Pill box and contents

Pill box containing 'Sulphate of Ammonia X Xu Zinc 1869AD'. Sulphate of ammonia is used in gardening.

This sample and pill box come from a 14-drawer cabinet found in the Herschel family home in the 1950s. The contents of this and a similar cabinet seem to suggest that they were used by successive generations of the family to store specimens, material and apparatus for carrying out experiments.

This is one of a set of pill boxes each containing a different chemical and/ or mineral sample presumably used by John F.W. Herschel or his children (it may even have been used by John F.W. with his children) as the raw materials for experiments.

Object Details

ID: AST1030.30
Type: Cabinet contents
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Unknown
Date made: Unknown
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Herschel Collection
Measurements: Overall: 20 mm; Diameter: 27 mm
Parts: Cabinet