This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Penicillin, by Kembrell, Bishop & Co., in a glass container with cork stopper, 1943. label attached.
A brown label
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Penicillin, by Kembrell, Bishop & Co., in a glass container with cork stopper, 1943. label attached. A brown label that
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Penicillin, by Kemball, Bishop & Co., in a glass container with cork stopper, 1943. Label attached.
A brown label that once accompanied this bottle of penicillin powder read “Penicillin 1943 from a batch brewed by Kemball Bishop & Co brought to Oxford by truck and extracted in the plant”.
Once penicillin’s potential was discovered, vast amounts were needed. Kemball Bishop & Co was one of the very first manufacturers of the drug. It carried out the first stage of production, manufacturing a weak impure solution which was then purified at Oxford University. This process produced some of the first penicillin to be tested for its clinical effects. The brown-yellow colour is due to impurities in the sample.
On display
Science Museum: Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
If you are visiting to see this object, please contact us in advance to make sure that it will be on display.
Details
- Category:
- Biotechnology
- Object Number:
- 1964-458/3
- Materials:
- cork, cotton string, cotton tape, drug, glass, paper
- type:
- penicillin
- taxonomy:
-
- furnishing and equipment
- container - receptacle
- vessel
- credit:
- Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford
Cite this page
Rights
We encourage the use and reuse of our collection data.
Data in the title, made, maker and details fields are released under Creative Commons Zero
Descriptions and all other text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence
Download
Download catalogue entry as json
Download 
manifest IIIF
Our records are constantly being enhanced and improved, but please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information shown on this website.
