Museum helps St Mary's Hospital celebrate 75 years of penicillin
Staff from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society museum took part in a festival at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, on 30 August to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Sir Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin.
Visitors to the festival were able to try their hand at making pills
using a variety of museum artefacts including a mortar and pestle, pill
machine and pill rounder all dating from the early 1900s. Society staff
also talked to festival-goers about the museum’s collections.
Held in the hospital grounds, the festival attracted about 10,000 visitors
and included around 50 stalls run by hospital departments, health and
medical organisations and local groups.
Briony Hudson, keeper of the Society’s museum collections, said: “Bringing
history to life is an important part of what we do. The day was a great
success and attracted a wide range of visitors both from both the hospital
and the local community. People of all ages took part in our pill-making
activity, and found out more about the Society’s collections and
the services the Society’s museum offers.”
A visitor to the festival tries his hand at pill rolling |
Under adult supervision, a child tries out a mortar and pestle |
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