PHARMACY HISTORY AUSTRALIA

Vol 3 , No 26 October 2005

A Room with a view - Click here for full article

Medicines that changed the world

President’s column

Turlington’s Balsam of Life - George Griffenhagen

Secundem Artem - Collyria & Lamellae - Click here for full article
Catherine Bartho

American ginseng - Dennis B Worthen

Allenburys foods and feeders - Click here for full article
Sue Watts

Marks and trade marks - Geoff Miller

Do the crime - do the time: John Arthur - convict - Peter Maguire

Travellers tales - Scotland - Glenn Fidich

Alfred Lawrence & Co. Ltd. - Geoff Miller

Book Review - A pirate of exquisite mind - William Dampier

Weird words – sternutatory - Gregory Haines

Memories of McKimm’s pharmacy - Peter Maguire

From Pharmacy History Australia :

A room with a view

Geoff Miller
Editor

What surely must be one of the best located pharmaceutical practice laboratories in the country is at the University of Western Australia.

From its fourth floor vantage, the vista from the picture windows extends over a broad sweep of the Swan River with Perth city as a backdrop. The tranquil scene must be very soothing to tired brain cells.

Commencing in July this year, the University of Western Australia is now offering a Post Graduate Master of Pharmacy degree to students who have attained a Bachelor degree in biomedical/biochemical or allied health science.

Murdoch University, located south of the river, is offering a similar course to students wishing to register as pharmacists. This course started at the beginning of September.Similar opportunities for a higher pharmacy degree are also being offered at other universities around the country including Sydney, Canberra, Newcastle and Griffith. The introduction of these courses is expected to improve the nationwide supply and demand for pharmacists well into the future.

It has been said that students at what ever level are generally ‘drowning in knowledge, but starving in wisdom’ and in order to restore some balance into courses of study it has been shown that a knowledge of the history or the ‘evolution’ of the profession they are entering into, is the ideal way to achieve this.

The Master of Pharmacy Degree offered an opportunity to introduce a short introduction to the long path of history that pharmacy has followed down through the ages, and this has already been taken up by the Academy in WA.

Undergraduate students at Curtin University in Perth are also continuing to be challenged with some of the lessons of history and a future exercise will be to determine if there is any correlation between the bacheloreate students and those studying for a second degree, in the interest factor relating to history being introduced into their courses.

Any comments will most welcome.

Collyria and Lamellae

by Catherine Bartho

The eyes have always been regarded as special parts of the body along with the heart and the brain. The eyes have been called ‘the windows of the soul’. Poets of all ages have referred to eyes.

Songwriters too find inspiration in eyes as in: ‘Take a pair of sparkling eyes,’ (Gilbert and Sullivan) ‘Drink to me only with thine eye,’ (Ben Jonson) or ‘Two lovely black eyes.’ (Charles Coborn).While the title of this article would suggest a story about a high powered legal firm, it is in fact the name of two types of eye preparations which dispensing chemists used to prepare.

When a chemist receives a script for eye preparations an extra degree of care is used because eyesight is such a precious faculty. In the past 50 years, the making of eye preparations has largely moved from the retail shop to the large scale laboratory where sterile conditions can be guaranteed. Not so a 100 years ago.

Collyria, or eye lotions, were simple or compounded aqueous solutions for bathing eyes. The distilled water used was freshly prepared and the lotion filtered through paper. They were usually prescribed in quantities of one, six or eight fluid ounces and dispensed in a bottle to distinguish them from oral mixtures.

Simple ingredients in various combinations prescribed were boric acid, boracic acid, aluminis, copper sulphate, hydrarg (mercury) perchloride, quinine hydrochloride, sodi. bicarb, zinc chloride or zinc sulphate. The strengths of hydrarg perchloride were infinitesimal such as one in 10,000.

Some doctors had their own speciality and might prescribe aqua opii, liq plumbi (lead), tincture of fennel, camphor, saffron, cocaine, divine stone(?) or liquid extract of belladonna.The last ingredient was so named because its use dilated the pupils and made the eyes more attractive. Most often used for this purpose by ladies hence the name belladonna.

Some eye lotions were based on alcohol, incorporating oils of lavender, rosemary for alcoholic eye wash, Or Spiritus Opthalmicus. Dr Pagenstecher’s prescription used spirits of melissa, lavender, camphor in sweet spirits of nitre, to be used six times a day. Dr Mittendorf combined spirit of camphor, lavender and rosemary in brandy. (Maybe as a drink it would add sparkle to the eyes). And Dr. Warlomont’s formula combined borax, henbane extract and decoction of marshmallow.

