Reise-Apotheke drug pouch by Bayer

Made:
1900-1979 in Germany
maker:
Bayer

Reise-Apotheke drug pouch by Bayer, Germany, 1900-1980 (arrived in museum approx.1979)

Details

Category:
Materia Medica & Pharmacology
Object Number:
1993-825
type:
pouch

Parts

Glass, oval-based bottle, with metal screw cap, containing Heroin Hydrochloride tablets

Glass, oval-based bottle, with metal screw cap, containing Heroin Hydrochloride tablets

Clear glass, oval-based bottle, with metal screw cap and paper label, containing 'Bayer' Heroin Hydrochloride tablets. Manufactured by Friedrich Bayer and Company, Leverkusen. Germany. The label is written in German. Heroin was used as a cough in phthisis, bronchitis, asthma. From 1898 through to 1910 diacetylmorphine was marketed by Bayer under the trade name Heroin as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough suppressant. Heroin was a Bayer trademark, until World War I. Bayer the drug as a cure for morphine addiction before it was discovered that it rapidly metabolizes into morphine. As such, heroin is essentially a quicker acting form of morphine. 'Bayer' Heroin Hydrochloride tablets are listed in Sangers catalogue 1900 up until around 1916. The bottle features the Bayer cross logo, which the Bayer company introduced as its corporate logo in 1904. The bottle dates from between 1904-1916.