The job of museum curator is not normally regarded as hazardous but a toxic stock of a Victorian chemist's shop has made staff at Worthing Museum think again.

Vales in Rowlands Road, Worthing, was renowned for its ornate shelving, complete with decorative carving, and giant bottles containing an assortment of brightly-coloured liquids.

Despite its historical interest, the shelving was recently stripped out and nobody knows whether it has been salvaged or scrapped.

But Ann Wise, curator at the Chapel Road museum, managed to acquire a selection of pills and potions to preserve for chemical posterity.

They include bright yellow, pink and brown powders in glass bottles with cork stoppers and an empty bottle marked poison.

The substances include ferri protoxalas and antim sulphuratum, plus less mind-boggling contents ranging from calamine to cinnamon.

There is a compact box containing unused bottles of potassium chloride and potassium sulphate tablets, plus a giant bottle of eau de Cologne used for display purposes.

Perhaps the oddest artefact is an old-fashioned inhaler, similar in design to a honking horn used on early cars.

Ann also possesses several stainless steel pill-making machines, from a time when each pill had to be poured into a mould and handmade.

Other items include syringes, measuring jars and a ledger dating back to 1885, when Vales was known as Brunswick Pharmacy and run by RJ MacDermott.

A retired doctor is now trying to decipher the writing and some of the unfamiliar medicinal terms in a bid to establish what ills Worthing people once suffered from.

Ann said: "It isn't an easy task but we should get a fair idea of what was the average complaint of people living in West Worthing more than 100 years ago.

"We have 85 artefacts. It is everything a well-stocked chemist needs."

The museum has received several letters from people asking what happened to the shelving.

Ann said she had no idea but would be interested to find out and the contents of a pharmacy aren't the only potentially hazardous material she has to deal with.

Occasionally, the museum receives hats decorated with birds and has to handle them with extreme care because they were often treated with arsenic.