Object Record
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Metadata
Description |
A semi-opaque, cylindrical glass bottle with a glass stopper. The bottle reads, in relief letters, "CASWELL HAZARD & CO./CHEMISTS/NEW YORK/&/NEWPORT.R.I." Printed label on front has fields for "dose" and "after meals", but these are crossed out. Handwritten in ink is "Liquid ammonia". Below, printed, "Dr. I.B. COWEN/PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON/Little Compton, R.I." Liquid ammonia during this period was recognized for a variety of uses in medicine, including: stimulant, diaphoretic, antispasmodic, antiseptic, poison treatment (snake/spider/insect bites), vesicant, and counterirritant. It was also used extensively in the treatment of rabies and its common symptom, hydrophobia. [Wang, Jessica. Mad Dogs and Other New Yorkers: Rabies, Medicine, and Society in an American Metropolis, 1840-1920. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019. pg 100]. Philip Caswell, John R. Caswell and Rowland N. Hazard began using the name "Caswell, Hazard, & Co" in 1867 dissolved their partnership in 1876, hence the dates utilized to estimate the bottle's age. [A history of the firm is available at https://casetext.com/case/caswell-et-al-v-hazard-et-al, in the context of an 1890 trademark case between John Caswell & Rowland Hazard.] |
Object Name |
Bottle, Apothecary |
Catalog Number |
2019.76.1 |
Year Range from |
1867 |
Year Range to |
1876 |
Provenance |
Found in the attic of the Brownell home at 411 West Main Rd in Little Compton. |