Exploring Medicines
Discover how a variety of medicinal preparations have been made through the centuries and the essential pharmaceutical equipment used.
Sea Skinks (Burges Collection of Materia Medica, late 1700s)
Sea skinks were used by apothecaries as an aphrodisiac, or as a remedy to combat old age. They were also an ingredient in Mithridatum, an ...
Seahorses (Burges Collection of Materia Medica, late 1700s)
Seahorses were used in medicine to cure baldness and the bites of mad dogs.
Sevum Cervi, c1745-1807
Glass jar containing specimens of deer tallow. From the Burges Collection. Text on paper labels reads ‘Catal. Mat. Med. p. 130, no. 109’ and ‘SEVUM CERVI’. Pomet, ...
Shop Round ‘AQ: CINNAM.’
Pharmacists used glass shop rounds to store their various medicines and medicinal ingredients. This particular bottle, labelled ‘AQ: CINNAM.’, was used to store ‘Aqua Cinnamomi’ ...
Spongia Usta, c1745-1807
Glass jar containing specimens of burnt sponge (Euspongia officinalis). From the Burges Collection. Text on paper labels reads ‘Catal. Mat. Med. p. 117. No. 73’ and ‘SPONGIA ...
Spongiae Lapides, c1745-1807
Glass specie jar containing specimens of concretions from sponges. From the Burges Collection. Text on paper contents label reads ‘Catal. mat. med. p. 117. No. 80. Spongiae ...
Staffordshire Bear’s Grease Jug – Napoleonic Bear Design
This unusual Staffordshire pottery jug was originally used for storing bear’s grease, a hair restoring pomade. The seated bear grasps in its forepaws a ...
Staffordshire Pottery Bear’s Grease Jug – Napoleonic Bear Design, early 1800s
This unusual Staffordshire pottery jug was originally used for storing bear’s grease, a hair restoring pomade. The seated bear grasps in its forepaws a ...
Struthionis Ovvorum Testae, c1745-1807
Glass specie jar containing specimens of ostrich egg shells. From the Burges Collection. Text on paper contents label reads ‘[Catal. mat. me]d. p. 188. No. 174. ...
Superior White Felt Bunion Plasters, 1950-1970
Superior White Felt Bunion Plasters and cardboard packaging. The box contains two thick size superior white felt bunion plasters. The yellow label shows a handwritten ...