Collectibles Series

Many nurses who honor and cherish our profession's history acquire artifacts and ephemera from nursing's past. These items often provide glimpses into long ago nurses or illuminate the practice of an earlier age.

Inhaler

The administration of medication in the late 19th and early in the 20th century was as primitive as the medication to be administered. Earlier this summer a hypodermic syringe of metal and glass was featured as a collectible.

Above is an atomizer or inhaler used to administer medication by absorption through the mucous membrane, in this case, through the lungs. Medication was placed in boiling water and added to the glass contained. The lid with the atomizer and bulb were screwed on and either the nurse or the patient would squeeze the bulb to create a fine mist which was inhaled. Finding such an artifact in its original box increases its value to a collector. Unfortunately, the rubber parts of this one have deteriorated. The date is unkown.

Below is a drawing of an even more primitive inhaler, commonly known as a Maw's inhaler. The nurse would add the medication to boiling water in the small container. The inhaler was wrapped with flannel, both to keep in the heat and to protect the hands. The mouthpiece (on the left) was inserted into the mouth and the patient instructed to inhale through the mouth, exhale through the nose.