Pills and profits : the selling of medicines since 1870 : an exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine / Ken Arnold, Tilli Tansey.

  • Arnold, Ken, 1960-
Date:
1994
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Pills and profits : the selling of medicines since 1870 : an exhibition at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine / Ken Arnold, Tilli Tansey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ested in the history of medicine - interpreted in its widest sense - and he amassed extensive archaeological, anthropological and historical collections, much of which survives today in specialist libraries and museums. The nucleus of the present Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, from which much of the present exhibition material is drawn, is Wellcome's personal collection of books and manuscripts. He vigorously promoted scien- tific research in specified directions, within the firm, all of which reflected his particular interests in bacteriology, physiology, chemistry and tropical medi- cine. The prototype for such ventures was the laboratory where the first diph- theria antitoxins were produced, which ultimately became known as the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories (WPRL). 1894—1896: anti-toxins and anti-climax? Towards the end of 1894, the Chemist and Druggist announced Messrs. Burroughs Wellcome and Co. have arranged to supply diphtheria anti-toxin. They have been preparing quietly for some months back (it takes that time before the horses become immune), and hope to have serum for distribution next week. The first supplies thus produced were rapidly exhausted, which encour- aged the company to continue production, under the supervision of Dr T J Bokenham from St Bartholomew's Hospital. He was based in premises at 10 Devonshire Street, Portland Place, the requisite horses being stabled in Lisson Grove. The serum was issued by the company, but was only available through medical practitioners. Wellcome's personal association with the labs was close: for example, he and the office staff from his commercial head- quarters frequently advised Bokenham to develop several new anti-toxins; in the first year alone he was urged to produce anti-toxins against consumption, erysipelsas, and puerperal fever. By 1896 the considerable medical demand for serum anti-toxins encour- aged Wellcome to expand the laboratories' facilities further, into new, purposely equipped premises at 40 Charlotte Street, still in Central London. However, the production of these new 'biological' remedies, unlike chemical therapeutics, necessitated the use of living animals, procedures which in Britain were closely regulated by the 1876 Cruelty to Animals Act adminis-