Glass and British pharmacy, 1600-1900 : a survey and guide to the Wellcome Collection of British glass / J.K. Crellin and J.R. Scott.

  • Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine.
Date:
1972
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Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Glass and British pharmacy, 1600-1900 : a survey and guide to the Wellcome Collection of British glass / J.K. Crellin and J.R. Scott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    could be done on the larger bottles, especially those for hospital or dispensary use (cf no. 105a). 95 An interesting illustration of labels (including the shield version) occurs in S. Maw and Son’s A Catalogue of Surgeons Instruments and Appliances ..., London, 1866 (unpaginated insert). The adver- tisement states that ‘as these labels are not printed by hand, any pattern or design can be executed to order’. 96 Grotesque lettering became more common towards the end of the 19th century, and in this century. 97 Although a shop round stopper can be removed by finger(s) and thumb, it was, in practice, removed by grasping it with the third and fourth fingers of the left hand, while the thumb, first and second fingers held a measure etc; the bottle was held in the right hand. 98 Op. cit. (fn50), p18. 99 Examples of these are in the Wellcome Collections. 100 Narrow-mouthed bottles and jars were generally used for liquids, wide-mouthed jars (sometimes called salt-mouths) for powders and solid medica- ments. However, there are many exceptions to this, wide-mouthed containers being frequently used for liquids. 101 Them may possibly have been intended to repre- sent muriaticacid, but the possibility of a decoration cannot be ruled out (cf. also numbers 4 and 5 GOottling’s comments noted in fn37). 102 No information has been found on this prepara- tion, though it reflects 19th-century interest in botanical medicines. 103 This symbol seems to have been applied for decora- tion only. 104 This symbol seems to have been applied for decora- tion only. 105 Tea was sold widely by 19th-century chemists and druggists. Cf, for instance, the delightful illustration of a country chemist and druggist in Chem. & Drugg., 1894, 45, 136. 106 The use of amethyst colour was widespread in the late 18th century (cf also amethyst carboys numbers 38-9). 107 The Wellcome Collections have no examples of blue glass carboys, these being generally less common than the amethyst variety. 108 Just who introduced the tall swan-necked show vessel is uncertain, though in 1899 (Chem. & Drugg., 55, 678) it was attributed to James Wilson, who was at that time London representative of the York Glass Company. Towards the end of the century, tall ‘variegated’ show vessels had been introduced, though none of these is in the Wellcome Collections. 109 Recorded rounds of the 18th century are rare. A probable group — with elaborate painted decora- tion of scrolling to the ends of each label panel (which is surmounted by acherub with outstretched wings) were illustrated in Chem. & Drugg., 1894, 45, 863. A photograph of the collection is in the Wellcome Institute Records. 110 Vitrified (‘burnt in’) labels were widely advertised in the ’80s and ’90s by H. Poths & Co of London, the lettering often being on a white or pink ground (for an example see Chem. & Drugg., 1885, 27, p124 of advertising pages). 111 The Wellcome bottles were acquired from an English pharmacy in 1962. Cf also advertisement, with many testimonials, which appeared in the Chemist and Druggist for 1882. The patent is for US patent no. 36,542, dated 23rd September 1862, and reissue no. 2,630, dated 28th May 1867. Similar glass-fronted labels to Walton’s were intro- duced by the York Glass Company, being referred to as ‘patent phototype labels’, the lettering being reproduced photographically. For further illustrations of York items see ‘Objects in Glass’, Chem. & Drugg., 1956, 166, 120-121. 112 The w within an elongated octagon seems to have been used by a number of companies. Gilbertson & Son had added it to their mark by mid-1894 (cf advertisement in Chem. & Drugg., 1894, 45, 36 (advertisement page)), while Wood Bros. were using it in this century. In 1885 the proprietors of the ‘w’ brand dispensing bottles pointed out that ‘inferior bottles had been shipped with a mark similar to theirs’ (Chem. & Drugg., 1885, (advertising supplement for 15th August, p124). 113 Warners were an American company but their pro- ducts and these special jars were widely distributed in Britain by F. Newbery and Sons. The success of Warners owed much to sugar coated pills, for which the jars. were used (cf Sonnedecker, G., and Griffenhagen, G., ‘A History of Sugar Coated Pills and Tablets’, J. Am. Pharm. Assn., (Pract. Ed.), 1957, 18, 486-488). The jars were widely advertised in the pharmaceutical press in the ’80s and ’90s. In 1894 the Chemist and Druggist (44, 159) wrote that ‘the show bottles [as in 81] have been made quite familiar in this country, just as in the United States a whole pharmacy is occasionally to be met with entirely furnished with this design of bottle’. 114 CfS. Maw, Sonand Thompson’s Book of Illustra- tions to Quarterly Price-Current, London, 1891, p2i2; 115 This is asymbol for mercury, but it was probably added for decoration only, not to designate contents. 116 The first report of this bottle was probably that in the Chemist and Druggist, 1860, 1,291, which stated: ‘we are indebted to [Messrs Savory of Bond Street] for a most ingenious bottle for dispensing powders, especially those potent ones requiring to