Plastic label under lid has inscription reading:
W. M A R T I N D A L E
MANUFACTURING CHEMIST
10, NEW CAVENDISH STREET
L O N D O N
In case are two glass bottles with different contents. Bottle 1 contains a liquid, and inscription on label at front reads:
DILUTE
HYDROCHLORIC ACID
FOR NEUTRALISING
ALKALINE 'SALVARSAN' SOLUTION
(Vide Printed Matter)
------------------------
[logo] W. MARTINDALE, Phrmaceutical Chemist
10 New Cavendish Street
PORTLAND PLACE, LONDON, W.
Bottle 2 is empty and stained, and glass cap is broken. Inscription on label at front of bottle reads:
N O T T O B E T A K E N
Inscription below this is faded, and address below this reads:
Robert H. West M. P. S
The (Successor to F. ROUND)
Pharmacy, 25, YORK ROAD, B I R K D A L E
TELEPHONE No.5
Nickel plated case containing syringe,has inscription on top of lid reading:
RECORD
E H R L I C H - H A T A
Large glass tube in case has graduations at front from 50-300 C.C, and smaller glass tube has graduations at front from 1-10 C.C.
Production date
1910-1919
Production organisations
W. MARTINDALE
Labels
Salvarsan became the primary treatment for patients with syphilis during the 1910s. The administration of such a toxic compound required overnight observation as symptoms could include high temperature and chills, constipation and diarrhoea, vomiting, rigour, localised swelling and severe pain. The worst side effects led to thrombosis, nerve damage etc.
The treatment also cost a lot of money and this led a lot of Drs to question whether older (and cheaper) mercurial treatments were just as effective. One Dr noted in the BMJ in 1911 that he had written to his local wholesaler to order salvarsan. Upon hearing that each dose would cost 10s - equivalent to about £39.09 as of 2017 - he stated: ‘I need scarcely say my order was off after that.’
In addition to the toxicity and expense of the compound, it was also extremely hard to administer and required specialist apparatus as well as a whole lot of skill on the Dr’s part. The object above is a salvarsan injecting kit, you can see it even has a direction for use. It was considered the most effective treatment for syphilis as it was pretty much the only thing that could kill the bacteria known to cause the disease until good ol’ pencillin came along in 1941. First discovered by Professor Paul Ehrlich in collaboration with Professor Sahachiro Hata in the early 1910s, Salvarsan, also known as Arsphenamine or compound 606, was the first effective treatment for syphilis and is known as the first modern antimicrobial agent. As a toxic arsenic-based compound, salvarsan was difficult to handle and became unstable when exposed to air. It was distributed in powder form and had to be dissolved in sterile water before being injected into the patient. The injection often caused unpleasant side-effects, including rashes, nausea, temperature and liver damage, and had a tendency to ‘burn up veins’. However, it was far more effective than the previous standard treatment of mercury, and remained the treatment of choice for syphilis until the introduction of mass-produced penicillin after the Second World War.
