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Bedpans are used to help patients unable to leave their beds to relieve themselves. This bedpan is shaped to assist in this effort: the long flat bill could be slid under the patient with as little disruption as possible, while the emptying spout could be used as a handle. This bedpan was made of ceramic, a widely used material of the early 1900s, useful because it was durable and could be sterilized. It was used at the Franklin County Public Hospital, a facility founded in 1895 that operated a nurses training school.