A few nice office supply cabinet images I found:
Adventures in P-Touching
Image by Dan Dickinson
I am unofficially the equipment loan guy at the office. Which means I’m frequently loaning things out to people and never getting them back. (Sigh.)
I just got 5 new 80W Apple power supplies, and in an effort to maintain better inventory control, I’m going to be getting photocopies of IDs before loaning them out. I’ve also named all five of the power adapters, as noted above.
Perhaps I should dub the cabinet I keep them in the Winchester.
Of Plenty and Paucity: Civil War Medicines and Their Makers Exhibit
Image by Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library
Shown here is an image from the exhibit "Of Plenty and Paucity: Civil War Medicines and Their Makers," on display in the Nancy Marshall Gallery just outside the Special Collections Research Center on the first floor of Swem Library at the College of William & Mary. This exhibit is part of "From Fights to Rights: The Long Road to a More Perfect Union," Swem Library’s project to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement. The exhibit is on display from October 28, 2011 through April 16, 2012.
The following is a transcription of the label text presented in this exhibit.
Apothecary scales, circa 1860s
The pharmacist would weigh out the ingredients on
apothecary scales, using the appropriate weights, and mix the ingredients as instructed. These scales are hand-held and would typically have been used in the field. Sometimes, the doctor only included the main ingredients and left it to the pharmacist to
determine what diluting agents or excipients to use.
SCRC Exhibit Collection
Cassimere Churchill to Sister
Washington, D.C., 1862
Cassimere Churchill of the 9th New York Cavalry disliked quinine, which had a very bitter taste, and refused to take it.
Cassimere Churchill Papers, Mss. 2008.042
Orders of the Medical Department, C.S.A.
Petersburg, Virginia, 1862-1863
Recognizing the supply issues early in the War, the
Confederate medical department ordered stewards to purchase botanical medical supplies locally, as seen in the price list for herbs from the records of the Confederate hospital at Petersburg.
Civil War Collection, Mss. 39.1 C76
Medical supply invoice
Richmond, Virginia, 1864
Digital Reproduction
Unlike the Union forces, the Confederacy suffered
severe shortages, although quinine was on the supply list for Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond.
Civil War Collection, Mss. 39.1 C76
Medicine bottle, circa 1860s
Quinine was typically served in liquid form, mixed with whiskey, in bottles much like the one on display here, which would have been corked.
SCRC Exhibit Collection
Carte de visite of Richard and Celia Morgan
circa 1860s
Digital reproduction
Military pass
Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illnois, 1862
Richard and Celia Morgan Papers, Mss. 2010.237
Richard Morgan to Celia Morgan
Camp Butler, Springfield, Illnois, 1865
Pharmacists could do their work in a variety of locations from camps and hospitals to the field. Swem Library has a small number of papers relating to Richard Morgan, a Union apothecary at the post hospital at Camp Butler. In an 1865 letter to his estranged wife Celia, he described filling prescriptions all day and examining highly-contagious patients. He also boasted of having the keys to the liquor cabinet, a fact unlikely to amuse Celia, who had left him because of his drinking. Alcohol was a key ingredient in liquid medicines.
Richard and Celia Morgan Papers, Mss. 2010.237
Mortar and pestle, circa 1860s
Stewards used large metal mortars and pestles to pound chopped, dried herbs or vegetables used for medicines into smaller particles. They used smaller porcelain mortars and pestles to create and mix powders.
SCRC Exhibit Collection
Prescription ledger, 1863-1864
This prescription ledger belonged to Captain Edward Restieaux, a Boston druggist who was
assistant quartermaster of the 2nd Division of the 5th Army Corps in Washington. The record he kept for himself in the ledger did not include all the parts of a prescription.
Edward Restieaux Ledger, Mss. 2011.412
Quinine: The Miracle Drug
Quinine sulfate, made from a derivate of the bark of the
cinchona tree, was probably the favorite drug of Civil War surgeons. They used it to treat a great variety of ailments from fevers to stomachaches to lack of energy.
Cinchona did not grow in the United States, which in the 19th century imported supplies of the bark from Peru. Dogwood and other barks proved ineffective
substitutes, and Confederate soldiers died from malaria at much greater rates than Union soldiers.
