suffering.
The protocol aimed to reach the toxicity threshold; patients then suffered excruciating side effects: profuse salivation of several litres a day, severe mouth ulcers, tooth loss and necrosis of the jaws. The medical profession at the time interpreted these signs of poisoning as proof that the remedy was ‘expelling’ the disease.
Mercury was still in use by some doctors as late as the 1930s.
It comes from the former cellar-laboratory of a Parisian pharmacy. The bottles had not been moved from the shelves since the late 1950s. The cellar had served as a medical analysis laboratory and a laboratory for the pharmacy’s compounded preparations from 1900 until around 1950.
Height of the bottle: 12cm with stopper
Period: Judging by the handwriting, late 19th century
EMPTY
Antique pharmacy jar: Sodium bicarbonate and Gold Flower tablets
Glass pharmacy bottle - XIXth century
Ebonite and glass laryngeal syringe
For intra-laryngeal injections.
Marketed between May 1939 and sometime in 1940
Oak desk card index cabinet - Antique pharmacy cabinet
Handcrafted
Period: 1910–1930
Camphorated alcohol
Antique pharmacy bottle
Apothecary vial
EMPTY
Gaïacol liquide
Antique pharmacy bottle
Green label: SUBSTANCE TO BE SEPARATED - CODEX 1908
This means that this bottle had to be kept separate from the others because it was dangerous in high doses
EMPTY
Ebonite cannula tip
Tips for enema or medical irrigation cannulas. New Old Stock
Marketed between May 1939 and sometime in 1940
Silver Nitrate Sticks
Antique amber glass bottle, with a boxwood and cork stopper.
Green label: SUBSTANCE TO BE STORED SEPARATELY – CODEX 1908
Indicating to the pharmacist that it must be stored separately from other substances in the cabinet for toxic substances, the famous ‘poison cabinet’.
It comes from the former cellar-laboratory of a Parisian pharmacy. The bottles had not been moved from the shelves since the late 1950s. The cellar had served as a medical analysis laboratory and a laboratory for the pharmacy’s compounded preparations from 1900 until around 1950.
EMPTY
Delphinium staphisagria - Stavesacre
Pharmacy jar - Herbalism - Apothecary bottle
Late 19th century, early 20th century.
Copper Sulfate
Antique pharmacy bottle - Wide-mouth apothecary jar.
19th-century mouth-blown glass
There are still some beautiful blue crystals inside.
A fascinating artifact from the history of pharmacology
70° alcohol
Antique pharmacy bottle - Apothecary
Mrs Bataille-Simon, First Class Pharmacist in Beaumont sur Sarthe - Tel 9
Orthoforme
Antique pharmacy bottle - Droguerie - Apothicaire
Silver medal at Paris 1889
Specimen jar in blown glass - Inverted apothecary jar - Seed vase
Size L
A vintage laboratory or conservatory container designed for the display and preservation of biological or botanical specimens
Cèdre - Cedarwood Oil
Antique pharmacy bottle
There is some product left, but the stopper is stuck
The writing has faded, but in oblique light one can make out CEDRE
Very Large cobalt blue glass pharmacy bottle - Apothecary - Shouldered - H27.5cm - 19th century
Shouldered apothecary bottle - Antique pharmacy bottle
Mouth-blown glass - Cobalt blue color tinted throughout
This large-capacity jar was a storage jar intended for stockpiling
Doctor Louis Jubé pure blood transfusion syringe
For arm-to-arm transfusions
In its metal box
Around 1925/1930
Camphorated oil
Antique pharmacy bottle
Apothecary vial
EMPTY but cap is blocked and bottle will not open
Mercury Chalk – Treatment for Syphilis
Antique amber glass bottle, with a boxwood and cork stopper.
Handwritten label, pen inscription ‘Mercurial Chalk’, neat calligraphy with its thick and thin strokes.
Bottom band ‘TO BE SEPARATED’, instructing the pharmacist to store it in the cabinet for toxic substances, the famous poison cabinet.
It comes from the former cellar-laboratory of a Parisian pharmacy. The bottles had not been moved from the shelves since the late 1950s. The cellar had served as a medical analysis laboratory and a laboratory for the pharmacy’s compounded preparations from 1900 until around 1950.
Period: Judging by the handwriting, late 19th century
EMPTY