Labels for eye lotions would include directions for dilution such as ‘pour out about a tablespoonful of fluid and mix with as much boiling water in a teacup. With a piece of old linen or soft sponge bathe the eyes with the mixture while it is yet warm for a few minuted, throwing back the head so as to allow a little to flow in upon the eye. Keep the cup covered and having rewarmed the contents, repeat the bathing of the eye three times a day’.

As most labels were hand written at the time, it must have been a challenge to write a neat label.

Lamellae, or eye discs, were cut out of very thin sheets of medicated gelatin and used by inserting a disc between the eye and the lid. They were patented by W Barker of Savory and Moore, well respected London chemists, and were first officially listed in the 1885 British Pharmacopoeia (BP). The official method of preparation was included in the Appendix of the BP in 1914. The base was prepared with gelatin, glycerin and distilled water strained through muslin. The medicated ‘basis’ is poured on a prepared glass sheet, making sure that the sheet is level. Cover the preparation to exclude dust and allow to dry for 14 days when the film can be detached from the glass used as a base. Discs can be punched out of the sheet. It was a wasteful method as the quantity for 1,000 discs produced only 784 discs.

Adrenalin, alum sulphate, silver nitrate, atropine, cocaine, gelsemium, duboisine, hyoscine, pilcarpine, lead acetate, scopolamine, thymol zinc sulphate are all listed as ingredients for lamellae as well as mercuric chloride in a dilution of one in 100,000.

Lamellae were placed in the eye under the top eyelid, as one would insert a contact lens.

The same method of preparation is recommended for oral medications particularly for the traveller, instead of tablets ‘if they are kept dry’.

The pharmacist at Sydney Eye Hospital said they had well and truly gone out of use. In fact she did not know of them.

Allenburys foods and feeders

by Sue Watts

Allen & Hanburys, the famous UK pharmaceutical company, was founded at 2 Plough Court, off Lombard Street in London in 1715. By the early 20th Century Allenburys had become a famous household brand name, with the company’s packaging bearing the familiar plough and AD 1715 trademark. Allenburys infant foods and feeding equipment were produced between 1879 and 1958.

There was a growing market for commercially made foods for babies and invalids in the 1870s. Products such as Robinson’s Patent Barley and Groats were already established. Liebig’s Concentrated Patent Milk, later to be called Mellins Food, and Anglo Swiss Condensed Milk first went on sale. Allen & Hanburys began selling a malted food in 1879 its composition based on the Liebig principle. Malt extracts were found to be an ideal base for mixing with Cod Liver Oil and were used to make the famous Bynol food and tonic products. WR Dodd, a director of the company, patented a method of evaporating milk at a low temperature to form a thick paste in 1892. This was then oven dried before being ground into a powder. Malt extracts were added and Mother’s Milk Food was soon put into production at their Bethnal Green factory receiving a positive review in the Chemist & Druggist.

In 1893 three separate infant foods were advertised as a ‘New Departure in Infant Feeding’. This was the first time that infant foods had been formulated to match the varied nutritional requirements of babies of different ages. First Food For Infants, (No 1) was specially adapted for delicate infants from birth to three months of age. Milk was ‘brought up as nearly as possible to the standard of human milk in casein, fat and sugar. It is then sterilised, concentrated in vacuo and preserved in hermetically closed vessels’. Mother’s Milk Food, (No 2), was ‘designed for all normal healthy infants under seven months’. It comprised the No 1 formula ‘with the addition of small quantities of maltose and dextrine together with soluble phosphates resulting from the crushed whole meal with barley malt’. The original malted food was renamed the Malted Food, (No 3). Its basis was fine wheaten flour heated with malt extract and was prepared using fresh milk.

Demand increased rapidly and production of all the Allenburys foods was moved to Ware in Hertfordshire. An established centre for malting, Ware had other advantages that included good transport links, flour milling expertise and plentiful barley supplies, as well as an unlimited pure water supply, unpolluted air, and abundant local supplies of fresh milk. Redesigned packaging had been introduced by early in 1899. The No 1 food was recommended for all infants up to three months and the No 2 for those up to six months. Allenburys Rusks were also made at Ware. In 1927 the rusk bread, made as long flat loaves, was baked in a 45 foot long travelling oven before being sliced up, toasted and packed.

