Museums



Physician’s medicine chest, 1820s

This medicine chest was supplied by London pharmacist W Higgs. The medicines it once carried would have been specially prepared by the physician, and would be fairly simple palliative remedies for fevers and agues, prepared from plant extracts. The doctor would also carry laxatives, stimulants for the appetite as well as for the heart and the nerves, and pain-relieving compounds mainly based on opium derivatives.

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