Dark green glass flask, spherical body, tapering neck, European, late 19th century
Glass flasks like this were once a common sight in pharmacies, helping the apothecaries or pharmacists create and display their wares. They were used to extract medicinal properties from substances by heating ingredients, and then cooling the vapours produced into their purified, liquid form – a process called distillation.
Glass as a material is well suited to this use because it is durable, transparent, and non-reactive. The green colour of this flask would have been achieved by adding different metals or chemicals as the glass was being made.
Details
- Category:
- Laboratory Medicine
- Collection:
- Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
- Object Number:
- A639800
- Materials:
- glass
- Measurements:
-
overall: 375 mm 200 mm, 1.4 kg
- type:
- flasks
- credit:
- Loan, Wellcome Trust
