Glistening conical glass graduates from the School of Pharmacy’s Elmer H. Grimm, Sr. Pharmacy Museum are now on display in the lobby of Falk Library of the Health Sciences. Varying in size from a 50 minim graduate to one of 32 ounces, the oldest is one with the bottom marked “HODGSONS PATENT FEB.18, 1862.” A conical graduate is a glass cylinder or beaker, with graduation lines and markings to measure the volume of liquid, and in the past, has been the most used tool of the pharmacist in filling prescriptions.
Bernard Levy, RPh, donated his collection, which he describes as “my life’s work,” to the University of Pittsburgh in March 2008. A 1951 graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy in Madison, his interest in graduates prompted a professor to challenge him to study and assemble an in-depth collection.
Pitt’s Grimm Pharmacy Museum houses over 650 of these historical pieces. For additional information about the collection, contact Stanton Jonas, Museum Curator, at 412-648-2628.
~ Jill Foust