Sweet Tablets of Charcoal, 3 gr.
name: label: maker
content: Fantus, Bernard
notes: label: Description
content: This is one of 49 specimens illustrating sugar-based medications made especially for children. Dr. Bernard Fantus, developer of these formulas, donated this material to the Smithsonian in 1921.
label: Description
content: Bernard Fantus (1874-1940), was born in Budapest, Hungary, and emigrated to the United States with his family in 1889. In 1899 he received his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago (which would become the University of Illinois College of Medicine). From 1903 until his death in 1940, he served as Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Illinois. He was also in charge of the Medical Dispensary at the University from 1902-1913. During this time, he became concerned with making medications more palatable to children. He studied the basics of candy making and developed a formula for sugar tablets as well as a tolu-based coating for tablets to disguise their taste. In 1915, he published his book Candy Medication. The book includes the formula for fifty different medications as well as the formula for the fat starch and sugar mixtures used for coloring and flavoring the preparations. At the time, few pharmaceuticals were formulated especially for children. Today, Fantus is best remembered for establishing the Cook County Blood Bank in 1937, considered to be the world's first blood bank.
label: Description
content: (See: Meyer, Daniel. Dr. Bernard Fantus: Father of the Blood Bank; And, Researching Chicago Medical History. Chicago, Ill: Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, 2004.)
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Fantus, Bernard. Candy Medication
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Dr. Bernard Fantus; Accession 66070 (1921)
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-01131
label: catalog number
content: M-01131
label: accession number
content: 66070
objectType: label: Object Name
content: compressed tablets, bottle of
label: Other Terms
content: Compressed Tablets; Dosage Forms; Drugs; Non-Liquid