What was inside these glass bottles that looked aesthetically beautiful from the outside and attracted the attention of collectors? What did the writings on it mean? Why was it vital?
Let’s solve together the mystery behind the bottles that we have encountered since the 1800s and whose function was to save lives.
In ancient times, you could easily contain toxic substances in your home.
During the Industrial Revolution, many chemicals that were not suitable for human consumption but could provide benefits in other situations were not only allowed for cheap production but could also be kept in homes.
For this reason, many cases of poisoning occurred due to accidents in the 1800s. Some of the people were illiterate, but this was not the only reason. Those who can read could also fall victim to accidents due to packaging and bad labels.
This was not the only reason, the conditions of the period also increased the risk of fatal accidents.
Indoor electric lighting was still not fully widespread in the 1920s to 1930s. So if the easy-to-confuse vials contained a deadly substance, you could only drink the poison when you were looking for a painkiller for a headache.
Or, when you cut yourself, it was not impossible for you to accidentally drink poison while bleeding in the dark and in a panic while looking for a painkiller and a bandage in the medicine cabinet to relieve your pain.
It was time for the authorities to take action on this situation.
In 1829, New York required that poison vials be labeled with the word “poison.” In 1853, the American Pharmaceutical Association updated this requirement to include an image containing the skull and crossbones.
Then, in 1872, the American Medical Association suggested adding embossed text to one side of the bottle. So the bottles were redesigned to create a distinctive feel to the touch. Those who touched the bottle could choose the word “poison”.
Even later, this was not enough and some bottles took on a shape of their own.
After a while, bottles were also produced in different shapes. There were coffin-shaped ones, skulls, hexagons… So, as we said at the beginning, the sole purpose of these embossed or strangely shaped bottles was to save lives by preventing possible dangerous and fatal accidents!
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