Description

Arsenic - Sodium arsenate

Antique pharmacy bottle made of blown glass and enameled painted label. Yes, it is indeed the arsenic you know!

Red POISON label 

Signaling to the pharmacist that it is imperative to keep apart the other substances in the cabinet of toxic substances, the famous poison cabinet.

Laboratory or pharmaceutical dispensary bottle, typical of the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.

Made of blown transparent glass, it has a trace of pontil visible on the bottom, reflecting traditional artisanal manufacturing. It has its original cap honed with emery BUT the bottle is blocked and does not open, sealed by time.

Beautiful enamelled label stenciled surrounded by a brown/red border. The bottle still contains its original powder of a brilliant yellow.  This baked enamel technique guaranteed great resistance to handling and chemicals in the pharmacy. A red regulatory label marked "POISON" is applied at the bottom, indicating the poisonous nature of the substance.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this bottle contained sodium arsenate, the pharmaceutical form of the famous arsenic.

Once prescribed by doctors in infinitesimal doses to stimulate the appetite, fight against asthenia or treat conditions as diverse as eczema, psoriasis or asthma.

He embodies par excellence the slow poison of detective novels.

Immortalized by the masters of the genre such as Agatha Christie or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and at the heart of the greatest historical criminal cases, arsenic was feared for its insidious administration and cumulative toxicity that escaped the diagnoses of the time.

Handled with extreme care by the pharmacist for his preparations, it illustrates the fragile boundary between remedy and fatal substance.

Height of the bottle: 11cm with blown glass cap - Diameter at the base: 4cm

Dating: 19th century

EMPTY but the cap is blocked and does not open.