Chemists' drawers

Interior of Applebee's, 1986

Steohen C Wallwork

Chemist's drawers

Stephen C Wallwork

Site of former Hemmings, Chemists, then Applebee's

Shop fittings on Beeston High Road

By Stephen Wallwork

Applebee's is well known to Beeston residents as an electrical retailer and toy shop at the beginning of Wollaton Road, just round the corner from The Square.  In 1986, shortly before it moved there from Beeston High Road, near the bottom of Stoney Street, I was allowed to take these photographs of the drawers lining the wall behind the counter.  They were labelled with the Latin abbreviations of the components used by pharmacists in days gone by for making up medicines.  This is because, in the early part of the twentieth century, the shop had been a chemists, Hemmings, and these small drawers were retained by Applebee's because they provided convenient storage for small electrical components.  The whole array of such drawers is still in use in the current shop, though I think the Latin inscriptions are hidden. With the aid of pharmacist friends I have managed to fill out the Latin (accuracy not guaranteed!) and provide a translation.  Reading from left to right, then from the top row downwards, they are:-
UG: HAMAM (Unguentum Hamamalis) Witch hazel ointment
C: AURANT (Cutis Aurantium) Dried orange peel
P: ANIS (Pulver anise) Aniseed powder
[illegible]
OCH: RUB (Ochra Rubra) Red ochre
S..[illegible]
UMBER UST (Umber Ussiustum) Burnt umber
LUPULUS (Humulus lupulus) Hops
[illegible]
OCH: AUR (Ochra aurea) Yellow ochre
P: PUMICE (Pulver pumice) Pumice powder
P:GLYCYR (Pulver glycyrrhiza) Liquorice powder
It is perhaps as well that most customers could not understand the abbreviations, so did not know what they were getting in their medicines.