Page 19 - Pharmacy History 22 Mar 2004

COLLECTIBLES
The Bubby Pot
by Geoff Miller
Since time immemorial feeding an infant was a real problem if the mother was unable to provide sufficient milk for her child to thrive or she could
not afford to engage a wet nurse or a surrogate alternative to her own breast.
The ancients used a variety of means to suckle a child the simplest being a cloth or sponge soaked in expressed milk, which was placed in the
baby’s mouth.
Before glass bottles and rubber teats became available, an eighteenth century solution was to use a Bubby Pot.
It was invented in England by a
Dr Hugh Smith in 1771, and was made of silver, pewter, cream-ware or later in transfer printed earthenware.
It was designed to be used at home and the knob at the end of the spout is pierced by several holes. In use, a piece of fine rag was tied over this.
One of its advantages over a pap boat
was said to be that it needed more effort on behalf of the infant and so avoided over feeding. The example in the photo is only 12cm high.
For a collector, a genuine cream-ware eighteenth century Bubby Pot would be worth around $1800 today, because of its rarity.
37th International Congress
The 37th International Conference of the History of Pharmacy, People and Places, will be held in Edinburgh from June 22-25, 2005. All the meetings will be held at the University of Edinburgh, George Square. It will be formally opened at 11 am on Wednesday 23rd by the Lord Provost of Edinburgh and representatives of pharmacy and history research.
This conference, hosted by the British Society for the History of Pharmacy, coincides with the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. In addition to presentations on the history of pharmacy in Scotland and England there will be a lecture on the history of the Royal College. There will also be opportunities to visit the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons and the 500-year exhibition.
Applications are welcome from non-members of the Society and anyone interested in pharmacy history.
For further information please contact Kate McIntosh, ICHP 2005, Index Communications Meeting Services (Scotland) Ltd, 7 Summerhall Place, Edinburgh EH9 1QE.
email: scotland@indexcommunications.com or phone: +44 131 667 9982.
LUCERNE PROCEEDINGS PUBLISHED
Our Swiss Colleagues hosted the 35th International Congress in 2001 and now the proceedings have been published on CD-ROM. It contains the full text of 115 presentations made, which amounts to about 900 pages of print.
The CD Rom is available free of charge from the Secretary of the Australian Academy, Geoff Miller. (See addresses on Page 20.)
volume 2 ■ no 23 ■ July 2004
Pharmacy History Australia ■ 19