Ancient First-aid kit for healing snake bites - 1900
antique first-aid kit from the Pharmacie Michel LEGROS
Pravaz syringe in its case
Antique Snake Oil Salesmen product! Quack Medicine
Description
Ancient First-aid kit for healing snake bites
At the beginning of the 20th century, Michel Legros pharmacist in Limoges was a great connoisseur of botany.
Here, the box dates from around 1900; on the antivenom dose, it is written as a silver medal at the Universal Exhibition (probably from 1900).
He has developed a product that cures with impressive speed people bitten by a venomous snake, according to his words...
Hunters, fishermen and farmers of the region rush to his shop to get this kit.
The ampoule contained a solution of chromic anhydride, or chromium trioxide.
Legros’s instructions stated that his solution was "oxygenating" and that it allowed "to return to the blood, deoxygenated by the venom, the vital qualities of arterial blood". It was scientifically completely wrong. Chromium trioxide is a powerful chemical oxidant, but it does not provide breathable oxygen to cells and does not neutralize the enzymatic and destructive complexes of viper venom.
On the other hand, chromium trioxide is an extremely aggressive chemical compound, which is today classified as carcinogenic and highly corrosive.
In reality, injecting this product caused local tissue necrosis, the destruction of flesh.
His pencil case will become famous throughout France and even abroad until the 1960s.
Period from which it was necessary to prove the effectiveness and safety of the products... In reality, this antivenom had no effect on snake bites!
Burgundy percaline case, inside in felt.
The kit contains:
-1 antique Pravaz syringe with its 2 needles
- 1 dose of empty serum
Around 1900 because later the kits would be made of metal
Dimensions of the case: 4.5 x 8cm Height: 2.5cm
Dimensions of the syringe: Length 7cm without needle
Antique Snake Oil Salesmen product! Quack Medicine
