Listerine
date: label: date made
content: 1895-1906
name: label: maker
content: Lambert Pharmacal Company
notes: label: Description
content: Listerine, now a product of Pfizer Inc., is a common household item known for its antiseptic properties. While used today primarily as a mouthwash for oral health and hygiene, it has been sold as a surgical disinfectant, a cure for dandruff, a floor cleaner, a hair tonic, a deodorant, and as a "beneficial remedy" for diseases ranging from diphtheria and dysentery to small pox and gonorrhea.
label: Description
content: Listerine, named for Sir Joseph Lister, founder of the practice of antiseptic medicine, was first formulated in St. Louis, MO in 1879 by Dr. Joseph Lawrence and Jordan Wheat Lambert. Lambert's Pharmacal Co. later merged with the William R. Warner Company. Lambert's son, Gerald Barnes Lambert became Lambert-Warner's president in 1923. In his five years as the head of the firm, Listerine's profits increased 60 times. The success was largely due to Lambert's memorable advertising campaigns, most notably the reinvention of bad breath as the medical condition "halitosis" and the resultant social fears it inspired.
label: Description
content: This Listerine bottle dates from between 1895 and1906. It was the winner of a national contest sponsored by Listerine in 1995 to find the most interesting example of an old Listerine bottle. The bottle was chosen because of its rare, two-part rear labeling on an unembossed bottle in excellent condition.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Missouri, St. Louis
topic: label: Subject
content: First Aid Products & Antiseptics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: The Antibody Initiative
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content: Beauty and Hygiene Products: Oral Care
label: See more items in
content: Beauty and Health
label: See more items in
content: Beauty and Hygiene Products: Alleviating Odor
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Warner-Lambert Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1995.0013.01
label: catalog number
content: 1995.0013.01
label: accession number
content: 1995.0013
objectType: label: Object Name
content: otc preparation
label: Object Name
content: mouthwash
label: Object Name
content: oral hygiene product
label: Object Name
content: antiseptic
label: Other Terms
content: Patent Medicine, Bottle of; Pharmaceutical; Mouth Wash
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: thyme (product active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: eucalypyus (product active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: baptisia (product active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: gaultherin (product active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (label material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (container material)
label: Physical Description
content: benzo-boracic acid, 2 grains/fl. drachm (product active ingredients)
label: Physical Description
content: mentha arvensis (product active ingredients)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 3/8 in x 2 3/4 in; 18.7325 cm x 6.985 cm