Sputum Cups

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Photograph courtesy of Leslie Hoffman.  

 

Photograph courtesy of Leslie Hoffman

Tuberculosis is a communicable disease, and as Saranac Lake had at one time hundreds of TB patients, sanitation was taken very seriously. A sputum cup provided a safe receptacle for a patient's spit. They were of many designs, some disposable, some meant to be cleaned and disinfected. Spitting on the street in the village was subject to a fifty dollar fine. 

When carried around the sputum cups were referred to as Pocket Flasks as oppose to the boxes that were used at someone's bedside.

 

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