Glass bottle, containing a brown sand like substance. The bottle has a glass stopper which is covered by a leather cover and tied with string.
Label says "Finest Rhubarb". Rhubarb can be used as a strong laxative. Its roots have been used as a laxative for at least 5,000 years. Several varieties.
English Rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum) is similar in action to Turkey or Chinese Rhubarb, though milder. It is derived from Rheum rhaponticum, the ordinary Garden Rhubarb, and from R. officinale. It has blunt, smooth leaves; large, thick roots, running deep into the ground, reddishbrown outside and yellow within, and stems 2 to 3 feet high, jointed and purplish. The flowers are white. About 1777, Hayward, an apothecary, of Banbury, in Oxfordshire, commenced the cultivation of Rhubarb with plants of R. Rhaponticum, raised from seeds sent from Russia in 1762, and produced a drug of excellent quality, which used to be sold as the genuine Rhubarb, by men dressed up as Turks. Bond's Companion to the Medicine Chest, <1862, p.39-40, recommend it as a laxative in indigestion.