Most soldiers accepted quinine as a treatment and
energizer. Researchers later discovered that quinine is not nearly as effective as was commonly believed during the Civil War. It is, however, useful in treating malaria, a problem that plagued soldiers serving in the swamps and lowlands of the South.
Reading a Prescription
A complete prescription would include:
1.Rx: an abbreviation of the Latin for recipe
2.In Latin, a list of ingredients (often abbreviated) and the quantities of each, using the apothecary measures followed by lower-case Roman numerals:
Joseph Janvier Woodward
The Hospital Steward’s Manual
Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1862, 280
3.In Latin, directions for how to mix together the
ingredients and prepare them for the patient
4.In English, directions for how the patient should take the prescription
Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests
Richmond, Virginia: West and Johnson, 1863
The Confederate Surgeon-General’s office
produced Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests to guide surgeons and stewards in making the best use possible of the South’s natural resources.
Rare Books: SB108 .U6 S76 1863
Ambrotype of Rufus Robbins, Jr., circa 1860s
Digital reproduction
Rufus Robbins, Jr. to Mother
Carver Hospital, Washington, D.C., 1862
Rufus Robbins, Jr., of the 7th Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry, swallowed his surgeon’s
prescription of quinine mixed with magnesia.
Rufus Robbins, Jr. Papers, Mss. 2009.025
U.S. Sanitary Commission Bulletin
New York, New York, 1864
The North usually had ample supplies of quinine, as seen in the list of supplies issued at the Union depot at Norfolk in 1863.
Civil War Collection, Mss. 39.1 C76
Southern Shortages
Shortages of drugs plagued Confederate stewards. The United States traditionally had imported some key drugs, including opium and quinine. The Union blockade of Southern seaports and efforts to prevent overland smuggling caused severe shortages of these drugs in the South by late 1863. Even for drugs that the South was able to produce, transportation and communication problems meant that stewards in Confederate hospitals and military units frequently could not obtain what they needed.
Despite the Confederate pharmacists’ best efforts, drug
shortages were a severe problem during the later years of the War. No adequate substitute based on local botanicals was found for many drugs. However, some of the local substitutes did treat symptoms, even if they did not cure the underlying diseases.
From the Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary. See swem.wm.edu/scrc/ for further information and assistance.
Of Plenty and Paucity: Civil War Medicines and Their Makers Exhibit
Image by Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library
Shown here is an image from the exhibit "Of Plenty and Paucity: Civil War Medicines and Their Makers," on display in the Nancy Marshall Gallery just outside the Special Collections Research Center on the first floor of Swem Library at the College of William & Mary. This exhibit is part of "From Fights to Rights: The Long Road to a More Perfect Union," Swem Library’s project to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement. The exhibit is on display from October 28, 2011 through April 16, 2012.
The following is a transcription of the label text presented in this exhibit.
Apothecary scales, circa 1860s
The pharmacist would weigh out the ingredients on
apothecary scales, using the appropriate weights, and mix the ingredients as instructed. These scales are hand-held and would typically have been used in the field. Sometimes, the doctor only included the main ingredients and left it to the pharmacist to
determine what diluting agents or excipients to use.
SCRC Exhibit Collection
Cassimere Churchill to Sister
Washington, D.C., 1862
Cassimere Churchill of the 9th New York Cavalry disliked quinine, which had a very bitter taste, and refused to take it.
Cassimere Churchill Papers, Mss. 2008.042
Orders of the Medical Department, C.S.A.
Petersburg, Virginia, 1862-1863
Recognizing the supply issues early in the War, the
Confederate medical department ordered stewards to purchase botanical medical supplies locally, as seen in the price list for herbs from the records of the Confederate hospital at Petersburg.
Civil War Collection, Mss. 39.1 C76
Medical supply invoice
Richmond, Virginia, 1864
Digital Reproduction
Unlike the Union forces, the Confederacy suffered
severe shortages, although quinine was on the supply list for Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond.
Civil War Collection, Mss. 39.1 C76
Medicine bottle, circa 1860s
Quinine was typically served in liquid form, mixed with whiskey, in bottles much like the one on display here, which would have been corked.
