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The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7241 p417
22 March 2003

Society summary

Royal attention for museum "flying boxes"

The Duke of York listens as the Society’s Secretary and Registrar, Ann Lewis, explains the contents of the museum display cases

Objects from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's museum collection attracted royal attention on 11 March when the museum's travelling display cases formed part of an exhibition for a visit by the Duke of York to the Royal Free Hospital in North London.

The museum's "flying boxes" hold pharmacy items from the 19th and early 20th centuries. One case is themed around the art of Victorian dispensing and includes a pill mortar, pill machine, pill rounders and silverers, powder folders and suppository moulds. The other case, focusing on the sick room, has a Victorian ceramic inhaler, a group of medicine and poison bottles, rectal ointment introducers and a range of familiar 19th and early 20th century medicines.

The duke visited the Royal Free on 11 March, when he officially opened a robotic dispenser in the hospital's outpatient pharmacy (PJ, 15 March, p359). The opening was one of a number of events marking the 175th anniversary of the hospital.

The origins of the hospital can be traced to 13 March 1832, when a young surgeon, William Marsden, met 27 of his friends in a coffee house to discuss a project for providing free health care for London's poor. Just seven weeks later the London General Institution for the Gratuitous Cure of Malignant Diseases opened. It changed its name to the Royal Free Hospital when Queen Victoria agreed to become its patron in 1837. The hospital's present Hampstead building was completed in 1974 and officially opened by the Queen in 1978, 150 years after Marsden's coffee morning.

The Society's museum is also taking part in the hospital's 175th birthday event on 17 April when the hospital's atrium will be full of displays and activities to mark the anniversary. The museum will mount a display and video demonstration of historical pharmacy techniques, and museum staff will encourage visitors to try their hand at pill rolling.

Travelling display cases available to borrow

The museum's travelling display cases can be borrowed singly or as a pair for display at sites such as community pharmacies, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, local museums, libraries, schools and other education centres. Each case consists of a clear Perspex display unit on a waist-high plinth. The objects are permanently secured to the base of the sealed unit. For transit, the plinth becomes a protective case. Packed for transit, the cases are 75cm x 60cm x 90cm high. Each weighs about 40kg.

The standard loan period is one month, but longer periods can sometimes be arranged. Borrowers can collect the cases, or the museum can arrange delivery at cost. Loan attracts a small administration fee, and borrowers must meet certain conditions as regards security during use and transit.

Further information about the showcases can be obtained from the Museum Office, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, 1 Lambeth High Street, London SE1 7JN (tel 020 7572 2210; fax 020 7572 2499; e-mail museum@rpsgb.org.uk).

Information is also available from the museum section of the Society's website.