Treasures of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Collections
Poison antidote case by Burroughs, Wellcome & Co
The poison antidote case and its removable tray
of vials |
The Chemist & Druggist Diary of 1900 carried an advertisement for “drug outfits” by Burroughs, Wellcome & Co, Manufacturing Chemists of Snow Hill Buildings, London. The “drug outfits” in question featured medicine chests for medical men, travellers, missionaries and others going to all parts of the world.
Among the medicine chests was a “poison antidote case”, which
would have been of particular interest to medical practitioners in Britain
at the time, in view of the number of cases of malicious poisoning which
occurred in the later 19th century.
The poison antidote case consists of a wooden box, measuring 77mm x 310mm
x 155mm, with a hinged lid and metal handle. On the upper surface of
the lid are the words “Antidote Case” painted in red capitals,
while the facing edge has “Tabloid Brand, Trade Mark”.
(The Tabloid trademark was registered by Wellcome in 1884, initially
to describe the company’s compressed pill formulations, but it
was later also applied to other products such as medicine chests.)
The case contains 21 half ounce, cork stopped vials divided between the
lower layer of the box and an upper removable tray. Attached to the outside
of each vial is a paper label detailing the contents and instructions
for its antidote use.
There are also 10 small cork stopped tubes containing hypodermic tablets.
These are also labelled but only with their contents (eg, atropine sulphate
1/60 grain, curare 1/12 grain). The vials contain either tablets (eg,
potassium permanganate 2 grains), finely divided crystals (eg, Glauber’s
salt) or liquid (eg, ether, castor oil).
Also present is a cardboard tube of prepared chalk and a 1cc glass and
metal syringe.
The original advertisement includes a stomach siphon tube and a catheter
among the contents of the antidote case, but both these items are missing
from the museum’s example.
With the case there is a “toxicological chart”, which is
a comprehensive list of poisonous substances and antidote procedures
against them. The listed antidotes are more elaborate and detailed than
those on the outside of each vial. It is possible that these latter directions
were intended where emergency use of the vial contents was required as
an interim step towards recovery.
In England and Wales, in the 60 years between 1851 and 1911, there were
several trials for murder by poisoning, most of which concluded with
the execution of the poisoner. The murderers were able to obtain the
poisons from various sources, some of which were quite legitimate. The
Pharmacy Act of 1868 restricted the holding and supply of named poisons
to the chemist and druggist. This was far more stringent in its scope
than the Arsenic Act of 1851 which applied only to the supply of arsenic,
which before that date had been freely available.
Despite the stricter legislation five people were tried for arsenic poisoning
within the period stated. They included three accused in the Bradford
poisonings of 1858 who at the end of their trial were discharged, the
jury accepting that the poisonings were not deliberate.
In the case of Mr Seddon (1911), who was accused of poisoning a Miss
Barrow (his wealthy lodger), he obtained the arsenic as an aqueous extract
from arsenic-containing fly papers which were lawfully obtained from
a chemist.
Mrs Maybrick, who poisoned her husband with arsenic (1889, Liverpool)
is believed to have obtained her arsenic from a chemist, though this
was not revealed at the time of the trial. She was sentenced to imprisonment
rather than facing the gallows as the judge raised the factor that her
husband was thought to have been an “arsenic-eater”.
There were four instances of the use of antimony in poisoning. Three
of these were known to be in the form of tartar emetic (antimony potassium
tartrate), which was administered to the series of wives of Mr Chapman
(1897, 1901, 1902) in small doses over an extended period. The notorious
Dr Crippen (1910) murdered his wife by poisoning with hyoscine hydrobromide;
this substance being discovered by forensic examination of the exhumed
body.
Poisons used by others who were tried during the period were strychnine,
aqueous extract of colchicum seeds, aconitine and prussic acid (cyanide).
All the above poisons appeared in the toxicological chart accompanying
the antidote case. It would have been vital that the nature of the poison
taken was known and the recipient seen in time by a medical practitioner
to be given the appropriate antidote. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal