CHEMISTS’ “CARBOYS”
“Carboys,” the coloured bottles in. chemists’ shop windows which are the traditional sign of their “mastery,” are returning to- favour. Blue and red bottles stand for blue and red blood, the former representing ingoing blood to the heart rather than quality of birth. Other colours represent the different planets, with which were associated many qf the elements 'which it was the aim of alchemists to transmute. Few modern chemists know that their purple bottles indicate mercury; greenish blue, copper; yellow, gold; and grey—if they show so dingy a colour —lead, the one metal which can he genuinely obtained by the transmutation of other metals. A circle and crescent, the sign of the House of the Bull, is the simplest of the astrological signs adopted by alchemists. It is still to he seen in the modern chemist’s window.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NEM19320416.2.70
Bibliographic details
Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 16 April 1932, Page 6
Word Count
139CHEMISTS’ “CARBOYS” Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 16 April 1932, Page 6
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Nelson Evening Mail. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in