Sean Rocha

Tincture of viburnum: Lyon, France, date unknown

This was part of a trove of old pharmaceutical bottles I found in 2005 at a rural marché aux puces in the Isère department in southeastern France.  The label is obscured, though clearly visible are the location in Lyon and the fragment of the name –arthoud frères.  A Marthoud frères appears frequently in the London and Edinburgh Gazettes during the period 1916-18, but it is listed in Shanghai rather than Lyon.  Viburnum is a shrub, the bark of which is used in herbal medicine as an antispasmodic and a treatment for asthma.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 18th, 2011 at 8:55 am. It is filed under Found Object and tagged with Europe, France, medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.