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Ethyl chloride anesthetic spray bottle with box
Object/Artifact
An East German medical anesthetic package: a glass spray bottle of "Cloruro de Etilo" (ethyl chloride) with its cardboard box. The elongated, rounded glass vial has a metal spray valve/lever closure at the neck for releasing a fine jet of the volatile liquid. A red-and-white wraparound label reads "CLORURO DE ETILO / químicamente puro (DAB 6) / para anestesia local y general / Modelo B / Gebrüder Eichhorn, Mellenbach / República Democrática Alemana"; a faint hand-inked notation appears on the label's lower edge. The box (buff card, red-framed label) repeats: "CLORURO DE ETILO / 100 ccm / químicamente puro (DAB 6) / para anestesia local y general / Modelo B / GEBRÜDER EICHHORN · MELLENBACH / República Democrática Alemana." A box end-flap carries a handwritten pencil notation "Sept/68" with "$0.53" (a date and price). Box and bottle are heavily aged, foxed, and stained; the bottle is intact with its valve.
2025.1.141
Medical supplies of Leopoldo Arús Gálvez
The Cabrera Arús family collection
Leopoldo Arús Gálvez collection
2025.1
Gebrüder Eichhorn
1963
1960s
Mellenbach
G.D.R.
Central Europe
Europe
Maker: Gebrüder Eichhorn, Mellenbach, German Democratic Republic (East Germany) — "Gebrüder Eichhorn" (Eichhorn Brothers) of Mellenbach, per the label and box. A specialist manufacturer of the ethyl chloride anesthetic spray (here "Modelo B," 100 ccm, "químicamente puro DAB 6," i.e. conforming to the Deutsches Arzneibuch 6th edition pharmacopoeia standard). Date: 1968 (acquisition/dispensing), per the handwritten "Sept/68" on the box flap. Manufacture August 5, 1963 as per bottle stamp (not visible in pics).
Bottle label: "CLORURO DE ETILO / químicamente puro (DAB 6) / para anestesia local y general / Modelo B / Gebrüder Eichhorn, Mellenbach / República Democrática Alemana"; "5. 8. 63" faint notation at lower edge. Box: "CLORURO DE ETILO / 100 ccm / químicamente puro (DAB 6) / para anestesia local y general / Modelo B / GEBRÜDER EICHHORN · MELLENBACH / República Democrática Alemana." Box end-flap, handwritten in pencil: "Sept/68" and "$0.53."
Fair
Leopoldo Arús Gálvez
owner
Havana
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
use, acquisition
Mellenbach
G.D.R.
Central Europe
Europe
production
Ethyl chloride (cloruro de etilo) is a rapid-acting agent used both as a topical refrigerant for local anesthesia (the volatile spray freezes and numbs the skin for minor procedures) and historically as a fast-acting inhalation general anesthetic; the label's "para anestesia local y general" reflects both uses, and "químicamente puro (DAB 6)" cites conformity to the 6th edition of the Deutsches Arzneibuch (German pharmacopoeia). The maker, Gebrüder Eichhorn of Mellenbach (a town in Thuringia), is identified from the packaging; its specific corporate history was not established from available sources. The Spanish-language labeling marks it as prepared for a Spanish-speaking market such as Cuba.