The Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) was founded in 1916 to provide life-saving products to Australia which was then isolated by war. The organisation is best known for its work in the areas of penicillin, antivenoms, hormones, vaccines and blood products. The first vaccine produced by CSL in 1919 was used to protect Australians from the pandemic of Spanish influenza. By the 1930s, CSL was producing a variety of products and rapidly implemented methods for the large-scale manufacture of penicillin following the discoveries of Howard Florey in 1939.

During the 1958 smallpox and cholera epidemics in Pakistan CSL, along with a number of other countries, sent smallpox vaccines to aid the Pakistan Government. All the samples were tested for potency and despite the varied shipping methods and widely different manufacturing processes they all showed adequate potency. This box is more likely however to have been manufactured for domestic use.

In 1994, CSL Ltd was sold by the Australian Government and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and has achieved considerable success in the international market for bioproducts and pharmaceuticals.

References
Museums Victoria - http://museumvictoria.museum/collections/themes/3511/csl-commonwealth-serum-laboratories-collection?start=41
WAng. Titration of Smallpox Vaccines from Ten Countries Sent to East Pakistan During the 1958 Smallpox epidemic http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2537887/pdf/bullwho00510-0252.pdf


Date printed on instruction leaflet

Medical kit, "Outfit for laboratory diagnosis of smallpox", glass/metal/paper/rubber, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, Victoria, Australia, 1958. Long, deep, rectangular tin (-1/1) with a detachable lid (-1/2). Lid has been covered with a paper label printed with title and list of contents. Inside of tin is lined with corrugated brown cardboard. Contents of tin:
(-2/1:2) Cylindrical tin with screw top lid
(-3/1:2) Syringe glass, 10ml, with removable plunger, marked "Chance Interchangeable / Made in England", graduated: 10, 8, 6, 4, 2
(-4:9) Tongue depressors, (6) wooden
(-10:14) Tubes, (5), glass (H:125 x W:16mm) (containing swabs -15:19)
(-15) Swab, wooden sticks with cotton wool head, (packed inside -10 glass tube and held in place by a wad of cotton wool wedged around stick at mouth of bottle)
(-16) Swab, wooden stick with cotton wool head, (packed inside -13 glass tube
and held in place by a wad of cotton wool wedged around stick at mouth of
bottle)
(-17) Swab, wooden stick with cotton wool head, (packed inside -11 glass tube
and held in place by a wad of cotton wool wedged around stick at mouth of
bottle)
(-18) Swab, wooden stick with cotton wool head, (packed inside -12 glass tube
and held in place by a wad of cotton wool wedged around stick at mouth of
bottle)
(-19) Swab, wooden stick with cotton wool head, (packed inside -14 glass tube
and held in place by a wad of cotton wool wedged around stick at mouth of
bottle)
(-20:22) Tubes, (3), glass (H:90 x W:12mm) (-22 contains -23)
(-23) Needle, [brass]
(-24) Needle, steel with cylindrical head [Hagedorn]
(-25) Piece of charcoal in paper
(-26) Scissors, stainless steel (contained in -27 with cotton wool wedged around neck of scissors in mouth of tube)
(-27) Tube, glass (containing -26)
(-28) Bottle, glass, with screw top lid
(-29:33) Capillary tubes, (5), glass
(-34) Forceps, stainless steel (H:120 x W:10 x D:8mm)
(-35) Tube, glass, (with forceps -36 wedged inside by cotton stuffed around the neck of the forceps in the top of the tube)
(-36) Forceps, stainless steel (H:200 x W:46 x D:12mm)
(-37) Adhesive tape, on roll, in metal container with metal cover
(-38) Tube, glass, (containing -39 and 40, mouth of tube stoppered with gauze dressing)
(-39:40) Teats, (2), rubber, cylindrical, ribbed, with domed top and hole in bottom, (contained in glass tube -38)
(-41) Teat, rubber, with attached capillary tube
(-42) Tubing, rubber
(-43) Tube, glass, (containing -44 with gauze dressing wedged in mouth and base of tube)
(-44) Needle, stainless steel with cylindrical head, [Hagedorn needle], (packed in glass tube -43)
(-45) Tin, rectangular with detachable lid, containing squares of corrugated cardboard
(-46) Tin, rectangular, no lid, (containing a piece of corrugated cardboard, capillary tubes -29:33, slides -47 and lid -51)
(-47) Slides, 2, taped together, with pencilled circles and separated by 2 pieces of toothpick
(-48) Bottle, glass, with screw top lid
(-49) Surgical gloves, (pr), marked Nutex/Sydney/Size 8, packed in gauze bandages
(-50) Instruction leaflet, paper, printed in black and mauve on white
(-51) Lid for needle, domed glass tube
(-52:64) Tissue paper used for packing

Designed: Commonwealth Serum Laboratories; Melbourne, Victoria; 1958

Made: Commonwealth Serum Laboratories; Melbourne, Victoria; 1958

See parts

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1958