Health & Medicine
The Museum's collections of medical science artifacts represent nearly all aspects of health and medical practice. Highlights include early X-ray apparatuses, such as one of Wilhelm Roentgen's tubes, penicillin mold from Alexander Fleming’s experiments, and Jonas Salk's original polio vaccine. More recent acquisitions include the first artificial heart implanted in a human, the earliest genetically engineered drugs, and materials related to David, the "Bubble Boy." Other artifacts range from artificial limbs and implant devices to bloodletting and dental instruments, beauty products, and veterinary equipment. The contents of a medieval apothecary shop and an 1890s drugstore form part of the collections, along with patent and alternative medicines. The collections also document the many differing perspectives on health and medical issues, from patients, family members, doctors, nurses, medical students, and out-of-the-mainstream health practitioners.
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Influenza Virus Vaccine U.S.P. Bivalent Types A and B (Zonal Purified)
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1976
- expiration date
- 1976-12-15
- maker
- American Cyanamid Company. Lederle Laboratories Division
- ID Number
- 1980.0076.011
- accession number
- 1980.0076
- catalog number
- 1980.0076.011
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Microscope No. 23175 - Associated with the Laboratory of the United States Marine Hospital Service
- Description
- This medium-sized compound monocular is a Zeiss model IVa with coarse and fine focus, triple nosepiece (with three Zeiss objectives), square mechanical stage, trunnion, Abbé condenser with iris diaphragm that can shift from left to right, sub-stage mirror, horseshoe base, and wooden box with extra lenses. The “Carl Zeiss / Jena / No 23175” inscription on the tube is in block letters (not cursive), and of the form that the firm used before introducing its trade mark in 1904. It was probably purchased in the 1890s for use in the Hygienic Laboratory of the United States Marine Hospital Service, a facility that was then located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and that later became the National Institutes of Health.
- The first Marine Hospital Service Hygienic Laboratory had been established on Staten Island in 1887 by Joseph Kinyoun (1860-1919), a young American physician who had studied bacteriology with Robert Koch in Germany. Kinyoun equipped the Hygienic Laboratory with scientific apparatus “modeled after those used in the laboratory of Dr. Koch,” including “Zeiss’s latest improved microscope objectives and micro-photographic apparatus.” In September 1887, Kinyoun used a Zeiss microscope to examine the “excreta” of sick passengers on an Italian ship recently arrived in New York, and determined that the cause was cholera. This, says historian Eva Ahrén, “was the first time cholera was identified by means of microbial investigation in the Americas.”
- Ref: Carl Zeiss, Microscopes and Microscopic Accessories (Jena, 1898), pp. 46-47.
- Victoria Harden, Inventing the NIH: Federal Biomedical Research Policy 1887-1937 (Baltimore, 1986).
- Eva Ahrén, “Joseph Kinyoun, the Hygienic Laboratory, and the Origins of the NIH,” http://irp.nih.gov/catalyst/v20i6/nih-in-history
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1890 - 1904
- maker
- Zeiss, Carl
- ID Number
- 1980.0349.06
- accession number
- 1980.0349
- catalog number
- 1980.0349.06
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hydrozone - A Powerful Destroyer of Bacteria, Microbes and Germs in the Human System
- Description
- The indications or uses for this product as provided by the manufacturer are:
- Treatment of catarrh, hay fever, diphtheria, croup quinsy, tonsilitis, sore throat, whooping cough, bronchitis, asthma, women's weaknesses
- date made
- 1908-1918
- maker
- Drevet Manufacturing Company
- Marchand, Charles
- ID Number
- 1984.0782.096
- accession number
- 1984.0782
- catalog number
- 1984.0782.096
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Toiletine
- Description
- The indications or uses for this product as provided by the manufacturer are:
- Chapped hands, sunburn, and skin irritations. Use during and after shaving. Cuts, burns, and bruises. Coughs, colds, and hoarseness.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- after 1906
- maker
- Toiletine Company
- ID Number
- 1984.0782.196
- accession number
- 1984.0782
- catalog number
- 1984.0782.196
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Drene Shampoo, Medium
- Description
- Drene shampoo was introduced by Procter & Gamble of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the mid-1930s. It was the first modern synthetic (no soap) shampoo and it marked the company’s entrance into the hair care business. In 1946 and 1947 Procter & Gamble sponsored a variety radio program called Drene Time which featured singing and comedy acts, including the Bickersons, played by Don Ameche and Francis Langford. Procter & Gamble produced Drene in the United States until the 1970s.
