Bottles to beetles

One of the volunteers at my work party at the nature rerserve unearthed this bottle yesterday and it set me off on a fascinating link with beetles! The bottle is from around 1900 and contained Elliman's Embrocation. This concoction, made from eggs, turpentine and vinegar, made a fortune for Elliman, Sons & Co between 1847 and the 1960's. Originally sold as a rub for animals, it was later sold for use by humans, as an aid for aching muscles and joints - without any change to the recipe!

By 1911 the embrocation was being sold in 42 countries - 'Royal Embrocation' for animals and 'Universal Embrocation' for humans. The family behind it ran a drapery business in Slough before discovering this rather different, lucrative business. In 1961 the business was taken over by Horlicks. Elliman's Embrocation is still available today, now manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.

In the 1800's another branch of the family were linen drapers in Tring and one of their children, E.G.Elliman was a well-known entomologist. He lived in Chesham but explored much of the Chiltern hills around Tring in the early 1900s. I knew he had been active around 'my' reserve at Dancersend and a few years ago a fellow naturalist came across his notebooks - in Cardiff Museum (!) - and these listed some interesting rare beetles he had recorded from the reserve. This has been partly the reason I am now trying to survey beetles. Interestingly, it seems Edgar George Elliman supplied cod liver oil and 'linseed meal' as his business - for use by animals or humans is not known!