SCRC Exhibit Collection
Carte de visite of Richard and Celia Morgan
circa 1860s
Digital reproduction
Military pass
Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illnois, 1862
Richard and Celia Morgan Papers, Mss. 2010.237
Richard Morgan to Celia Morgan
Camp Butler, Springfield, Illnois, 1865
Pharmacists could do their work in a variety of locations from camps and hospitals to the field. Swem Library has a small number of papers relating to Richard Morgan, a Union apothecary at the post hospital at Camp Butler. In an 1865 letter to his estranged wife Celia, he described filling prescriptions all day and examining highly-contagious patients. He also boasted of having the keys to the liquor cabinet, a fact unlikely to amuse Celia, who had left him because of his drinking. Alcohol was a key ingredient in liquid medicines.
Richard and Celia Morgan Papers, Mss. 2010.237
Mortar and pestle, circa 1860s
Stewards used large metal mortars and pestles to pound chopped, dried herbs or vegetables used for medicines into smaller particles. They used smaller porcelain mortars and pestles to create and mix powders.
SCRC Exhibit Collection
Prescription ledger, 1863-1864
This prescription ledger belonged to Captain Edward Restieaux, a Boston druggist who was
assistant quartermaster of the 2nd Division of the 5th Army Corps in Washington. The record he kept for himself in the ledger did not include all the parts of a prescription.
Edward Restieaux Ledger, Mss. 2011.412
Quinine: The Miracle Drug
Quinine sulfate, made from a derivate of the bark of the
cinchona tree, was probably the favorite drug of Civil War surgeons. They used it to treat a great variety of ailments from fevers to stomachaches to lack of energy.
Cinchona did not grow in the United States, which in the 19th century imported supplies of the bark from Peru. Dogwood and other barks proved ineffective
substitutes, and Confederate soldiers died from malaria at much greater rates than Union soldiers.
Most soldiers accepted quinine as a treatment and
energizer. Researchers later discovered that quinine is not nearly as effective as was commonly believed during the Civil War. It is, however, useful in treating malaria, a problem that plagued soldiers serving in the swamps and lowlands of the South.
Reading a Prescription
A complete prescription would include:
1.Rx: an abbreviation of the Latin for recipe
2.In Latin, a list of ingredients (often abbreviated) and the quantities of each, using the apothecary measures followed by lower-case Roman numerals:
Joseph Janvier Woodward
The Hospital Steward’s Manual
Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1862, 280
3.In Latin, directions for how to mix together the
ingredients and prepare them for the patient
4.In English, directions for how the patient should take the prescription
Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests
Richmond, Virginia: West and Johnson, 1863
The Confederate Surgeon-General’s office
produced Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests to guide surgeons and stewards in making the best use possible of the South’s natural resources.
Rare Books: SB108 .U6 S76 1863
Ambrotype of Rufus Robbins, Jr., circa 1860s
Digital reproduction
Rufus Robbins, Jr. to Mother
Carver Hospital, Washington, D.C., 1862
Rufus Robbins, Jr., of the 7th Massachusetts
Volunteer Infantry, swallowed his surgeon’s
prescription of quinine mixed with magnesia.
Rufus Robbins, Jr. Papers, Mss. 2009.025
U.S. Sanitary Commission Bulletin
New York, New York, 1864
The North usually had ample supplies of quinine, as seen in the list of supplies issued at the Union depot at Norfolk in 1863.
Civil War Collection, Mss. 39.1 C76
Southern Shortages
Shortages of drugs plagued Confederate stewards. The United States traditionally had imported some key drugs, including opium and quinine. The Union blockade of Southern seaports and efforts to prevent overland smuggling caused severe shortages of these drugs in the South by late 1863. Even for drugs that the South was able to produce, transportation and communication problems meant that stewards in Confederate hospitals and military units frequently could not obtain what they needed.
Despite the Confederate pharmacists’ best efforts, drug
shortages were a severe problem during the later years of the War. No adequate substitute based on local botanicals was found for many drugs. However, some of the local substitutes did treat symptoms, even if they did not cure the underlying diseases.
From the Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary. See swem.wm.edu/scrc/ for further information and assistance.
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