- This bottle, with its bright green and purple label, had a new formula that "silkened the hair." It was produced in the early to mid-1950s.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1952-1954
- maker
- Procter and Gamble
- ID Number
- 1984.0718.107
- catalog number
- 1984.0718.107
- accession number
- 1984.0718
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Wrigley Spearmint Tooth Paste
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Wrigley Pharmaceutical Company
- ID Number
- 1984.0782.228
- catalog number
- 1984.0782.228
- accession number
- 1984.0782
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Mellisda Tooth Powder
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Davies, Rose and Company
- ID Number
- 1984.0782.230
- catalog number
- 1984.0782.230
- accession number
- 1984.0782
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Burham Safety Razor
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Burham Safety Razor Company
- ID Number
- 1984.0782.315
- accession number
- 1984.0782
- catalog number
- 1984.0782.315
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Rosemary Cologne
- Location
- Currently not on view
- distributor
- Rosemary Laboratories
- ID Number
- 1984.0782.360
- accession number
- 1984.0782
- catalog number
- 1984.0782.360
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Calder's Dentine
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Albert L. Calder Company
- ID Number
- 1984.0782.047
- accession number
- 1984.0782
- catalog number
- 1984.0782.047
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Pearl-Mint Tooth Paste
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Associated Dental Products
- ID Number
- 1984.0782.227
- catalog number
- 1984.0782.227
- accession number
- 1984.0782
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Squibb's Jamaica Ginger
- Description
- The indications or uses for this product as provided by the manufacturer, or as found in contemporary medical literature, are:
- For an intestinal stimulant and carminative [relieves flatulence] in colic and diarrhea [Remington's Practice of Pharmacy, Seventh Edition,1926]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1920
- maker
- E. R. Squibb and Sons
- ID Number
- 1984.0782.241
- accession number
- 1984.0782
- catalog number
- 1984.0782.241
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Richard Hudnut Gardenia Sachet
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Richard Hudnut
- ID Number
- 1984.0782.355
- catalog number
- 1984.0782.355
- accession number
- 1984.0782
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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7 Sutherland Sisters' Hair and Scalp Cleaner
- Description
- This powdered shampoo was produced by the Seven Sutherland Sisters Corporation beginning in the late 1800s and into the 1930s. The sisters toured with Barnum and Bailey beginning in 1884 and were famous for their long hair, which stretched a supposed 37 feet in total. They were models, singers, and entertainers, and were among the first celebrity endorsers. They remain famous in Niagara County, N.Y., where they were born.
- Henry Bailey married one of the sisters and trademarked the name "7 Sutherland Sisters" in 1886, claiming to have been using it since 1884. This particular box is dated to around 1918. The hair products were still being advertised in the 1930s, but had begun their decline in popularity.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1918
- maker
- 7 Sutherland Sisters
- ID Number
- 1980.0317.03
- accession number
- 1980.0317
- catalog number
- 1980.0317.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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U-80 Lente Iletin (Insulin, Lilly), 10cc., 80 Units per cc.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1956
- maker
- Eli Lilly and Company
- ID Number
- 1980.0076.013
- accession number
- 1980.0076
- catalog number
- 1980.0076.13
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Combattez La Tuberculose - Fight Tuberculosis
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 1980.0321.01
- accession number
- 1980.0321
- catalog number
- 1980.0321.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Captain Tim's Ivory Stamp Album
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1936
- maker
- Procter and Gamble
- ID Number
- 1984.0718.120
- catalog number
- 1984.0718.120
- accession number
- 1984.0718
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Venida Nylon Hair Net with Elastic Edge, Dark Brown #70
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Rieser Company, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1984.0557.04
- accession number
- 1984.0557
- catalog number
- 1984.0557.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Newbro's Herpicide
- Description
- Newbro’s Herpicide was developed at the end of the 19th century by Dupont M. Newbro, owner of Newbro Drug Company, a wholesale drug business in Butte, Mont. Mr. Newbro promoted the theory that a bacterium or parasite was the cause of dandruff, which then led to baldness. He claimed to have worked with a bacteriologist to create a formula that would kill the "dandruff germ." Hence the name Herpicide: Herpes (from the Latin "to creep") and cide ("to kill"). Newbro trademarked the word in 1899. By 1902 he sold his Montana drug business to focus on his new product and company, the Herpicide Company, established in Detroit, Mich. The formula proved very successful, and Newbro’s Herpicide was sold nationwide and in Europe through the 1930s.
- The Herpicide advertising slogan, accompanied by drawings of a man’s balding head, was "Going (Herpicide will save it)...going (Herpicide will save it)...gone! (Too late for Herpicide)." The phrase "Too late for Herpicide" became a popular catch phrase of the 1920s and remained popular into the 1950s, long after Newbro’s Herpicide was being sold.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1933-1940
- maker
- Herpicide Company
- ID Number
- 1984.0782.133
- accession number
- 1984.0782
- catalog number
- 1984.0782.133
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Sanifoam Mouthwash Tablets for Teeth and Gums
- Location
- Currently not on view
- copyright date
- 1930
- maker
- Sanifoam Inc.
- ID Number
- 1984.0557.17
- accession number
- 1984.0557
- catalog number
- 1984.0557.17
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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- Women's Health 285
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- Health & Medicine 6802
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- Disabilities 248
- Beauty and Hygiene Products: Fragrance 242
- Antibody Initiative: New York City Public Health Collections 226
- Antibody Initiative: Infectious Disease, Allergy, and Immunotherapy Collections 198
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- Beauty and Hygiene Products: Bathing 186
- Diabetes 180
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- Antibody Initiative: Smallpox 150
