Medical Suture Vial

Q:I recently dug up an old glass jar and hope you can help me identify it. It’s clear glass, 2 1/2 inches tall, with a metal lid and rubber stopper. I haven’t opened the jar, but attached to the stopper are three horizontal spindles, each with a spool attached to the end. The bottom of the jar is marked “J.E. Lee Co., Patd. July 3rd, 1906, Conshohoc, Pa.” What was this bottle used for?

A:Your jar is a “suture vial” that probably dates from the early 1900s. The spools held suturing lines, which could have been silk, catgut, horsehair or some other material. The sutures were packaged in silk cases, “germ-proof envelopes” or glass jars called “tubes.” The J. Elwood Lee Co. of Conshohocken, Pa., near Philadelphia, was a suture manufacturer that competed with Johnson & Johnson, founded in 1886 in New Brunswick, N.J. In 1905 Johnson & Johnson bought the J.E. Lee Co. and combined operations.