Dewar flask marked Brighton Mental Hospital

Dewar flask with wooden transit container marked 'B.M.H.' (Brighton Mental Hospital), used for transporting early supplies of penicillin, 1943-1948.

It looks like something for carrying your lunch in, but this flask transported early penicillin supplies at the Brighton Mental Hospital pathology laboratories. The hospital doubled as a sanatorium for treating tuberculosis patients and as a mental hospital. This was not unusual for the time as it was thought that the clean sea air of the south coast was good for a number of mental and physical ailments. The double-walled metal flask with cork stopper and screw top lid is called a Dewar flask. It is named after its inventor, the Scottish chemist and physicist Sir James Dewar (1842–1923). Dewar flasks are designed to hold liquid at low temperatures.