One of forty-two (42) specimens illustrating the manufacture of pills and tablets donated by Parke, Davis and Company in 1932 for the pharmacy exhibits. The specimens illustrate the ingredients and intermediate steps in the production of Compound Cathartic Pills (see M-03184 through M-03193) and Pepsin, Bismuth and Charcoal Compressed Tablets (see M-03194 through M-03203). The specimens were exhibited along with photographs of the process from the Parke Davis plant in Detroit, Michigan, and several examples of packaged pill and tablet products. This exhibit replaced a 1921 exhibit on the same subject provided by El Lilly and Company (see accession 66991).
The indications or uses for this product as provided by the manufacturer are:
For infants and the toilet. Ivaluable for chafing, prickly heat, irritations, sunburn, etc. Used in leading hospitals. Both the powder and the exquisite perfume are antiseptic
One of forty-two (42) specimens illustrating the manufacture of pills and tablets donated by Parke, Davis and Company in 1932 for the pharmacy exhibits. The specimens illustrate the ingredients and intermediate steps in the production of Compound Cathartic Pills (see M-03184 through M-03193) and Pepsin, Bismuth and Charcoal Compressed Tablets (see M-03194 through M-03203). The specimens were exhibited along with photographs of the process from the Parke Davis plant in Detroit, Michigan, and several examples of packaged pill and tablet products. This exhibit replaced a 1921 exhibit on the same subject provided by El Lilly and Company (see accession 66991).
One of twenty-nine (29) specimens illustrating the manufacture of pills and tablets donated by Eli Lilly and Company in 1921 for the pharmacy exhibits. The specimens illustrate the ingredients used to produce Phenasbic Tablets (see M-01196 through M-01201) and Compound Cathartic Pills (see M-01206 through M-01214) as well as various steps in the manufacturing process for these products. The specimens were exhibited along with photographs of the Lilly manufacturing plant in Indianapolis, Indiana. Both products are laxative, or cathartic, medicines used in chronic constipation.
The exhibit as described in the 1922 Smithsonian Annual Report: “It has not been so many years ago since all pills and tablets used in medicine were made by hand. Necessity, the mother of invention, created the demand for machines to do this work, and an exhibit was installed during the year to give an idea of the workings of a modern pill and tablet manufacturing plant. For this Eli Lilly & Co., of Indianapolis, Ind., contributed 29 specimens and 14 photographs. With the compound cathartic pill and the phenasbic tablet as types, each progressive step - weighing, mixing, kneading, shaping, and coating - have been illustrated so that each process can be easily understood.”
