Pharm bottle? New Orleans

[john]

I really like this bottle I found recently. I think it is an old druggist bottle. The left side has numbers going up the side; 2,4,6 and at the bottom is a funky looking three that is probably a symbol and not a number. The right side says "cc" (cubic centimeters) and has 10, 20 up the side.
The top middle of the bottle body has that funky "3" again and a "i" next to it.
Any info on this sort of bottle. It is part of a stash found in my backyard in New Orleans recently. My landlady is in her 70s and she thinks she remembers them when she was a kid holding opiates, which might be why they were burried in my back yard, not thrown in public garbage collection.
If I clean the crud out inside the bottle will I lose the iridescence?

 

[vtspring]

SOME THING TO THINK ABOUT IS THAT ALOT OF HOUSES HAD A GARBAGE PIT IN THE BACK YARD,AND THAT MOST PEOPLE AROUND THE TURN OF THE CENTURY USED THESE MEDICATIONS.USING A MEDICINE IN 1890 THAT CONTAINED OPIATES DID NOT MAKE YOU A "DRUG ADDICT" BY TODAYS STANDERDS.

 

[john]

Thanks for the info.
Anyone know what the funky looking "3i" means?
Is the left side notation for drams or something like that. I actually don'e even know what a dram is, I've just heard the word.
-john

 

[drjhostetters]

John....

I just looked up the "3i" symbol, I believe it is the Greek or Latin letter symbolizing ounces..the i means one:used as a co-effificent....(whatever that means!?!) The 3 without the "line" just below the top hash means dram....and a dram is 3 scruples, and a scruple is 20 grains.[&:]

I think your bottle appears to ahve been in a low heat fire (if there is such a thing!)..I think that's why the coloring..also it appears to me the lower third has sagged to the middle suggesting a fire...???? Just guessing...still a nice find for a back yard dig.

The Doc...Doctor J[X(]