Allen & Hanburys were relative latecomers into the feeding bottle market. Their first feeder was an innovative design when introduced in 1895 with features drawn from several sources. Fierce competition existed between druggist sundries supplies companies such as S Maw Son & Thompson at this time. The ubiquitous turtle shaped, bent neck, long tube bottle typified by the Maws Alexandra had been a well-established commercial success for about 20 years although the medical profession had grave doubts about the high infant mortality rate linked with its use.

Two inventors, RC Baker and H Costerton, were granted patents for feeding bottles in 1885. Baker’s design was on sale as the first true double-ended feeder by 1890. Developed from the hand made flat submarine shape its narrow opening was fitted with the teat, a new wider lower end was fitted with a blank screw stopper that could be removed for filling and ‘convenience in cleaning’. Costerton’s specification showed a wide bottle neck closed with a new screw in or plug stopper. The stopper acted as a pierced teat support for a single neck bottle or a removable plug for two ended bottles. The basic bottle profile was described as an ‘elongated, flattened oval with taper ends’ and the neck ends were bent up ‘to prevent leakage’. A further 1891 patent lodged in the USA showed an oval shaped turtle bottle fitted with a small, solid rubber plug in a small ground out bottom opening. Advertisements showed it being flushed out under a running tap.

The 1896 Chemist & Druggist Diary carried a full-page advertisement for the three Allenburys Foods alongside The Allenburys Feeder for the first time. The new boat shaped bottle had a wide bent up neck fitted with a pull over teat. The smaller ground out lower opening that protruded slightly from the flat bottle body was fitted with a vented rubber plug. The four advantages of the new bottle were listed as graduations to measure the food, no angular corners to facilitate easy cleaning, no long tube to breed germs and an effective valve to regulate the air flow and prevent colic. The wholesale price was 10/- per dozen.

1898 to 1899 appears to have been a transition period, corresponding with the move of food production from Bethnal Green to Ware and the introduction of new packaging artwork. Advertising illustrations for this period are not consistent, sometimes showing two slightly different bottle shapes side by side. The original Allenburys Feeder had clearly proved to be unsatisfactory as the valve end was now bent upwards. The probable reason for this change was leakage from the rubber plug when the bottle was placed flat. The newly strengthened and bent up valve end was embossed with the registered design number 314772. The stylish monochrome artwork on the feeder boxes matched the new food packaging. This shape was in production for about seven years and examples are fairly common in the UK, some being found with their original good quality boxes. An amended feeder box label in my collection shows that the retail price was raised from 1/-to 1/3d on November 1, 1899. The 1901 Allen & Hanburys catalogue showed the feeder being flushed out under a running tap, a practice not without its risk as damaged examples dug out from rubbish tips have often lost the protruding valve end.

The Edwardian era was a time of innovation and fierce competition when manufacturers were striving to introduce new ideas. The simple ‘Hygienic’ type of double-ended feeder was becoming more popular and would eventually become the UK market leader. John Dowell, a druggist sundries manufacturer, worked closely with Allen & Hanburys and a succession of patents was granted between 1903 and 1907 for feeder related products. A wire spring clip to fix teats securely and a small glass regulator disc valve that fitted inside the teat were joint company projects in 1903. As the disc measured just 22mm across it would have represented a major choking hazard and was not on sale for very long. Dowell patented a firm beaded edge to make teats and valves grip more efficiently in 1904. WR Dodd’s second patent was granted in 1905 for a wire bottle holder that allowed the Allenburys Feeder to be propped up in the cot for the infant to be left alone to feed itself. Another feeder holder was knitted from ‘pure white wool’ in the form of a drawstring bag to hang up in the cot. This ‘kept the feed warm and protected the bottle against breakage’. In later years other accessories included a thermometer for food and bath water, a ceramic medicine spoon, a teat shield to prevent the baby taking the neck of the bottle into its mouth and several designs of measuring glasses and jugs for dry powder and liquid food. Green enamel measuring jugs were sold in the 1930s.

