'Tabloid' medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt in 1909
`Tabloid' medicine chest in metal case used by Teddy Roosevelt on African Expedition, 1909 (originally catalogued as 1911), made by Burroughs Wellcome and Co., 1900-1909
What is more dangerous, a lion or a mosquito? If you went big game hunting in Africa a hundred years ago you took plenty of guns and ammunition, but also a good supply of quinine. The drug had long been essential for travellers braving malaria-infested parts of the world and this medicine chest was particularly well stocked.
It was taken to Africa by former US President Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt and his expedition in 1909. How do we know they encountered malaria? The chest originally contained six bottles of plain and ‘sugar coated’ quinine tablets, an anti-malarial drug used to treat established infections. Four bottles remain but only two have any contents left, suggesting the expedition got through the rest.
Another bottle of pills bears the curious name ‘Livingstone Rouser’, based on an original recipe developed by the missionary and explorer David Livingstone sixty years earlier. By combining quinine with laxatives such as rhubarb, Livingstone found that the drug helped to ‘rouse’ his body against the fever. It probably just relieved the main side effect of quinine – constipation.
With malarial mosquitoes tackled, how did the lions fare? Roosevelt and his companions were meant to be on a scientific collecting expedition for the Smithsonian Institute, but they hunted on a grand scale. He’d spared the life of a bear during a trip in 1902, sparking the soft toy trend we know as the teddy bear. But among the thousands of animals killed on this trip were several white rhinos – rare even then – one of which Roosevelt shot as it slept.
Details
- Category:
- Materia Medica & Pharmacology
- Collection:
- Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
- Object Number:
- A700000
- Materials:
- case, metal and bottles, glass
- Measurements:
-
overall: 210 mm x 400 mm x 250 mm, 27.5 kg
- type:
- medicine chest
- credit:
- Loan, Wellcome Trust
Parts
Glass bottle of Dover Powder tablets
Medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- steel (metal) , glass , materia medica , mahogany (wood) , cotton (thread) , brass (copper alloy) , paper (fibre product) , nickel plated and incomplete
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt3
- type:
- medicine chest
Medicine shaker from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
Glass bottle for medicine shaker from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
Iodoform gauze from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- paper (fibre product) , cardboard and wool (textile)
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt6
Two compresses from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- paper (fibre product) , cardboard and wool (textile)
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt7
- type:
- dressings
Bottle of Tabloid Quinine Bihydrochloride sugar-coated tablets from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) , materia medica and sellotape
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt8
- type:
- medicine bottle , materia medica and quinine
Bottle of Tabloid Quinine Bihydrochlor. from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass and paper (fibre product)
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt9
- type:
- medicine bottle , materia medica and quinine
Bottle of Tabloid bismuth subnitrate from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt10
- type:
- medicine bottle , materia medica and bismuth
Bottle of Tabloid "Empirin" (acetylsalicylic acid) compound from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt11
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of Tabloid compressed digitalin from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt12
- type:
- medicine bottle , materia medica and digitalin
Bottle of Tabloid calomel from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt13
- type:
- medicine bottle , materia medica and calomel
Bottle of Tabloid capiscum from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt14
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of Tabloid arsenious iodide gr 1/21 and mecuric iodide gr 1/21 from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt15
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of Tabloid compressed Thymol from chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt16
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of Soloid corrosive sublimate (antiseptic) from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) , materia medica and paint
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt17
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of Tabloid Quinine and Rhubarb compound, "Livingstone Rouser" from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt18
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of Tabloid bismuth subnitrate from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt19
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of Tabloid sodium bromide compound from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt20
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Two loose pills from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
Bottle of 'Tabloid' aconite tincture USP from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt22
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Tabloid' potassium iodide from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt23
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Tabloid' calomel from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt24
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Tabloid' trinitrin from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt25
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Tabloid' Blaud pill compound from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt26
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Tabloid' Empirin (Acetylsalicylic acid) from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt27
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Tabloid' compressed keratin-coated ipecacuanha from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt28
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Empty bottle for novaspirin capsules from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass and paper (fibre product)
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt29
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Empty bottle for compressed sodium bicarbonate from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass and paper (fibre product)
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt30
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Empty bottle for novaspirin capsules from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass and paper (fibre product)
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt31
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Tabloid' antifebrin capsules (acetanilide) from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt32
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Tabloid' Blaud Pills from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt33
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Tabloid' hexamethylenamine with sodium acid phosphate from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt34
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Soloid' potassium permanganate from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt35
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Tabloid' antifebrin compound (acetanilide) from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt36
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Empty bottle for quinine bihydrochloride from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and fabric
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt37
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica
Bottle of 'Tabloid' quinine bihydrochlor. (Acid qunine bihydrochloride) from medicine chest used by Teddy Roosevelt.
- Materials:
- glass , paper (fibre product) and materia medica
- Object Number:
- A700000 Pt38
- type:
- medicine bottle and materia medica