Blue cardboard box containing glass bottle for "Tabloid" Phenobarbitone, 100x1/2grain tablets, dummy pack. 75 mm x 45 mm x 33 mm. Box with blue lettering reads, '"TABLOID"/Phenobarbitone/ compressed/ gr. 1/2.../Burroughs Wellcome & Co./ (The Wellcome Foundation Ltd.)/ London (ENG.)/...' Green paper label on interior bottle reads, 'TABLOID'/ Phenobarbitone/ compressed/ POISON/.../Direction.- One to four,/ taken in a little water or milk/ as ordered by the physician/...' Interior bottle also includes labels in French, German, Spanish and Italian. Handwritten note on box and bottle bear the date 19/5/33. Prepared by Burroughs Wellcome and Co., London, 1933.
Phenobarbitone was a drug used to treat epilepsy. It reduced the severity and frequency of seizures and would only be prescribed by a physician. This glass bottle of ‘Tabloid’ phenobarbitone tablets lists the contents as poisonous. The anti-seizure effect of phenobarbitone was realised in 1912 and it fast became one of the most prescribed drugs for epilepsy.
‘Tabloid’ was a brand name for compacted medicines. These were patented in 1884 by Burroughs, Wellcome & Co, the makers of this drug. The instructions on the box are in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian, illustrating how the company aimed for and delivered to a global market. Phenobarbitone is no longer prescribed, having been replaced by newer epilepsy treatments.