Inverted glass display jar with cork stopper on bottom. Black lettering is directly applied to glass: "STRONTIUM / SALICYLATE." Bottle is full of powdered salicylate.
One of seven (7) objects including two specimens of salicylic acid, four specimens of salicylates, and one specimen of sweet birch oil (“wintergreen”), donated to the museum in 1928 by the William S. Merrell Company. This material replaced specimens donated in 1917 for a display on the manufacture of salicylates which included a model of a birch oil still.
Both birch oil and oil of wintergreen are a source for methyl salicylate from which other salicylates are derived. Salicylates were first isolated from plants in the early 19th century. They have been used to treat pain, fever, and inflammation, particularly joint inflammation associated with rheumatism. Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), introduced 1899, is the most commonly used salicylate.