The problems caused by the vulnerable valve opening began to be addressed when Dowell took out patent No 15449 in 1905. His invention had two identical ends that were designed for the bead edged teats and valves. The bottle was described as ‘cradle shaped’ with ‘one flat, table like central base and two oppositely disposed inclined flat, ribbed, or studded supporting surfaces upon which the bottle may rest in either end position’, teat and valve placements were interchangeable. The bottle was placed valve end down for filling. Patents for a hot water bath steriliser and another new valve followed in 1910. The Lombard Feeder and steriliser sold by Allen & Hanburys for a short time alongside the Allenburys Feeder were identical to the two patent specifications. In July 1910 the Chemist & Druggist reported that ‘Messrs Allen & Hanburys … have adopted the advantages of the Lombard Feeder to the Allenburys Feeder’. Chemists were warned of a limited changeover period for ordering the old style solid plugs and new transparent valves and feeder boxes carried a separate warning label for a short time.

The new Allenburys Feeder bearing Dowell’s patent No 15449 and registered design number 543183 was to remain on sale until the 1950s. It incorporated the central base, matching inclined ends and one wide neck of the Lombard but the strengthened valve neck was smaller. The point of the new valve was inserted into the bottle and the beaded edge rolled back into position on the thickened rim. The name was written across the bottle front but all the illustrations show the name running along the side from teat to valve. A half size bottle for feeding premature or very young babies was on sale by 1925. A modification with finger grips in the sides of the bottle was patented by Dowell in 1922 and briefly sold as the Dual Feeder but does not appear to have been a commercial success. When a Royal Dolls House was commissioned for Queen Mary by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the 1920s a miniature set was made comprising an Allenburys Feeder measuring one inch long, with a mini food measure, food tin and rusks tin making a unique advertising piece.

The familiar two tone green packaging was probably introduced just before the outbreak of war in 1914 but so far I have been unable to establish the exact year. There appears to have been a transition period when the old and new designs overlapped and an engraving of the new shape feeder appeared on old artwork labels. The familiar oval portrait of a mother offering her baby a bottle of food at arms length was used on all three Allenburys Foods tins but not for the Malted Rusks and Allenburys Diet Food for invalids. The feeder box sides and ends were used to advertise Allenburys baby products such as Nursery Powder, Soap and Cream. Allenburys food products for older children and adults such as Milk Cocoa, Milk Food Chocolate, Liquid Beef were also featured, the text and pictures regularly modified in small subtle ways. The portrait was one of the few aspects of the original design left during the austerity of the 1939 to 1945 World War period when strict emergency packaging regulations controlling the supply of cardboard and printing inks were in force in the UK. Packaging with pale blue printing on a white background was used after the war during the final years of the Allenburys Feeder.

In 1918 infant foods had represented 50% of Allen & Hanburys total business. Sales had peaked by 1925 but food production had become a liability 30 years later. A booklet, Infant Feeding and Management, had been published in several editions and vitamin D was added to all the Allenbury milk foods from 1928 but this was not enough to combat fierce competition. Advertising mainly aimed at the medical profession and the policy of only selling Allenburys products through chemist shops restricted business. Glaxo and other companies advertised directly to the public and subsidised their sales by offering reduced prices in welfare clinics. Allen & Hanburys had lost its place as market leader by 1930. In addition the directors failed to adopt cheaper production methods before the outbreak of war in 1939. In the post war years, levels of advertising were further reduced. The UK market was dominated by Glaxo, their food now re-branded as Ostermilk, and the long established Cow & Gate brand. Allenburys Food production became uneconomic and was discontinued in 1953. Allenburys Feeders had been widely imitated by manufacturers in the Far East and Australia, the Arcos Feeder being the most successful, but the old fashioned double ended shape was no longer popular in the world market and quickly became obsolete. The newer, more convenient, wide necked feeders with flange teats held in place with screw caps quickly replaced the old designs. The Allenburys Feeder was finally withdrawn after nearly 60 years when Allen & Hanburys merged with its rival Glaxo in 1958.

References

Tweedale G. At the sign Of the plough. 1990.
Cripps EC. Plough Court, A Notable Pharmacy. 1927.
Chemist & Druggist Diaries, 1896, 1899. Wellcome Library.
Chemist & Druggist Diary 1904. Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Lambeth.
Allen & Hanburys catalogue 1901. Thackery Museum, Leeds.
Allen & Hanburys Catalogue of Surgical Instruments & Appliances 1910 and 1930.
Allen & Hanburys catalogues 1892 to 1950. Glaxo company archives.
Varied patent abridgements and full patents. Leeds City Patents Library.
Allenbury’s feeders and baby related products. Sue Watts’ collection.
Packaging and ephemera from Allen & Hanburys products. Sue Watts collection.