Hixon's X Ray Oil

[falconer]

Out of an Old Doctor's Bag in Wichita, KS came this USA Hixon's X Ray Oil Salina, Kan bottle 6 5/16" by 2" by 1 1/4" with label. First one I have seen. Great graphics and thick whittled neck. No pontil. Anybody know anything about this bottle?

 

[falconer]

Photo of label.

 

[Wangan]

All I know is it was a cutting edge selling point of the time.X-Rays had just been discovered and at the time everything was selling as X-Ray this and that.Im quite sure Guntherhess has some examples of this type.

I just saw on the History channel where they used to have an X-Ray machine to look at your feet to size them to shoes better and it exposed the salesmen and clients to 20x the radiation of a normal chest X-Ray as it was left on longer than the snapshot a picture takes.[X(]

Im guessing its a TOC bottle,maybe late 1800s to early 1900s.Probably before the FDA law,but I dont know.

 

[CWBookAuthor]

Falconer, that sure is an interesting bottle, especially with the label! I can't offer any more, but say you've got a great piece there.

Wagner, I remember the X-ray machines at the shoe shop in town. Yeah, I'm no spring checken! We never gave them much attention then.

Mike

 

[CWBookAuthor]

Sorry, I meant Wangan, not Wagner!

Mike

 

[JOETHECROW]

There's a local history account of when one of the local shoe stores got one of those in...and how excited everyone was to see their feet x rayed!

 

[cyberdigger]

Here's an interesting snippet from Wikipedia:

"In 1895, Thomas Edison investigated materials' ability to fluoresce when exposed to X-rays, and found that calcium tungstate was the most effective substance. Around March 1896, the fluoroscope he developed became the standard for medical X-ray examinations. Nevertheless, Edison dropped X-ray research around 1903 after the death of Clarence Madison Dally, one of his glassblowers. Dally had a habit of testing X-ray tubes on his hands, and acquired a cancer in them so tenacious that both arms were amputated in a futile attempt to save his life. At the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, an assassin shot President William McKinley twice at close range with a .32 caliber revolver. The first bullet was removed but the second remained lodged somewhere in his stomach. McKinley survived for some time and requested that Thomas Edison "rush an X-ray machine to Buffalo to find the stray bullet. It arrived, but was not used as McKinley died of septic shock due to bacterial infection."

 

[sandchip]

Great looking bottle!

 

[cowseatmaize]

Here's a good article about what Wangan was talking about. Your is picture as an example. http://radiographics.rsna.org/content/24/2/544.full

That's a sharp looking bottle. No ground stain at all![][][]

 

[GuntherHess]

That's a nice bottle plus its uncommon with a label. Last labelled one I saw sold for about $50 several years ago. The medicine was advertised for itching mosquito bites and chiggers. It was sold right around 1900 +/- a few years. Would you mind if I used the label photo in my online medicine guide?