Please help...

[Freiberg949]

I recently started collecting these vintage pharmacy/medicine bottles (?)-I can’t find much info online about them & I was hoping somebody might know something? I’ve googled the names of the medicine/chemical (?) on some of the bottles & none of them exist anymore but some of the names seem similar to modern names for chemicals/medicines-I’m not actually sure if they are medicines or chemicals or what-hahaha-I’m hoping to find out!
Let me know if anyone has seen these or knows the history or any other info
It would be awesome to get a full set-but I don’t know how realistic that is-I think I have 88 now & I just got some more off eBay-so maybe I’m getting close?
Thanks for any help in advance
Rebecca

(I hope I’m posting this in the right place-I’m new here)


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[embe]

Don't know much about these, but are some of those labels in Latin?

 

[VABrew]

Looks like the type of chemicals you would find in a science or pharmaceutical research laboratory. But embe is right the labels do look Latin rather than English or German, etc. Mallinckrodt is still around today as a supplier, although may have been bought out a few times.

 

[CanadianBottles]

I think it was fairly common for bulk chemical bottles in labs or pharmacies to use Latin names not that long ago. Not sure why or when/if the practice was stopped. Yours look to date to the latter half of the 20th century. I bet there are far more than 88 of these out there, I'm sure there are hundreds of different chemicals that might be stored in bulk in medical or research settings.
In the case of these bottles I suspect they were used in the back rooms of compounding pharmacies based on this Ebay listing which includes another variety of label marked "for prescription use only" https://www.ebay.com/itm/282670818775?hash=item41d07e65d7:g:b0UAAOSwmE5cWDm3

 

[Freiberg949]

Don't know much about these, but are some of those labels in Latin?

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[Freiberg949]

Don't know much about these, but are some of those labels in Latin?

I’m not sure-that might make sense though-I googled like-15 or so of the names & got nowhere-some of them I can kinda figure out-like phenobarb I’m assuming is phenobarbital & caffeina citrata must be somehow related to caffeine? I’m not sure though-I could be way off-thank for your help! Maybe I can find a book w/Latin chemical names


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[Freiberg949]

I think it was fairly common for bulk chemical bottles in labs or pharmacies to use Latin names not that long ago. Not sure why or when/if the practice was stopped. Yours look to date to the latter half of the 20th century. I bet there are far more than 88 of these out there, I'm sure there are hundreds of different chemicals that might be stored in bulk in medical or research settings.
In the case of these bottles I suspect they were used in the back rooms of compounding pharmacies based on this Ebay listing which includes another variety of label marked "for prescription use only" https://www.ebay.com/itm/282670818775?hash=item41d07e65d7:g:b0UAAOSwmE5cWDm3

Some of them have notes on the back-the phenobarbital (maybe that’s what it is) has a note about it being habit forming-the red poison ones are interesting-they require a prescription but why would a poison be prescribed as medicine? If there are hundreds of them I’m gonna end up spending the rest of my life trying to find them all!
Thanks for your help!


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[Freiberg949]

Looks like the type of chemicals you would find in a science or pharmaceutical research laboratory. But embe is right the labels do look Latin rather than English or German, etc. Mallinckrodt is still around today as a supplier, although may have been bought out a few times.

Mallinckrodt is still around as a pharmaceutical company-I think from Boston-I think they had some problems @ some point-they did something kinda sketchy or something-I guess I could send them an email & ask if they have any historical type info
Thanks for your help!


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[willong]

If there are hundreds of them I’m gonna end up spending the rest of my life trying to find them all!

Sounds like a prescription to combat boredom. Have fun, and welcome to the forum.

 

[willong]

I’ve googled the names of the medicine/chemical (?) on some of the bottles & none of them exist anymore but some of the names seem similar to modern names for chemicals/medicines-I’m not actually sure if they are medicines or chemicals or what-hahaha-I’m hoping to find out!
Let me know if anyone has seen these or knows the history or any other info

You might find this resource helpful: https://archive.org/details/handbookofuseful00couniala

Latin was the language of science and law for centuries. Indeed, in 1968, Latin courses were still required for hard science majors at the University of Alaska (and presumably elsewhere) when I was contemplating the requirements for a BS in Wildlife Management. I would venture that English is supplanting Latin in that regard.