The notice on the wall reads: "The floor being reserved for the hospital staff. Visitors are requested to take seats in the gallery." Between 1861 and 1865 Dr Nelson’s invented his ‘new and improved’ ceramic inhaler. This double-valved device was designed for steam inhalations - inhaling vapours to clear the body of respiratory ailments. It works by filling the inhaler with an infusion and boiling liquid then inhaling the steam deep into the lungs. The cork stopper is inserted in the wide opening at the top of the inhaler, whilst the hollow glass tube acts as mouthpiece used to inhale the steam.

This changing understanding of drug delivery was obviously of particular importance for physicians interested in respiratory illness. Scudamore introduced the findings of his clinical trials of inhalation in respiratory patients as follows: ‘It constitutes a new method of treatment to administer by inhalation those medicinal agents which the science of modern pharmaceutical chemistry has brought to light; and it is my object […] to show that they are capable of exerting a very important and beneficial influence in certain states of pulmonary and bronchial disease’ ( Scudamore, 1830, p 2). Apart from programmatically highlighting the innovative nature of this therapy, Scudamore also points towards a changing understanding of pharmaceutical therapy to a more localised and directed form of drug delivery when he writes that the ‘rationality of applying some remedial agent in a direct manner to the seat of the disease will not be questioned’ (ibid). Similarly, Murray demands application of medicinals ‘locally to the lungs’, claiming ‘if you inhale vapour, which condenses in the cells, at least a small part of it, it bedews and covers the surfaces and ulcerations’ of the lungs, hence acting directly at the source of the irritation ( Murray, 1829, p 173 and p 180). Alongside its appeal as a less physically invasive remedy, the practice of inhalation may therefore also be seen as part of a general trend towards targeted drug delivery and action emerging in mid-century Victorian Britain. We celebrate the history and contemporary creativity of the world’s oldest living culture and pay respect to Elders — past, present and future. Some material may contain terms that reflect authors’ views, or those of the period in which the item was written Fabric arm badge patches of differing styles and smaller hat badge sewn on blue and white hounds tooth fabric used for the dresses worn by students. HAND MADE WITH LOVE & CARE - This portable soother is one of the best quality British handcrafted Medical Antiques that you can trust to instantly ease your hay fever symptoms, flu, coughs and colds due to its powerful inhalation therapeutic effectThe Dr Nelson Inhaler emerged into a medical market with a clear demand for reliable therapies for the various respiratory diseases blighting the towns and cities of industrial Europe. Rapid urban development had led not only to the spread of waterborne diseases like typhoid and cholera, but also to a peak in ailments like asthma and consumption, with fogs, smoke, and other pollutants a cause of almost constant suffering throughout the 1800s. In the Medical Times and Gazette the London Fog that killed 273 people as a result of bronchial complaints in 1873 was reported as ‘one of the most disastrous this generation has known. To persons with cardiac and respiratory disease it has in numerous instances proved fatal’ ( Anon, 1873, p 697). Indeed it is telling that Maw’s – one of the largest suppliers of medical and surgical instruments in Britain – displayed various patented inhalers at the International Exhibition of 1862 ( Illustrated Catalogue, 2014, p 125), a reflection of the close and difficult relationship between Victorian industrialisation and medical innovation. All in One】-The NanaCare Health Care Kit Includes all the friends you need to combat Cold and Flu Symptoms. The Nanacare Steam cup can also be used as a salt inhaler but Himalayan salt is NOT included. David Hume Nelson led a colourful and notable life. Born in Edinburgh, he moved to London around 1835, spent some time in prison for theft, returned to Edinburgh to qualify for his MD in 1848, before being elected physician at the Queen’s Hospital in 1849 and joining the Faculty at The Queen’s College in Birmingham shortly afterwards ( Sanders and Harper, 2014). David Hume Nelson’s qualifications in respiratory medicine are also well founded, having published his dissertation On the principles of health and disease in 1850 and featured in a series of case histories in the Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal (PMSJ, a forerunner to the BMJ) around 1850–1851 ( Anon, 1850a; Anon, 1850b; Anon, 1851). As part of a ‘strictly introductory’ ( Anon, 1850c, p 41) series of clinical lectures serialised in the PMSJ between 1851 and 1853 (also published in book form in 1850), David Nelson also gave three lectures on ‘The morbid condition of the lungs and respiratory tubes’ (Nelson, 1851, 1853a and 1853b). It is notable that inhalation is not mentioned as a form of treatment in any of these lectures, focusing instead on more traditional ‘heroic’ humoral cures such as blood-letting, cupping, leeches and the use of mercury, antimony, and oral expectorants. Following these early publications, David Hume Nelson seems to have turned his attention to other clinical matters, publishing a series of articles in the British Medical Journal between 1860 and 1863 on ‘ferro-albuminous’ treatments and peptic acids, all of which resulted from a ten-year clinical study in Birmingham into Bright’s disease concluding in 1860 ( Nelson, 1860a; Nelson 1860b).

Brown, pressed cardboard laundry case, no handle, catches at both ends, and protective covers on each corner of the base and lid. Easy To Use 】- The PVC-Free nasal facial mask is soft making it comfortable on the skin and is designed to aid inhalation. The Steam cup has a wide opening making it easy to fill with hot-water. The laundry box system shows what a complex and detailed system was required to keep staff clean and tidy.

There are numerous methods by which the patient may be enabled to inhale the steam, as, for instance, from a jug or basin containing hot water, or by breathing through a sponge which has been previously dipped in boiling water, and then partially wrung out. Several forms of apparatus have also been devised for this purpose; two of the most efficient of these, whether for the inhalation of simple steam or of medicated vapour, are Nelson’s Inhaler and Sturt’s Inhaler. PERFECT FOR RELIEVING DISCOMFORT - Instantly clears your head and soothes your irritated vocal cords. Inhale the warm air for immediate relief from irritation or inflammation of your sinuses New nurses in preliminary training school had no arm badge and a red pattee cross on their hats. The 'signed on' first year student exchanged the hat with a red pattee cross for a hat with the hospital badge shown in the picture and wore the arm badge of the white pattee cross on a light blue square; the second year nurse wore a red skeletal cross on a white square and the third year nurse a filled in red cross on a white square. Prior to the 1950s the nurses from 1880 were identified by only two arm patches, a red skeletal cross and a filled in red cross which were on arm bands and were worn above the elbow on the left sleeve. This system meant that all hospital staff could tell at a glance what stage of training the student was at and behave accordingly. or recorded but may not be considered appropriate today. These views are not necessarily the views of Victorian Collections. The fact that a physician recommends the Nelson Inhaler here on the basis of empirical evidence from a clinical environment is quite a surprising finding in the broader context of nineteenth-century healthcare.

Figure 2 : The original presentation of Dr Nelson's Inhaler in The Lancet in 1865 https://dx.doi.org/10.15180/170807/004Economical】- No electricity or vapour pads refills needed making it more cost effective than alternatives.