Empty transparent rectangular glass bottle for dispensed medicine with tapered at neck without stopper; embossed name of pharmacist on back; tan paper label has imagery of skull and crossbones, pharmacist's name, a warning for poisoninous contents, and the product name Fowlers Solution handwritten …
Empty transparent rectangular glass bottle for dispensed medicine with tapered at neck without stopper; embossed name of pharmacist on back; tan paper label has imagery of skull and crossbones, pharmacist's name, a warning for poisoninous contents, and the product name Fowlers Solution handwritten in black ink.
Number Of Parts
1
Provenance
Transferred from the Parks Canada Agency, via Gail Cariou of the Curatorial and Collections Branch.
Printed on label: "POISON // J. D. B. Fraser & Son, // DISPENSING DRUGGISTS // ESTABLISHED // 1828 // PICTOU, N. S."; embossed on back: "DRUGGISTS // J. D. B. Fraser & Son // PICTOU, N. S." handwritten in black ink on label: "Fowler’s Solution"
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010-A4-6 Box 4 Row E
Dimension Notes
Length 9.7 cm x Width 3.0 cm x Depth 2.0 cm
Condition Remarks
Paper yellowed with age and surface grime and stains; ink is faded
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Internet
JPG
Reference Comments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fowler%27s_solution; CD #6
Research Facts
Fowler's solution is a solution containing 1% potassium arsenite (KAsO2), and once prescribed as a remedy or a tonic. Thomas Fowler of Stafford, England, proposed the solution in 1786 as a substitute for a patent medicine, "tasteless ague drop". From 1845, Fowler's solution was a leukemia treatment.
At 1905, inorganic arsenicals, like Fowler's solution, saw diminished use as attention turned to organic arsenicals, starting with Atoxyl. Still, into the late 1950s, Fowler's solution—also termed liquor potassii arenitis, Kali arsenicosum, or Kali arseniatum—was prescribed in the United States for a wide range of diseases, including malaria, chorea, andsyphilis.
As arsenical compounds are notably toxic and carcinogenic—with side effects such as cirrhosis of the liver, idiopathicportal hypertension, urinary bladder cancer, and skin cancers—Fowler's solution fell from use. (In 2001, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a drug of arsenic trioxide to treat acute promyelocytic leukaemia, and interest in arsenic has returned.)