Dr. Ralph and Mrs. Olga Crawford Canadian Dental Collection
Category
Diagnostic & Treatment Artifacts
Classification
Dental
Accession Number
010020312 a-b
Description
Black wooden mercury bottle (a); flat circular base; round body flares out then tapers half-way up; ridge at top; cone-shaped cap (b) curves to a point at tip; small hole at tip; bottle is at least 3/4 full of mercury
Black wooden mercury bottle (a); flat circular base; round body flares out then tapers half-way up; ridge at top; cone-shaped cap (b) curves to a point at tip; small hole at tip; bottle is at least 3/4 full of mercury
Number Of Parts
2
Part Names
a - bottle - Size: Length 3.5 cm x Diam. 3.2 cm
b - cap - Size: Length 2.0 cm x Diam. 1.5 cm
Provenance
Transfer from the Dental Canada Fund; previously housed in the Dentistry Canada Museum (Ottawa)
“S.S. White Dental Catalog, Catalog-G”, S.S. White Dental Mfg. Co., 1915, p. 10 (similar to model #3); "Material in Dentistry: Principles and Applications, 2nd ed.", Jack L. Ferracane, 2001, p. 4, 122
CD #1
Research Facts
Dr Ralph and Mrs Olga Crawford donated their extensive Canadian dental collection to the DCF to create the museum in 1997; further donations were received while Dr Crawford was Curator Emeritus at the Dental Canada Museum until its closure in 2008; mercury is used in the creation of amalgam fillings, which consist of 40-50% liquid mercury mixed with one or more metals; amalgams were first used in France in the early 19th century, but the modern 'recipe' was perfected by Dr. G. V. Black in the 1890s in Chicago