Lot 32
32
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more
An early 20th-Century 'Complete Antidote Case',

Details
An early 20th-Century 'Complete Antidote Case',
by Burroughs, Wellcome & Co -- 34.5 x 11.5cm. (13½ x 4½in.)

The case contains: ten bottles of antidotes to poisons, some contents in tabloid' (tablet) form, all bottles with extensive paper content labels and chamois leather lid covers; an esophagus rubber tube and glass pipe attachments; hypodermic 'tabloids' in slim plastic containers with paper labels; and a pocket guide by William Murrell What To Do in Cases of Poisoning, seventh edition, H.K Lewis (London) 276pp. The leather-bound case has an escutcheon and key, unfolds, and is compartmentalised, with a stamped gilt maker's mark reading Burroughs, Wellcome & Co Manufacturing Chemists Snow Hill, London, E.C. and has a paper reference table for poisons and antidotes.
Literature
YOUNG, A. M., Antique Medicine Chests or GLYSTER, BLISTER & PURGE (Vernier Press, London and Brighton, 1994)
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

In Britain in 1884, Burroughs, Wellcome and Co. patented the process of compressing medical remedies and referring to their product as 'tabloid'. Thus, medical carrying cases became radically lighter especially with the use light-weight casing. During the 1880s Henry Wellcome met with H.M.Stanley which lead to Burroughs Wellcome creating a medicine chest department. They developed portable chests for different climates and medical needs and were used by many explorers for such expeditions as Scott's Antartic expedition of 1910-12.

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