From: joshuasattic.com
A finely carved spoon made of animal bone, used for scooping out powdered medications from the larger jars and glass bottles carried in big boxed medical kits. Could have been used by a civilian apothocary as well. Most medications were still hand-mixed on a daily, individual basis in the 1860's according to a strict set of preset formula or a hand-scrawled "perscription" by the physician with notations as to very-exact amounts of each ingredient in grains, ounces or drachims. This is a cool item. It shows our former use of animal bone in a more pastoral society for quite practical items, such as utensils, tool handles, buttons, dice, dominoes, and spacer rings on instruments. Camel and cow bone is still used a lot in China, India, Africa and Middle East. Grips for decorative daggers and canes come from gazelle, zebra and lions in Africa. Horns are used in Middle East and China for daggers, jewelry and actual "herbal" folk medications. Any waste of something useful seems ridiculous to members of these more "earthy" societies. America once employed bone, fur, horn and leather from animals to their fullnest. Now, it is considered not "politically correct." You can see the darker lines or "grain" of the bone's trabeculae (struts of growth) on the bowl & grip of this spoon.
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