The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-20


In Charles Lambs Incompatible essay on
.sOld China" he says: when 1 go to see
any great house / inquire for ths china
closet and next for the picture gallery"
In the light of a newly acquired xest 1t
seems to me, the bottle bin" Of an old
house would furnish forth an equally alb
sorbing If not more interesting exposition
of human life than old china or old pic
lures. What may be called the bottle
craze" or bottle fad was discovered or
invented by Mr.. Alexander w. Drake. art
superintendent Of the Century Company,
New York, and his perception OF the artistic
and beauty quality in bottles dates back
in his recollection to an early period. when
his childish fancy Was charmed by the am
Der CLINT of his grandmother's camphor
bottle, held up to the sunlight. At first
glance, perhaps, bottle admiration may ap-
pear curious, eccentric unjustified; in
vestigation of the theme. however, with
draws it from the cheap domain of the
"craze" or the fad" and invests 1t with
a serious aspect of unbounded and dignified
Importance.
among the most useful inventions put for
myriad and Kaleidoscope phases. becomes
as some one has said of Phil Mays pic
tures-"sticky with human interest" Once
in the field of bottles. and the almost in
Vulnerable highways and byways of pleas
ure which the topic opens, and teapots,
pitchers-nay, even copper candlesticks-be-
come commonplace. A teapot in sooth is.
after all. only a teapot, but every bottle is
another story. Note, for twenty-four hours
only, the bottles you encounter in that
days march, and then admit, humbled and
marveling, the great debt you owe merely
the everyday bottles-the working-class
bottles of existence Exalted to study, the
bottle will still further astonish you. At
the start, and all the way along. the bottle
hunt is, to those who love their junk shops
as they should, a revelation and a recrea-
ton. Chasing bottles to their lairs-lest
the 'craZe" spread and other bottle fanci-
ers pull the ground from under you-begets
alertnesS and vigilance. 1t leads the bottle
devotee behind counters and under counters
in secondhand shops; down cellars in old
drug stores; up under the caves in old gar
rets; to the lofts of old barns and the top
shelves OF old closets, and into far corners
of old towns, where hitherto unknown bot
| tie shops lead lives of adventure and mys-
| terry. Acquaintance are discreetly impart-
ed the new magic in the BRAIN" and old
| bottles generously pour in upon the enthusi-
| astic collector. often of value and not to be
| duplicated in a lifetime of bottle hunting:
pet bottles, cherished for years. perhaps.
are contributed to the fancier, and friendly
| druggists even go the reprehensible but
| profitable length OF coaxing old bottles
| from unwary Juvenile patrons, foisting on
them, instead brand new and commonplace
Walls for the paregoric or what-not called
| for.
For old bottles as expositors of early
| bottle-making, in this or other countries
| the dusty bins of old drug-shops hold the
| heart of the matter. Data or literature
| concerning these old bottles is sadly lack
ing; but the bottle itself has eloquence
| Here are the small, dark or light green
| round bottles of the early days-sixty
| years old at least-blown by the breath OF
| man, nodded almost in the air by
the, magic of that breath-before bottle
| molds were invented; thin almost as o
| vapor-"bubbly'' and uneven in fabric
rough at the lip and on the bottom. Now
| adays a boy can make a bottle in a
mold; but in the earlier days the man who
blew bottle without mold had to be 9
skilled mechanic. AT that time the medi
| cine-bottle cost extra; a dime for the drug
perhaps; but always Is and % cents for the
vial which contained it. In these thin
long Handicapped walls powders were al
ways sold; and these wee ones were fol
tinctures. whose names were attached OF
curious old cut-paper silhouette labels, de
faint of the erasive qualities of time
Among these old, bad green glass bottle.
the druggist names many as identified will
a certain old favorite in the drug line; Thu
pyramidal bottle is ''Godfrey's Cordial
vial phial; this well-known rolypoly be
longs to "Winslows Soothing Syrup
"Bateman's Drops'-("Lord Batenan wa
noble lord'')-adheres to this long, slim
bottle; and "Opodeldoc' to this squat, thicl
green one.
OF the old drug-bottles some are still oil
sale in drug shops; others, to be foun'
only by good fortune; some are thicl
enough 10 drive nails with; others can b
crushed in the hand. A well-estabishe
bottle is part of manufacturers stock il
trade, and is not often changed this heav,
old green blacking bottle being identicali
the same type of bottle used years ago
| This old German bottle-the first of tn
white flint glass, perhaps-is wavy an,
bubbly to ludicrous degree; and here j
the first picxle-bottle ever made, no doubt
a rough, lop-sided, deep green heptagon
with a round neck one-third its length
bearing the legend, ''Theophile Rounsaro
Paris" A saddlebags bottle, this; small
square and glass-stoppered-all saddle
bags bottles were of uniform size and thi
three-cornered bottle went through tn
civil war in a surgeons chest.
OF the old drug bottles, the half has no
been told; but old perfume bottles press o
the attention. Now, in the main, perfume
are sold by the ounce; but in earlier bottle
days, variety of fancy perfume bottle
were kept in stock, to be filled to orde
| with the chosen odor. Here is a Phalo
8. Sons triple-extract perfume bottle
half a century old; and that bottle with
hardwood stopper halls from an old Eng
lish edition-"Litchford' National Boz
( quets"-bearing the eoats-of-arms of all na
tons on the labels. "Baby Mine" perfum
has a baby's head in glass for a stopper