Ophthalmic surgical set used by Nelson Franklin Wetmore (1851-1926), a physician in Wisconsin and father of Alexander Wetmore, the sixth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. An inscription in the lid reads “EYE CASE / PAR 914 M.M.D. 1917 / G. P. PILLING & SON CO. / PHILADELPHIA / CONTRACT DATED JUNE 15TH 1917.”
This disecting that belonged to Nancy Blake Fernald (1835-1871), a graduate of the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania. A label in the case reads “MANUFACTURED / BY / J. H. GEMRIG / 109 South Eighth St. / PHILADELPHIA.” John H. Gemrig was at this address in 1866-1880.
An inscription on the cardboard case reads “STAR SAFETY CORN KNIFE / KAMPFE BROS. N.Y. / TRADE MARK.” An inscription on the knifes reads “ACME TOLEDO.” The Kampfe Bros. (Frederick, Richard and Otto) began making safety razors in New York City in 1875. And they were advertising the Corn Knife by 1907.