Summary
Drug - Tryparsamide, Pharmaceutical Specialties [May & Baker] Ltd., Dagenham, England, circa 1930, by arrangement with the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. Kept in a mental health hospital pharmacy and administered to patients at a mental health hospital in Victoria, Australia.
Tryparsamide (trade name) is sodium N-phenylglycineamide-p-arsonate, a compound containing 25% arsenic. Used in conjunction with malarial fever therapy to treat tertiary neuro-syphilis in patients diagnosed with General Paralysis of the Insane (GPI), having been originally developed for the treatment of human African trypanosomiasis, or African sleeping sickness. GPI was found to be caused by the spirochaete bacterium Treponema pallidum and later treated effectively with penicillin.
Physical Description
Drug, tryparsamide, is a white powder contained in a 3gm glass vial sealed brown cardboard box. The word POISON is stamped in red on the front of the box. The box was sealed at one end with a black and white sticker bearing the May & Baker brand label - the seal is broken. The text on the inner vial is incomplete. The numeral 3 can be made out, followed by the word TRYPARSAMIDE and the May & Baker brand label. Emptied by Conservation.
Significance
Example of medication administered to patients in psychiatric hospitals in Victoria, Australia.
More Information
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Collection Names
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Collecting Areas
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Acquisition Information
Donation from Office of Psychiatric Services, May 1985
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Manufacturer
May & Baker Ltd, Dagenham, Essex, England, Great Britain, Circa 1930
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Place Made
Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research, New York, New York State, United States of America, Circa 1930
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Place Used
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Inscriptions
Text (outer packaging): 3 Grammes/ TRYPARSAMIDE/ Sodium/ n-Phenylglycineamide-p-arsonate/ POISON/ By arrangement with The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research/ PHARMACEUTICAL SPECIALITIES [MAY & BAKER,] LTD., DAGENHAM ENGLAND/ (The word POISON is stamped in red on the front of the box). Text (inner packaging): 3/ 07/ TRYPARSAMIDE
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Classification
Medicine & health, Mental health - pharmacy, Pharmaceuticals
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Object Measurements
11.5 cm (Length), 2.8 cm (Width), 2.7 cm (Height)
Packet.
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References
Raden Dunbar, 2014. The Secrets of the Anzacs. The Untold Story of Venereal Disease in the Australian Army, 1914-1919, Scribe, Melbourne.
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Keywords
Hospitals, Psychiatric Services, Psychiatric Hospitals, Pharmaceuticals, Infectious Diseases, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), Syphilis, Psychiatric Institutions, Drugs, Medicinals & Drugs, Medicines, Mental Health, Mental Health Institutions, Diseases, Making History - Psych Services, World War I, 1914-1918